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Published: April 25th 2020
When I visited China for the first time many, many years ago. I remember going to a place that I really liked but couldn't remember what it was called. I remember me and one of the guys I travelled with sat at an outside bar by a lake and it was really nice and chill. I don't think we planned to go there, we just ended up there. There were a few places that I thought it could have been, but it wasn't. That left Houhai, so I headed there for a wander around. I took the subway, not to the main part of the lake, but to Jishuitan Station as that is next to the smaller Xihai (West Lake). I had a nice walk around this lake. It was pretty quiet here, so not too many people and I could walk around uninterrupted. It was a beautiful sunny day and part of the lake was covered in lotus leaves. There were also lots of trees with long, dangling branches and a few ducks swimming on the lake. It felt really peaceful here. As I walked around the lake, I came to a few restaurants and bars, but they were closed
up and I didn't think that they were the place I had been years earlier. The lake narrowed off and I came to Desheng Bridge. This bridge divided Xihai from the main Houhai Lake. It was weird because it didn't feel like a bridge in the traditional sense, as the area was built up.
I continued along and came to the edge of Houhai, which is a lot bigger than Xihai. I liked the area I was in as it felt like a real traditional neighbourhood. The lake was a gorgeous shade of blue and there were some beautiful yellow leaved trees around. I had another reason for visiting Houhai and that was to visit the Former Residence of Soong Ching Ling. I hadn't heard of Soong Ching Ling until fairly recently. I'd done a food tour and her picture was on the wall in the fried chicken place we'd went to. The tour guide had mentioned her house in Beijing and had said it was a nice place to visit. After doing some research it had been on my to visit list. Soong Ching Ling is also known as Mrs. Sun Yat-sen. She was born in Shanghai in
1893 and was the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, who was one of the leaders of the 1911 revolution that established the Republic of China. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, she held several prominent positions and is known for her work for children. After paying my entrance fee, I headed into the grounds of her former residence to have a look around. You can tell she was obviously very important to have such a beautiful house and grounds in such a beautiful location next to Houhai. The grounds were very traditional with paths leading up to platforms with tables and a pagoda to relax in. There was also a beautiful corridor to walk along and take in the view of the large pond on the grounds. I headed into one of the smaller buildings, which had a cartoon exhibition in it. I wasn't expecting to see that at all.
I continued on and came to the Room for Listening to Rain. The actual room was closed off and it looked empty inside, but I really liked the idea of it. Listening to the rain is such a simple thing and can be pleasurable.
It is a cool if somewhat decadent to have a special room dedicated to this one task. The building had been built when the house's grounds had been part of Prince Chun's garden, so it makes more sense for a prince to have a more frivolous room like this. Next, I came to the Rock of Good Fortune. The stone was taken from Taihu Lake in Eastern China and was brought there by Prince Chun. In the far corner of the grounds, there is a museum all about Soong Ching-ling's life. I really enjoyed taking a walk through the museum and learnt a lot about her life. There was a good amount of English language information. The only problem was that the building was freezing. It was interesting to read about her early life and I was rather surprised to find out that she had been educated abroad. I headed over to the house and before going in, had a look at the Peace Loft at the back of the building. This is where she kept pigeons. I was rather surprised to see it as I wasn't expecting her to be a fan of pigeons. The house was spread out
over two floors. Quite a lot of the rooms were open and on display, so that you could see how she lived. It was quite grand, formal and old fashioned. It reminded me a little of Water Dripping Cave I went to in Shaoshan where Chairman Mao had lived for a bit. Back outside, I took a walk around the exterior of the house nosing through the windows of some of the rooms that had been closed off from visitors.
By the time I left the museum I was feeling hungry. I was craving a donkey burger. When I did a food tour a few months ago, we went to a donkey burger place and they had a branch close to where I was. I headed away from the lake to the main road, passing through a cute hutong and seeing a small temple in it. When I got to the main road, it was a real contrast to the peaceful area I'd just been in. The paths were covered with parked cars and I ended up having to walk on the road, dangerously close to the traffic. The restaurant was about a 5-10 minute walk away. It was
pretty quiet when I got there as it was outside of traditional eating times. There were quite a few donkey meat dishes on the menu. I kind of wished that I hadn't been alone as there was one dish that looked really good, but was too big and too expensive for me to have alone. I ordered a donkey burger and since I was freezing an egg drop soup to warm me up. The soup was absolutely scalding when it arrived, which was perfect as when it cooled down a little I was able to eat it and it warmed me right up. The donkey burger was really good. It is more like a sandwich rather than a burger as it is small pieces of meat not a patty. I liked the meat, it doesn't really have a distinctive taste. This one didn't seem to be as spicy as the one I'd had before. i love the bread that makes up the sandwich, it is like flaky pastry and utterly delicious. I really wish donkey burgers were more common as they are fairly cheap and very tasty.
I headed back to Houhai and made my way around the lake.
I was shocked at how busy it became. Gone was the tranquillity I had experienced while walking around Xihai and the north western parts of Houahi. Here it was really busy with mass tourism. The Chinese tour groups were out in force and there were quite a few foreign tourists, too. There were plenty of shops and bars here and it could have been the place I visited before, but it felt like and looked a bit different. I think the place I was searching for was gone forever. It's just a good memory that exists in my mind. I wandered around Houhai a bit more. The next section I walked through was quieter and pretty picturesque. The views of the lake and the surrounding area were really nice.
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