Qianling park, Guiyang, China. A walk in the park
Qianling Mountain Park is a large, mountain filled Wilderness Park filed with trees, temples, mountains, monkeys and a huge lake. It is also my local park and a place I often visit to walk around and enjoy the fresh air and peace that is seemingly impossible to find in an urban environment. Qianling Park is a great place in Guiyang to walk around, show visitors around, view wildlife, play sports and all round enjoy.
The park is interestingly positioned, surrounded by mountains on one side and a packed city on the other. Walking through the grand gateway you see almost a sudden, crisp divide between city and nature. On one side is jungle and monkeys, the other side, skyscrapers and traffic lights.
From the entrance the path wanders around a Chinese garden style layout with traditional looking streams and bridges. A little further up you see Elderly locals playing cards on square tables or practicing water calligraphy on the slate tiled park plaza. From here, you can continue strait or make a left. The left road has a steep footpath route leading to the park mountain top Buddhist temple Hong Fu Temple. If you don’t fancy climbing the mountain then you can continue forwards and walk through an epic kilometre or so long pedestrianized tunnel carved strait through one of the surrounding mountains. The pass leads directly to Hong Fu Lake. A huge lake complete with paddle boats and a mountain backdrop. The park also has plenty of badminton courts and it is not uncommon to be invited by the friendly locals to join in and play a match with them. This has already happened 3 times to me!
On top of all this, the park has its own free zoo with lions, tigers, bears and snakes. The park also has a large native monkey population and it is not uncommon to see hordes of monkeys playing on the mountain paths, waiting for walkers carrying their juicy water bottles. Be careful with your bottles, the monkeys like these. Keep them out of sight, preferably in your bag where the monkeys can’t see or else you will find yourself feeling quite nervous with a pack of angry monkeys jumping you from every corner.
As a place to spend a day. I can’t think of anywhere better for me to go. All this and its only 5RMB entry, that’s 50p or less than 1 U.S dollar! Particularly for people like me immersed in a city, Qianling Park is a great Guiyang escape. XieXie Qianling Park!
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