Vignettes of the World
After seeing the Lvmei Ecological Park and the Shijian Park, I was geared up for some historic sightseeing. The Yamen Fort came into mind. The Qing dynasty era old fort stands beautifully restored at the mouth of the Pearl River. It has a proud history …
I had to leave and return to Xinhui in order to have a proper meal. I checked the Gaode Map App and realized that I could in fact walk from Lvmei Ecological Park to Shijian Park, which was what I intended to see next. The …
At Lvmei Ecological Park (Green Beauty Ecological Park—in Mandarin Chinese, “lv” is pronounced in l as the consonant combined with the French vowel “u”) in Shantouping, Xinhui, a flourish of purple tabebuia flowers has drawn the curtain for the spring season with a colorful song of life. I took a 2-day trip to see the park that may very well have been heaven on earth.
In China, the floral season for purple tabebuia (tabebuia impetiginosa) is typically January to March every year. The day of my visit was January 24, 2025.
The admissions fee for the Lvmei Ecological Park (Lvmei Shengtaiyuan, Shantouping, Xinhui, Jiangmen, China) is RMB 48 yuan. The opening hours are Mondays to Sundays 8:30am to 5:30pm. Allow about 2-3 hours for photo taking at the park. At peak days, perhaps you must wait a little longer to take your photographs without the crowd.
To avoid crowds, I arrived at the Lvmei Ecological Park on a weekday, and right when it opened at 8:30am. For about an hour or two in the earlier morning, there were but a few souls in the garden. I took my time and toured every road in the garden, including the outer areas that were really not meant for tourists.
A slight disappointment for me was that the sun was only really coming up at around 10:30am to 11am. That was when the natural azure of the sky showed, but also when throngs of tourists started coming in. In terms of lighting, photographs are certainly much better taken between 11am to 3pm, but you would have to fight with other tourists for the prime spots. Since I had other sightseeing in mind, I decided to leave the garden around 11:00am.
The tabebuia impetiginosa (commonly named trumpet tree) is a deciduous tree, which sheds leaves at certain time of the year. The flowers of the purple tabebuia come in a cluster. When viewed closely, you see handfuls of bouquets hung on the branches.
As a medium height tree, the purple tabebuia usually grows to 15 to 30 meters high. The tabebuia tends to thrive in warm and humid climates, and it is a species native to Central American countries. The species’ blooming bouquets have made it one of the most popular transplanted species in all parts of the world. Needless to say, they are planted mostly for ornamental purposes.
In fact, the actual business of the Lvmei Ecological Park is the planting of these trees for sales. All the trees in this park were cultivated, and the park is a dealer in tabebuia impetiginosa saplings.
Perhaps I will share just one more fun fact about the tabebuia. The genus name of this floral tree came from the Tupi words for “ant” and “wood.” Many tabebuia species “have twigs with soft pith which forms hollows within which ants live, defending the trees from other herbivores.” (Wikipedia on Tabebuia).
The Lvmei Ecological Garden spans a whopping 400,000 square meters. More than 6,000 purple tabebuia trees spread all over this space, making it an expansive sea of purple to behold during the floral season.
There are quite a few features in the park that I found commendable. Tourism is a key business in China. With the rise of Red Note of late, there is a strong tendency for the Chinese people to take instagrammable (or “Red-Notable”) pictures, with shots taken at particularly “photogenic” spots.
To meet this tourist demand, many site administrators like to install “props” that encourage this type of photo taking. Very often, I find these efforts to be annoyingly unnecessary. A lot of these so-called photogenic spots consist of gaudy or otherwise cliché elements – drapes above a tired-looking wheeled metal cart, too many colorful lanterns or a random chair here and there that serve to ruin the natural views instead.
At the Lvmei Ecological Park, there are surely such instalments as well, but I did not find them annoying. The park is big enough that, if I did not like the props in one part, I certainly could take a photo without them anywhere else.
Where there is significant effort in beautifying the environment with a human touch, I found it to be well done. By the pavilion, there is a small pond, and I found it to be truly delicate in highlighting a sense of the “typically Asian” landscaping.
