Colours of Spring: Gucun Park

Last Saturday, we spent half a day at a park again. It was a sunny (but cool) day... a weather too perfect to be wasted staying or going anywhere indoor :) Springtime is the best time for park-hopping so this is what we will be doing for the next few coming weekends (subject to good weather, of course).

We went to the Shanghai Sakura Festival in Gucun Park. Although the festival is still ongoing, we somehow felt that the timing wasn't quite right. While the white sakuras were still botak with unblossomed buds, the pinks ones were like "past their optimum beauty" already... they had more green leaves than flowers! Anyway, it was still a beautiful sight although we felt that last year's was better, even in the gloomy and rainy weather. 

Our second visit to Gucun Park

Entrance tickets cost RMB20 (RM10+) for adults and RMB10 (RM5+) for children

The park was jam-packed with PEOPLE!!! The following day, mummy read in a local daily... "A record 265,000 people visited Gucun Park to view the cherry blossoms over the weekend, park officials said yesterday". And we were among that massive 200k odd crowd. Crazy!

Canopy of pink sakuras... if only they were all pink (minus the green leaves)

Last year, we saw only the white variety. This year, only the pink ones were in full bloom!

Pretty in pink

Pink variety 1 (钟花樱）

Pink variety 2 (迎春樱）

Pink variety 3 (寒绯樱)... the flowers are droopy and face downwards

White variety... only a few trees had flowers on them...

... the rest had more buds than flowers.

There were a number of pink magnolia trees too

Magnolia... equally pretty in pink

Purple flowers

Yellow flowers

A sign with funny English. Could it mean "please don't step on the grass and don't pluck the flowers?"

Afternoon snack... picnic in the woods. We had cheesecake and biscuits brought from home.

Climbing up a treehouse

We took a train ride at the amusement park

Tickets for this train ride cost more than the entrance fee to the park, at RMB20 (RM10+) each. No discount or free ride even for infants!