Enjoying the snow on the way to work after the Lantern Festival

   
The Lantern Fes­ti­val in Bei­jing is very live­ly. Last year a build­ing burned down, and this year it snowed.
 
   
Trans­porta­tion in Bei­jing can be a bit incon­ve­nient when it snows: the roads are too slip­pery for bik­ing, the bus­es are too slow, the sub­ways are too crowd­ed, and taxis are hard to come by. But for those used to walk­ing to work, it’s not a prob­lem, and the snowy scenery along the way is a delight to the eyes and a pleas­ant expe­ri­ence.
 
   
I walked about 5 kilo­me­ters from my home to Hong­ni­ba, a per­fect walk, nei­ther too far nor too close. Pass­ing by Yuan Dadu City Wall Park, the scenery changes with each sea­son. The park’s most beau­ti­ful sea­son is prob­a­bly when the cher­ry blos­soms are in full bloom, the petals scat­ter­ing in the breeze. But I still love it best when it snows. I hike ear­ly, when morn­ing exer­cis­ers are scarce and the ground is clean and crisp. Even the hous­es and bridges, which usu­al­ly seem a bit tacky, appear tran­quil and solemn.
 
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Walk into the park
 
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Park moor­ing area
 
   
I remem­ber as a child, I was delight­ed to read the lines “The win­dow holds the thou­sand-year-old snow of the West­ern Hills; the door is moored with ships from the East­ern Wu.” I did­n’t quite under­stand what they were say­ing (and hon­est­ly, I still don’t quite under­stand them now, haha), but I loved them just read­ing them aloud. I’ve always had a mem­o­ry of boats cov­ered in snow, so see­ing that scene brings those lines back to mind. Du Fu might not have meant that, but it’s okay to let that imag­i­na­tion run wild. :)
 
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I could­n’t bear to leave for a moment…
 
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Actu­al­ly, Bei­jing is quite warm now, and there is no ice in the water.
 
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Leav­ing the park
 
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As we approached our des­ti­na­tion, the sky grad­u­al­ly bright­ened. Unex­pect­ed­ly, the snow made the roast duck restau­rant look a bit unique:)
 
Argen­tine Primera Diary, March 1, 2010, Bei­jing