The pleasure of touring the park also came from the fact that the purple tabebuia was not that tall, and at almost every turn you could just reach out and touch the flowers. You feel intimate with these trees as you walk through them. I felt being wrapped around a natural wonder.
There are three high points where you can capture the panorama of “the sea of purple.” One is a viewing platform up on the hill, with a short flight of stairs and this would be the highest reachable point. The other is in the middle of the park, also a built viewing platform of two flights of stairs and a gaudy piano on top for “Red-Notable” pictures. At this spot you see the sea of purple at medium height. The third is the café area, with cute coconut shell platforms to view the trees on a higher vantage point.
Photos above: A panorama of the sea of purple tabebuia at the viewing platoform on the hill.
Finally, I enjoyed the coffee at the café very much. I had a nice chat with the staff there. A relaxed time with coffee was very much appreciated after seeing the beauty of tabebuia impetiginosa.
Baidu.com, Green Beauty Ecological Park (Chin).
Leafy Place, 121 Types of Trees with Their Name and Picture – Identification Guide.
The Wikipedia on Tabebuia.
In January of 2025 we welcome spring with open arms. The floral season has begun, and I have been seeing some really beautiful photographs of purple tabebuia on travel and photography blogs. Striking the iron while it’s hot, I packed my bags for a quick …
More than a thousand stone rakan statues populate the temple ground at the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple. Being moss-covered, the stone statues create an ambience that is faintly eerie, but the unique facial expressions on the statues convey a quirky sense of comical cheerfulness at once. …
The golden glow of the Kinkaku-ji Temple comes from actual gold leaves plated on the exterior walls of its upper levels. My heart leapt as I saw it luminesce in glory and grace.
The Kinkaku-ji Temple is a ten-minute bus ride from the Ryoan-ji Temple. The admissions fee for the Kinkaku-ji is JPY ¥500.
Meaning “the golden pavilion,” the Kinkaku-ji Temple came from the year 1397, as originally the villa of the powerful statesman Saionji Kintsune. In this year, the Ashikaga shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu purchased this estate from the Saionji family. The Kinkaku-ji was constructed in the year 1399 by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. In accordance with his wish, his son converted it into a Zen temple.
This original temple had always been covered in gold leaves. There are two interpretations as to why the shogun plated gold leaves on his temple. The obvious intention was that gold satisfied the visual excesses that typified the Muromachi (Ashikaga) period. Secondly, at the time gold also represented purity, as such it was the material that would mitigate pollution, negativity, and the effects of death.
Like so many of Japan’s treasured heritage buildings, Kinkaku-ji Temple suffered from fire destruction. During the Onin War, all of the buildings in the estate were burned down, but Kinkaku-ji was spared. Unfortunately, in 1950, a monk committed arson, resulting in the complete destruction of the Kinkaku-ji Temple, the golden pavilion itself. The current Kinkaku-ji Temple was rebuilt in 1955.
To prevent confusion, the Kinkaku-ji Temple has an official name of Rokuon-ji, meaning “deer garden temple.” Needless to say, it acquired the common name of Kinkaku-ji because of its golden pavilion.
All of the touring at the Kinkaku-ji Temple are done outdoors. As far as I could remember, there was no entry into the temple itself. I arrived at the time it opened, a little after 9am. Once I entered the garden, I proceeded in a very long queue that took up all of the touring route. There are many opportunities for taking photographs at different viewing points, however, so there is really no need to fight with other tourists over viewing spots.
As with all other temples, the red foliage of this season presented a warmth so visible that it reached one’s soul. The visibility of the gold leaves on the top two floors was astounding. The pond beneath mirrored the shimmer of the gold, and this was very much the intention of the architecture. The temple was built in a raised foundation, to enable the reflection in the pond.
As amongst the group of temples in the complex, the Kinkaku-ji Temple serves the purpose as the shariden, which is the place of housing the relics of the Buddha. This is the reason why the Kinkaku-ji was not open for visits. It is not actually a site for meditation or worship.
