Travel Theme: Pathways

This week’s Travel Theme is “Pathways“.

In our travels, we walked so many paths, course, tracks  etc. and sometimes, even off the beaten tracks ; but the ones most unforgettable are the pathways at Plitvice Lakes, Croatia.

This is a view looking down from the hillsides of the Plitvice Lakes.  The  long and S-curve boardwalk is almost a work of art integrating so well with the surrounding series of waterfalls.  Every time when I look at this image, I feel so grateful to have the opportunity of travelling to this faraway place and have the opportunity of taking this photo. I also like the sole visitor walking on the boardwalk, as if he is having the whole watery garden of Eden to himself.

Plitvice Lakes have a very elaborate and well designed system of boardwalk. Sometimes, you never know where you are heading to. They are just so curvy and you cannot see what is at the end.

Some of these boardwalks just let you walk along the shores of the lakes, allowing you to enjoy the lake view.

Other boardwalks may just go round almost in a circle, bringing you further out to the lakes.

Some of these just delight you when you passed through with foliage on one or both sides.

The pathway I like best are those which brought me out so near to the waterfalls.

Some of these bring you so close to the waterfalls so that you can admire not only at the view but also the wonderful work of nature.

The boardwalks are just remarkable; they bring you so close to the water and the waterfalls. They offer an all-weather, non-slippery surface to walk on come rain, come shine. They are also suitable for kids and the more elderly people to walk on as they are normally flat or designed to have a small gradient.

What a wonderful system of pathways!

Travel Theme: Light (2)

When Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack raised the Travel Theme: Light as the challenge, I have a couple of pictures in mind. The golden foliage at HongLou Temple, on which I have made my submission, was my first choice as I like the translucent look of the foliage.

Incidentally, the other picture was also on foliage but taken in the fall of 1985. The picture was taken at the Kew Garden in London when the ground was carpeted with fallen leaves.

The picture has been scanned with some lost of the original details and colors. Nevertheless, I like the rays of light which shone through the trees with some branches and leaves against the light.

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Light

Word a week challenge : Light

Can’t help showing the photo below.

It was still morning in Beijing, the soft Autumn sunlight was playing its magic on the ginkgo tree. Some of the leaves were yellow, others  gold, some translucent or even radiant. The light also revealed the fine details of the Chinese tiles on the roof of  the HuangLuo temple,  the decorated beam underneath, the column on the side and some Chinese screen window frames..

The combination of the soft light, the tree, the temple and the lamp behind just makes the scene magical and timeless!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Ups and Downs of Outdoors

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is Ups and Downs of Outdoors.

Earlier this month, we walked the MuTianYu section of the Great Wall, China. This section is less travelled but more picturesque than the Baidaling section which is nearer to Bejing city. The section has 22 watch towers and 1,700 steps., with  breathtaking views.

Walking the MuTianYu  is  physically demanding. There are many steps snaking up and down the mountain range dotted all along the wall. This picture shows a typical view of going down the steps and coming up again on the seemingly endless walls. Our reward was that we had  beautiful views of the  mountain, the wall and the fall foliage.

Special Photo Challenge: Inspiration

I was inspired by a friend, who writes a Chinese WordPress blog from Tokyo, to start my first ever blog earlier this year.

After working almost 7/24 for 36 years and forfeiting around 140 days of personal leave, I decided to retire last year. In my retirement, I was hoping to develop some new interests. Blogging seems to be ideal for me as I would like to develop my skills in photography and writing. My previous education and work life have nothing to do with arts or being artistic. My writing in English was mainly associated with writing emails and perhaps, very infrequently, some parts of business proposals.

Blogging has offered me a chance to combine my interest in travelling, photographing and writing.  So, in my retirement, you can find me travelling and blogging in addition to my other developing interests like learning a new language and Chinese calligraphy.

The photos were taken in the last three months by my wife while we were travelling in Shanxi and Beijing. The two photos with colored foliage were taken earlier this month in Beijing just before it was hard hit by a snow storm.

We have very good weather up in the MuTianYu section of the less travelled section of the Great Wall; there were no signs whatever  to suggest that  just a couple of days later the weather suddenly turned bitterly cold and killed a few tourists in another section of the Great Wall.

All three photos show I was overly engrossed with taking pictures. The one below with a temple in the background was taken in September this year when we visited the Hanging Temple in Shanxi while the top one was taken in the HuangLuo Temple in Beijing.

You may say my retirement has given me the opportunity to travel; the travels inspired me taking photos, which, in turn inspired me to write and blog.

Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route – From Foliage to Snow

We were at the base of the Tateyama Kurobe mountains. The hills around us were transformed by the beautiful colors of the Autumn leaves. In Japan, the leaves are called, “kouyou” or “momiji”. The Japanese admire “kouyou” just as they admire cherry blossoms in spring. We were delighted at the sight of the colored foliage.

Heading up the mountain, we were to ascend 1,975m and would experience a temperature drop of 10 degrees when we reach the top.

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is just 37 km in length, but to tackle this route, there are no other ways but to use 7 different public transports with 5 different modes, namely funicular, bus, trolleybus, aerial tramway, and walking.

On the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route, as we ascended from the foot of the mountain, the autumn leaves display a wide range of colours including  Yellow Minekaede (one of maple varieties) and Dakekamba (Erman’s birch) as well as red Nanakamado (Japanese rowan) could gradually be seen as we proceed to the summit.

As usual, the best sights you saw were the sights while you are moving. While the funicular railway was making a steep climb, with all the trees seemed slanting, the views outside the funicular window were just picturesque. The fact that the funicular was quite full and that it was making a steep climb did not stop me from taking some photos from the funicular’s windows.

Not bothered with giving an impression to the fellow passengers on the funicular that I am sort of camera bug, I took a few more photos of the colored foliage on the way up the mountain.

As we proceeded higher up, we changed to a tired Trolley Bus with snow chains. The autumn spectacle of the multi-coloured leaves disappeared and gradually gave way to a snow scene. Snow was falling. The fall of snow that has completely turned the area to white, really compelled us all.

We were finally at 2,450 meters above sea level, at Daikanbo, the highest point of the Alpine Route. Daikanbo is located between Murodo and Kurobe-daira stations, where visitors transfer from the Tateyama Trolley Bus to the Tateyama Ropeway, or vice versa.

For the first time in many years we experienced  a snow world with different shades of black on the mountains.

We were thrilled by the marvelous snow landscapes.

Daikanbo is arguably the best viewing spot on the Alpine Route. An observation deck outside the precipitous offers the splendid view of Ushiro-Tateyama Mountain Range and Lake Kurobe.  Here we have a beautiful view of the mountains and the Lake Kurobe down below.

So, we have experienced the  beautiful colors of the fall foliage and the drastic change to the bleak and white and black of the snow capped mountains.   We made our way down, taking the ropeway (mountain cable car).

On the way, we have a great view of the beautiful Lake Kurobe.

We walked the whole length of the tallest dam in Japan at Kurobe and were happy to see colored foliage once again on this other side of the mountain  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Travel Theme: Foliage

As this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge is coming out late, I am accepting the challenge in Travel Theme by submitting the photo below taken in the Six Attributes Garden, Kenrokuen Garden in Japan . . . . . . . . . . .