park





A colleague at work was raving about this "hidden" wonder of a place not far from where we live. I walked past it a few weeks back one night, wondering what was on the other side of a 15' brick wall, seeing trees towering above it inside. I took my bike out after work today and wound my way around and through a sports complex, through the back worker outbuildings, along a narrow path and suddenly popped into a vast and unimaginable fairy tale of a park. This place was gigantic -- lush and green, trees, bushes, birds and fish, flowers, and hardly a soul per hectare. It turns out to be the ground for Xijiao State Guest Hotel, but it may as well be a secret nature preserve inside Shanghai. I rode around for a while, getting lost and feeling great with the green surroundings, ponds and bridges and decided I had better find a way out as the sun had set. I would say this park is at least a few miles wide and deep. Here is the link http://china.showhotel.com/shanghai/xijiao/ -- their manicured pictures do it much better justice than mine!

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