The three floors of the pavilion each adopted a different style of architecture, namely, shinden in the first, samurai in the second, and zen in the third. Being off bounds to tourists, the second floor houses the goddess of mercy, Kannon. The third floor houses shrines and is specifically religious in nature as adopting the zen style of building, incorporating certain Chinese influence in the design.
Needless to say, in the many centuries that transpired between the temple’s reconstructions, certain features disappeared and some others were added. But there was effort to maintain the philosophical foundations that manifested in the building’s architecture, namely, a keen intention to create harmony with the temple’s surrounding environ. In that sense the Kinkaku-ji Temple remains timelessly authentic — even as a 20th century reconstruction — as a representative of Japanese architecture. Both the material and spiritual elements are one with the landscape.
No, the Kinkaku-ji Temple is certainly not the only example of a holistic fusion between a religious site and its surroundings. But when the gentle sun rays illuminate the temple in a late-autumn morning, the view was truly, uniquely breathtaking.
Naturally, all tourists will be drawn to the views of the Golden Pavilion, and everyone was absorbed in its golden glimmer. Yet there is a time when the tourist route (around the garden) would offer only so much in terms of varieties in views. You are essentially staring at the same building for as long as a half hour. Therefore be sure to admire the garden space as well.
The Wikipedia on Kinkaku-ji at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji
Engineers & Architects of America, Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto, Japan: The Golden Pavilion in Detail, at https://www.e-a-a.com/kinkaku-ji-kyoto-japan/
I finally managed to wake up early enough for the morning sightseeing. The most anticipated temple of the day is the famous Kinkaku-ji Temple, also known as the Golden Pavilion. I planned on getting there when it opened at 9am. I wanted to see more, …
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The very last sightseeing on my first day in Arashiyama was the Nonomiya Shrine.
The Nonomiya-jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine. Because of its nature as a native faith in Japan, it differs quite significantly from the elaborate temples of Arashiyama, both in terms of its history and its ambience. Yet, as a Shinto shrine, the Nonomiya-jinja Shrine had a very specific and unique role in imperial history as well.
The Nonomiya Shrine comes from the Heian period. It served as the venue of a religious practice in antiquity, “successive imperial princesses stayed in the Nonomiya Shrine for a year or more to purify themselves before becoming representatives of the imperial family at the Ise Shrine in Mie prefecture.” (Wikipedia on Nonomiya Shrine). These imperial priestesses were called Saigu. At the time of founding, the Nonomiya Shrine served Princess Ninshi, a daughter of Emperor Saga, who served as Saigu from 809 to 903 A.D. at Ise Jingu, which was the most important shrine in the country.
As Saigu, the princess carried out rituals and offerings, and I assume that meant she was the religious ambassador to pray on behalf of her country.
In classic 11th century Japanese literature, the Tale of Genji, which is said by some to be the world’s first novel, has a chapter set in the Nomomiya Shrine. The plot involves the love story between Prince Genji and Lady Rokujo. Lady Rokujo accompanied her daughter to the shrine for purification rites, and as she met her lover Prince Genji here, they bid farewell by the moonlight in this beautiful setting amidst the bamboo woods in Arashiyama.
Perhaps it is due to this history that the shrine is now where the faithful seek intercession for love and fertility. The female-oriented heritage of the shrine is very much alive today. Modern processions recreate a scene as shown in a scroll of the imperial court during the Heian period. This procession begins at the Nonomiya-jinja Shrine and ends at the Togetsu-kyo Bridge.
As to the touring, I learned that there were other types of specific prayers at the sub shrines at Nonomiya-jinja. If I read the kanji correctly, a shrine offers fortunes in wealth and safety in travels as well.
The torii gates here were the first ones that I saw in my life. In this trip, I did not have the opportunity to see the Fushimi Inari-taisa. This would be my only view of the gateways that typify Japanese religion and culture on this trip.
Sources
The Wikipedia on Nonomiya Shrine.
Discover Kyoto on Nonomiya Jinja.
The grilled eel of Japan is likely the most suitable first course of introduction in Japanese food for those who are not accustomed to eating raw fish. “Unagi’ is the Japanese name for freshwater eel. “Anago” is also eel, but it refers to sea eel. …