Garden of Eden...

...well not quite, but a park in amongst the city crazyness - the park was vast and included lots of steps, hills and more steps. I spent my day wondering around this park, taking lots of breaks.

The park was peaceful in places and an eyesore in others. One of my favourite areas was the old chinese garden which included traditional buildings, with ponds - this is where I got this flower picture from - I got some strange looks sitting on the floor getting low for this shot - but then I've spent a lot of time getting strange looks whilst I've been here. I think a tall white female on their own is a strange sight.

The other thing I enjoyed about this park were the squares; there were lots of these plotted in various places around the park - mainly at the top of the long step climbs, so I would often stop for a break, some water and a read of my book to get my body temperature back to some normal level! (its hot!) - I saw many things in these squares, an old couple dancing, people doing yoga, groups of people playing cards, old gentlemen reading newspapers, children having picnics. I tried to get some street photos, but mainly failed as my sutle attempts often meant I either took a picture of the floor or near by pillars and not the people - oops.

I had another interesting restaurant experience when it came to lunch, I confidently took a seat and then was escorted out - interesting, to be put on an outside table... it took some time to get this sorted, I then had an interesting time ordering tea and dim sum, to eventually work out after the kind waitress took me to the food bar where I had to choose my own dishes... ahh maybe thats why I was taken to this different seat, as it gave me a view of this bar and maybe it was a to explain to me what to do. A couple of dishes and few cups of tea later I was full and ready to pay. It's hard being an alien and not knowing the language, but turns out you get there in the end.