Saturday Outing - Chenshan Botanical Gardens Part 1

Last weekend was the Qingming (Tomb Sweeping Day) long weekend in China, with Monday being a public holiday. We took advantage of the good weather and visited two very large parks namely the Chenshan Botanical Gardens and the Shanghai Zoo on two consecutive days, both covering a total area of 270 hectares (equivalent to 2.7 million square metres!). We were totally drained out on Sunday night and spent the whole of Monday resting at home *rubbed sore feet* haha. Although it was tiring, we had lots of fun and enjoyed both the outings very much.

First stop, Chenshan Botanical Gardens. This park was recommended by one of daddy's colleagues. Although it is not very far away from our home (about 40 mins' drive) it is not accessible by the Metro subway. Instead of taking a taxi, daddy engaged a private driver for a return trip there...

On the way to the park, we saw many people selling coconuts by the roadside... some even traded right in the middle of the road! @-@

At the entrance of the Chenshan Botanical Gardens. Admission tickets into this park were quite expensive... RMB60 (RM30+) for adults and RMB30 (RM15+) for children taller than 1.3m.

The first thing we saw (even from the outside) was this huge and majestic dome-shaped greenhouse, touted to be the largest exhibition greenhouse complex in Asia. It houses some rare plant species that we did not have enough time to see

And the first thing that attracted our attention here were the beautiful tulips!

Rows and rows of pretty tulips...

Tulips, mummy and I

We saw many children rolling on the grass. I wanted to do the same too...

Children's playground 

Doing a balancing act

*happy*

Shaky bridge

Stylo-leg while drinking water

Animal sculpture

More animal sculptures

We saw something here that we've never seen before... beautiful pink, white and lilac flower fields!

A flower among the flowers ;)

Closer look at the flowers

We marvelled at the sheer amount of flowers spread all over the vast area. Simply breathtaking!

One last shot, ok? I'm so tired of taking photos here *grumbled and put on fake smile*

Another main attraction here is the quarry garden

We took a walk down and around the lake...

... to have a closer look at this waterfall

It was fun walking on this floating bridge

To exit the quarry, we had to go through a cave...

... and walk up many flights of wet and slippery stairs in the dark... not a very disabled-friendly place, this one.

When we came out of the cave, we saw even more tulips... and visited the International Orchid Festival. To be continued in Part 2...