year less a day: Days 130 to 133 - Thurs March 12 to Sun March 15

Huizhou isn't getting a lot of sun right now. Most days, it's cloudy, some days it rains. Our apartment, like most apartments in south China, has no insulation or heating, so when it's 10 or 12 degrees outside the apartment is only slightly warmer inside. On cold days, we walk around the house with layers of clothes - I shuffle around in long johns, pants, several layers of shirts and wrapped in a blanket; Pierre curls up in his fleece jacket and a toque. At night it's even colder, so we curl up under several layers of blanket in several layers of clothes. It's a bit like being on a camping trip with no fixed end date. We buy an electric kettle and drink many pots of hot water.

After a short (or long) stretch of these cold cloudy days, we appreciate even more those days when the sun comes out. On Day 132 the sky is blue and air warms up so we throw on a couple of light jackets and head out to check out the West Lake area of Huizhou.

On the subject of West Lake, our Huizhou map says: "With time passing by, there are some changes having taken place. West Lake has become a resort for holidays." This translates into: there's been a lot of work done to make/keep the area beautiful (about 3 sq km) and it's a popular tourist spot. From what we know of Huizhou it's one of the few "touristy" things to do in town - other than the scenic area at West Lake, the city mainly caters to eating, working and shopping. Mostly the latter two.

Because of this, West Lake seems to be the place to find large numbers of families with small children, and the sellers have plenty of toys for them. My small experience with kids in Canada tells me that most Canadian toddlers are pretty koo-koo for balloons. In Huizhou, toy windmills seem to be the big sellers:

Windmills = less torment for toddlers than balloons. They don't float away or explode. (Plus you're more likely to avoid situations like Billy's Balloon :)

West Lake also seems to be a popular date spot. It's a beautiful spot (5 lakes, 6 bridges) and it's cheap, only 10 kwai/2 $CAN for a ticket to visit three main sites that are offered: pagoda, bridges and a landscaped hilly area (<- not quite sure what it's called). We see throngs of couples wandering around taking advantage of the weather. The majority we run into at this pagoda, (re)built in the 1600s:

It's possible to walk up to the top and get a good view of the area. There are maybe 10 or so flights of steep wooden stairs leading up to the top. Each flight of stairs is only wide enough for one person to climb up or down using both hands and feet, so it takes a while to reach the top, especially when it's crowded. The walls are about 6 feet thick with recessed windows below geometric patterns like these:

Other windows have small stairways that lead up to them, and where you can get a view of the city:

Here, someone (top left) is sneaking a peek of us taking a picture:

Pierre's been here before, so he's on a mission to find a doorway that he took a picture of last time with his old camera, and that he wasn't happy with. So he takes it again:

We're not in top tourist form today - since we're enjoying the weather and the chance to get some photos. I know we'll be back so I don't pay too much attention to the historical details this time round. We learn that a famous poet, Su Dongpo, lived in Huizhou during the Song Dynasty (around the 1000s). We see a a statue dedicated to him and wander through a museum with calligraphied copies of his poems. Other than that, we just enjoy looking around. We see what looks like a grave:

...check out some stone detailing...