[35-Days Trip 2010] Déjà vu @ HongCun

A friend told me that when someone starts recalling memory and feeling nostalgic, that means he/she is getting old. Somehow I remember this conversation happened when I was in junior high, on the way walking back home along the street in front of my home in Shanghai, where Phoenix tree's branches and leaves covering the sky above.

Summer in 1996, I was on the top floor of LiuHe Tower in HangZhou, leaning against the brick wall more than 850 years old. Sudden passion made me a plan to go back in 10 years, I thought it would be easy, because HangZhou is like a step away from Shanghai. While, 10 years later, summer in 2006, I was struggling through my first semester in Columbia, HangZhou is more than 10,000 miles away, I couldn't stick to my plan.

I spent the whole day of my 20's birthday on the train to HuangShan. That night I stayed in a small village called, HongCun, so did the next 20 days. And look, nothing seems changed ever since...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157625335003166/with/5155550265/

The lane is deep and narrow.
I was one of them, sitting there entire day, painting.

Except  in the corner of my painting, it shows "01.8.31".

Almost forgot Oscar winner "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Unlike Avatar introduced HuangShan in a fancy science-fiction way, this one told a pure Chinese heronic story. Ancient village plus legendary kongfu caught eyes from all over the world.

However, what brought its name all the way to UN, is its water system.
The smaller central lake and bigger outside lake resembled cow's two stomaches in shape when our genious planner designed it hundreds of years ago.
Furthermore, rainwater collected by gutters in every single courtyard runs into these two lakes through underground ditches across the whole town. This circulation is still alive and being used in daily life.

(to be continued)

[35-Days Trip 2010] HuangShan, a trip late for nine years [continued]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157625209578339/with/5155162763/
Huangshan has been famous in Chinese literature and art works for hundreds of years, while a Hollywood movie "Avatar" somehow brought it to the 21st century's global screen.
When the cable tram crossed hills above peaks and valleys, the mysterial lands beyond cloud easily blended the boundary between reality and "the other world". What's interesting was, unlike hiking in the wild mountains in US, which makes me feel exploring the unmanned deep nature, here the same kind of isolation led to the sense of some unknown poet or scholar walking along where I just passed by, only long long long time ago .

Chinese ink painting with ultra real angle of view makes much more sense here to represent even raise the spirit of nature, which can hardly be reached by classical western 3-point perspective.  

Are you wondering what kind of world behind in the bright light?

Thanks the guide and her wise advice (see previous blog)! At least she left us the opportunity to enjoy the moutain itself, instead of as a "world class tourist spot".

By the time we were up to 1650 meter above sea, the mountain had almost got back to peace after waves of tourist groups. What's left were the fresh air after later summer rain and mystery wrapped within fog.

After a long walk up and down and up... between the hills. It was a real surprise to see bunks of 3~4 stories hotels hidden deeply inside, complex after complex, while thousands of tourists were actually going to spend the night here, which made me have to believe that "tomorrow will be another day..."

(Yes, the rest of pictures were all taken among dozens to hundreds of tourists along the entire scenic path. I tried my best to focus on the breathtaking view, instead of choking crowds )



So, this day began as - 

I didn't leave a picture with me and that most famous "welcome" pine. I don't want to hold the memory of squeezing through long line and crazy crowd to make an awkward pose in nearly chaos.
Instead, this is indeed the kind of memory I would like to keep after nine years waiting.

[35-Days Trip 2010] HuangShan, a trip late for nine years

Nine years ago, I was so close to HuangShan, one of the most famous and legendary mountain in China, but I missed it. I did think about going back some day, though after near a decade and flying all the way back from the other side of the world was not exactly what I planned then.

This was the third day since my flight landed on Shanghai Pudong International Airport after one week travel in west coast, and this was the first working day after Labor Day long weekend, when I scheduled the whole morning in General Consulate for a new visa stamp.
But neither of the reasons seemed giving me a second thought about booking the train ticket for that same night. When I lay in the middle-level bed, listening the "click, click" from the rail, that summer in 2001 felt like not long time ago.

