Do people draw paintings in this place, too? Nice 。。。。 桃花坞 and then 肖皇岩

         I actually visited these places a couple of months ago and I completely forgot the names! I was flicking through 抖音 the other day and a guy's videos jumped up and I saw n 肖皇岩. It looked class so I thought that I better go now before the heat of the summer kicks in. I was able to get the address from Baidu maps and then plan the journey from there.

        People seem to love painting pictures on the gable ends of houses. Here are some more examples.

I think the reservoir is nearby

Possible waterfall?

Water amusement park is nearby, too!

Maybe the amusement park is in this building

        I was about 5 km from 桃花坞 when I realised that I had been there before! Cycling is always good, regardless of going over old routes. It is good to get away from the city anyway. At the moment, we have to take the covid test every 3 days so getting away from the city is a must.

Ah, the science guy has a shop here

Nice place to rest between villages

Old school house by the crossroads

A few sheep appeared to be roaming around here.

3 km from the sccenic spot, yyes

       Although 桃花坞 is a nice spot, I think the mosquito's enjoyed me more than I enjoyed the paintings. I guess the rumour that they like type A blood must be true.

Hollywood Motif

Reflections

I have seen enough bugs to last a lifetime here

and then people draw images of them.

Eeeeep

The witch?

Nice colours

An elephant coming out of the walls

Really jazzing up the place

This bridge is as sturdy as it looks

 It was time to go to the end of the highway. (On the way back, we cycled through 5 tunnels!)  The entrance to the area of 肖皇岩 was quite interesting. An old house painted up as well as plenty of farmland. Then the long cycle up the hill before dumping the bikes and continuing on foot.

Things to do here

Nice house greeting people who decide to follow the tourist trail 

of the red yellow and blue lines on the road

Cool entrance to the mountain.

I think my knees need more stabilizing exercises just in case...

May 2022

February 2022 - 3 moths can make some difference

to the colour of the foliage

The scene beside the toilet.

Trust me, this is better than the toilet.

This wood would come in handy on a cold day

     When I was here in February, there was a bit of snow on the ground. The white stuff had disappeared on this visit. So I was able  to get quite the view from the viewpoints.

The hole in the mountain is the way home!

So much greenery here

I will leave the heavenly pond for another day

Nice

   It was time to head back through all the tunnels. I guess this place would have been quite isolated 20 years ago. At the moment, the builders are still working around the clock to get all the construction work finished on the high speed line.

stabilizing each section is a skillful art

     Before the inevitable journey back to base, there was some food to be eaten. 七一村 was located about 1km from  the last tunnel.

These lanterns give the village an authentic feeling.

Well, the lanterns AND the people!

Steam rising on a Saturday evening

I come halfway around the world and I get a very traditional

delicacy which is vary rare back home.

The humble spud (with spicy spice on top)

3D pictures in Luoyuan (罗源村) village

          I had heard that there is a place close to Pujiang city called Luoyuan and about 7 years ago, the local government decided to spruce up the houses a bit. So they invited people to paint some 3D pictures on the gable end of their houses. I had seen this in another village and it looked pretty funky so I thought it might be a bit of a challenge to cycle the 38 km to get to this place and then relax once I had climbed the mountain part!

I usually use the Baidu map app. to get to new locations and this was no different. I was not sure of some areas and China seems to be constantly changing. I am glad this app exists ,though!

Stop kidding me , which way to Luoyuan?

Cutting the front lawn is a lot tougher for some people 

        I still like looking for signposts to get me to my destination. Here one can see the big signposts on a main road and closer to a village.

Follow the 3D sign

                                                    

                                             The local signpost was well equipped for Korean , 

                                                         English and Chinese speakers.

 I started out on a main road but I found out after a while that I would be encountering many different styles of road ranging from the one occupied by the goats in the first picture to this country style throwback of a road.

No potholes here!

 It took about 2 and a half hours to get here. Once I arrived , I kept bumping into statues in interesting positions.

I hope they are nor running away from the exhibits

Even superheroes have to live somewhere you know!

 

This place is interesting. Some paths look very different to the rest of the village.

Stone paths and houses are not common here

  The entrance to the village is a series of hairpin turns but there is a turnoff where one can see the village from a vantage point.

Road to the viewpoint

Luoyuan is in the distance

      To be honest, I prefer to look at old style houses as opposed to the 3d paintings. 

I hope they have an A.C to keep cool.

looks like 春联 (couplets) on the main stanchions.

Better or worse than turf?

peaceful place

          Here are a few pics of the paintings that one can see in the village itself. It is a quiet village but there is nothing wrong with that!

Nice use of shadow painting

The 罗 in 罗源 is the same 罗 in 罗马 (Rome)

This painting represents Roma.

Elephant ahoy

From the movie 'Up' 

I need to look for some real dolphins.

Gorillas in the mist 

I wonder who the woman at the centre of the painting is?