Episode 178 - Picture Within Picture

This photo was taken at the "Little Heavenly Island" in the West Lake.

There are 3 small islands within the West Lake, the "Little Heavenly Island" is the largest and the most spectacular.

The Little Heavenly Island has its own lake, pagodas and bridges.

The Island is an excellent exemplification of a Chinese garden - a combination of hill, water, poetry and drawing. It is a picture within the picturesque West Lake.

Episode 177 - Dragon Boat

If you wish to take a boat trip in the West Lake, there are many options. Here is one of them - It should be fun if we can have a party inside this dragon boat whist travelling in the lake.

Episode 176 - Thunder Hill Pagoda

The Thunder Hill Pagoda is a rebuilt structure. The old pagoda collapsed many years ago. The relic of the old pagoda is preserved within the new pagoda.

The new pagoda is a modernised building with lifts installed inside. There is an escalator leading uphill to it.

The Pagoda forms a beautiful backdrop to the West Lake (see photo in Episode 175) and provides the visitors a unique place to take a bird's eye view of the lake.

Episode 175 - West Lake

This photo was taken at the coastal area of the West Lake in Hangzhou.

We had a short holiday and visited Shanghai and Hangzhou recently. We stayed in a hotel in Shanghai. With the improvement in the railway system, travelling from Shanghai to Hangzhou is very convenient. We boarded a super express non-stop train bound for Hangzhou at the Shanghai South Station. It only took us around one and a half hour's time to arrive at the Hangzhou Railway station.

We took a taxi to the lake area and boarded one of the many round-trip tourist cars to the "Thunder Hill Pagoda" on the other side of the lake.

Episode 174 - Rainstorm

We had a huge rainstorm here yesterday.

The Observatory hoisted the Black Rainstorm signal from around 6 a.m. to 11 a.m.

According to the Observatory's press release, " rain was heaviest in the morning. The Observatory recorded 145.5 millimetres during the hour from 8 to 9 a.m., the highest hourly rainfall since record began. From midnight till 6 p.m., 304.8 millimetres of rain fell at the Observatory, the 5th highest daily rainfall record in June. "

A number of landslides were reported. The Lung Fu Shan (literally the Dragon and Tiger Hill") near my home was one of the victims. The photo above was taken by me this morning. The landslide uprooted a number of trees, leaving a "wound" on the surface of the hill. The trees, the mud and the rocks slided downhill and caused a huge flood in the Western District yesterday.

Due to the bad weather and terrible traffic condition, I had to stay at home until 11 a.m. before I got back to work at my office - a nice break though.