Zhuji (诸暨) - The home of ugh....socks and XiShi (西施)

        So I decided to try the bicycle out for a longer cycle yesterday. I heard that Zhuji wasn't too far away so I headed off early to avoid the scorching heat.
       I forgot that it is more about the humidity than the heat here. After abut 15 km , I thought I might achieve the impossible and fully convert from a solid to a liquid. The only thing that saved me was drinking litres and litres of water and (not so) iced tea.
   Anyway, it was good to stop in some small villages and relax.

Where next, Michelin man?

Different style from the norm here

3 storey houses are all the rage in the countryside

       As I am sure everyone knows , Zhuji is home to many sock making facilities as well as home to one of the 4 famous beautiful woman from the past. (四大美女) I went to the village of XiShi but all I could see were new apartments and shopping centres. Not such a beautiful sight. Although, I did spot a fine flowere arrangement that she would have been proud of.

There are more flowers per acre than ....ugh....sheep

There seem to be murals painted everywhere in China .  They definately add to the atmosphere of the place.

I think the original Ronaldo had that child's haircut at one time.

gangs of fish in the pond

           After hours of cycling , I reached the ouskirts of Zhuji and decided to visit a temple. It was the first Buddhist temple in Zhejiang where I actually saw some monks. I am not sure if they were too happy to see me though. They saw me strolling about the temple and then asked if I could take the temperature test. Then they gave me a new mask and sent me on my way.
           Well , they did give me some apples before I left. I guess this is a symbol of peace (part of the word for apple 苹果 and peace 平安) sound similar in Chinese so I am taking it as a peaceful gesture (In some parts of China, Christmas Eve is known as pingan jie and people give apples on that day.)

A peaceful place

Burning the incense

The temple was located in the countryside right beside some fields which seemed to be full of birds looking over the produce.

guarding the food

Apart from this , I happened to cycle by an amusement area , an empty amusement area. It looked like it was built but never opened.

I think it is Halloween themed.

Trying to escape the floods (before the floods have arrived)

To be honest , it was nice just to cycle around and look at the different buildings.

Many houses had this kind of antenna  at the top of the house.

older slated house by the lake