It's a really nice day after a sweet dream (ok, that sounds a little dramatic, a tight sleep probably enough to cover my good mood), but like lots of other transportation hub towns in China, blue sky and fresh air wasn't around until miles away from downtown and the huge billboard of "Welcome to 5-star National Tourist Destination - UNESCO World Heritage Site" started to show up along the highway.
Again, like most of the other buses picking up tourists from train station, we have a conductor/guide on board. Aparently according to her, "today is a lucky day for tourists", because the aniversary celebration for "awarded as UNESCO WHS" offered half-price ticket for the main scenic site (North Sea area). However, due to this incredible deal once a year, all three lines of tram car will be packed with tourists in one-day tour, so she suggested those who plan to spend night in the mountain start the trip from "East Sea area", which I never heard of before.
Let's say she did a very good promoting job (or more likely I was just not used to their marketing strategy anymore plus I secretly held that good feeling - I was on vacation with dollars coming, not much, but enough to transform from that poor student nine years ago), because by the time we got off the bus, half of the people had decided to take her advice.

Not as famous as the main site, this morning as warm-up did provide remarkable peace, which was proved later so valuable but hard to achieve. We didn't make complete routes in any of the three scenic spots, considering the tight schedule to catch the last tram up the moutain.

Relax, was the theme here before real climbing work.

[Chinese philosophy and calligraphy melted into nature, so different from all wild in the New Land]

Another nine years, I'll still remember the best part of this morning was a nap, laying on the stone by this stream

(to be continued)

[35-Days Trip 2010] "Good bye, San Francisco, I will come back!"

This is probably the "n"th time I express my love to the city with hills. Still, it's not enough for San Francisco.

With the car running up and down the hills, the whole city was stretching and extending gradually. What's more amazing was that it kept going and going..., like it would never get to an end. I was so impressed by the layers in front of me that I even forgot to raise my camera. However, I believe those scenes will stay in my head for a very long time without any reminder from pictures.

Walking down along the narrow path, by all those elegant mansions, brought me to familiar scenes from movies, or maybe fragments from a sweet dream.

One of the biggest charm during the trip is the unexpected tends to impress you more than the long expected.

San Francisco Art Institute was on the way from  Lombard Street  (this famous landscape was hidden in the shadow of sunset and I didn't bother to take a shoot, considering it may even be less attactive than the popular pages in calendars) to Coit Tower. 

Unlike Art Institute of Chicago I visited last year, San Francisco Art Institute is a small private non-profit art school. The architect for its 1968 addition was Paffard Keatinge-Clay, who apprenticed with major architectural figures like Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

We swung by the art studio and wandered between different balconies. It would really have been an regret if we had missed such a fantastic angle to experience the city... 

 

[Cable car can be one of my excuse to come back. Can you believe I missed that?!]





It was almost to the end of my SF trip. Of course, I would never leave without trying crabs at Fisherman's Wharf, but...

This is a city hard to say "good bye",
so all I'm saying here is - "I will come back!"

[35-Days Trip 2010] San Francisco _ Architecture 5+1 (continued)

San Francisco MoMa by Mario Botta
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157625235682810/
Botta was the first and also one of the very few star architects I actually met in face before got in GSAPP.
Once upon a time, a fresh architectural student held a special issue of "Time + Architecture" magazine with Botta's iconic dark red facade and ellipse skylight on the cover page, waiting on the line after his lecture in school auditorium to get his signature. That was like, 10 years ago... can't believe it! I don't remember a single word he said during that lecture (can I pretend lost in translation was the reason?), and honestly I could barely be counted as fan, at least a fan should have known their idol's most famous works. I don't recall any of the articles about him in that issue either, because when I saw his churches in Switzerland many years later, I was pretty impressed as I never saw them before.
Anyway, SFMoMa is not one of those. It only sparkled twice during my visit. First was having its familiar unique ellipse popping up all the sudden from downtown SF's busy skyline. The second was standing right underneath that ellipse, facing the stairway.

[I haven't quite understood why that lady checking tickets chose to sit in that location, was that part of the exhibition? Seemed "yes" to me.]
 

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts by Fumihiko Maki
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157625328031502/with/5112504274/
If I knew this building was designed by Fumihiko Maki, I would have at least walked around instead of just sitting in the lobby, unfortunately I was too tired to find out then.
But for the record, I did feel it special. Otherwise, who takes pictures when they almost fall in sleep.
Although, it was quite a peaceful nap in the chair there. I even got a rainbow dream :) ok, this's a joke.

 

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption by Pier Luigi Nervi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/5111906953/

My friend told me the designer of this church was a not very famous engineer, even though this is definitely an incredible masterpiece. So I checked it up in Google later on,  Pier Luigi Nervi, my memory from ARE structure study came back right away. He was one of the masters leading "reinforced concrete era".

I visited the cathedral twice. I'm not a catholic, but even by a peek in the first day, I could still feel God was there in the way structure married architecture.