Day 1-Trip to Jiazhou Landscape Scroll (嘉州长卷)

Leshan (乐山), my hometown city, whose names in the ancient times were Jiazhou(嘉州), Jiading (嘉定), etc, is a time-honored place boasts of historic sites, profound history and deeplyt soaked in Buddhist atmosphere and slow tempo of city life. To fully display the glamour of my hometown and add my boyfriend’s understanding of China, I brought him here from Guangzhou for a week long journey.

See more about Leshan：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshan

When asked about the treasures Leshan citizens value the most, we would definitely name the Grand Buddha( 乐山大佛) and Mount Emei (峨眉山) . However, a new tourist area famous for fascinating Chinese ancient-style architecture shot up in recent ten years is drawing travellers from all directions every day as well. It is called Jiazhou Landscape Scroll (嘉州长卷). Its gorgeous night view is one of my favourites.

A tiny part of Jiazhou Landscape Scroll (嘉州长卷), photographed by phone on Feb 8, 2016

Therefore, in the first night he arrived in Leshan, I took him around this amazing area, with one friend accompanying us. For it is located on the other side of the main river bank, we had to cross a long bridge full of people and cars, enjoying the bustling atmosphere of an Chinese ancient town created by various buildings decorated in soft colorful lights.

While we were still on the bridge, we were amazed by a great number of Kongming Lantern (孔明灯) floating high up in the sky. Just like bright stars in the night, or shining jewels inlaying the dark curtain of night, they lit up the whole sky.

First time to set up a Kongming Lantern.

We were told to make a wish the second when the light flew up from our hands. Since we didn't have a marker with us, we couldn't write down our wishes or names on the lantern like most people did here. It was still fun though.

Delighted to see our lantern gradually reaching higher and higher in the sky.

Picture taken by my friend of him and me together.

Our facial expressions looked a bit stiff in the night.

Finally a pic of us three together!

So much fun we had, and such a good impression my city left on him.