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Published: March 20th 2024
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I had the morning to spend in Changsha as my train wasn't until the afternoon. I headed to McDonald's for a coffee and a quick breakfast before making my way to the subway station. I took the train to Kai Fu temple, the temple was only a short walk away from the subway station, but the road in front of it was jam packed with cars, which was a shame as it meant that I coulsn't get any decent photos of the temple's beautiful facade. I found the cashier's window, paid my 10 yuan entrance fee and was given a bundle of incense sticks. Since it was a Sunday morning, the temple was packed. Kaifu Temple was built by a monk called Baoning on the site of Huichun Park. The park was given to him by Ma Xifan, who was the son of Ma Yin, who had built the Chu state during the late Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-960). Since then, the temple has been several rebuilt several times as it was destroyed multiple times in wars and has also been extended. Scattered around the temple were small stone statues of monks or Buddhas (I wasn't sure which) in
different positions, doing different things. I really liked them as most of them were super cute, some a little cheeky, and it made the temple a little more unique. I spent a while wandering around the halls of the first part of the temple. These were packed with people worshipping. You couldn't burn your incense in pots at the front of the hall, which is common in most temple, instead you had to go to a giant furnace at one side of the temple and throw them in there. I think due to the volume of people this prevented any fire hazards. I headed over to the other side of the temple and this was a lot quieter and calmer. I walked out to the pagoda on the pond and sat there for a while relaxing and reading. It was a pretty nice day and the sun was shining. It was almost like summer again.
Back on the subway, I headed to Martyr's Park. It wasn't too far away and looked pretty nice. I headed into the park and could see the pagoda of the memorial hall up ahead so followed the path to that. I passed a few
signs on the way proclaiming that the area was also an emergency airfield and emergency placement are (for tents and other shelter structures), and while I do like that China is on it with the disaster preparedness, it does slightly freak me out that something bad could happen. Ignorance is bliss. I had a look around the memorial hall dedicated to the martyrs, but since it was all in Chinese, all I did was look at the pictures. I then had a walk around a section of the park. I liked the park, it was quite lively in places. There was a lake in the middle which had bright pink flamingo boats that you hire to take a ride around the lake on. Then other parts were peaceful with lots of shade provided by the trees.
I made my way back to my accommodation to pick up my bag and then it was back on the subway to the train station. I did stop off at the convenience store to pick up a rice ball snack to eat while waitng for my train. the station was pretty quiet, which was nice. I was a little disturbed when I got
to the departure hall to find that my train wasn't on the board, but after checking online, I found out it was running about 20-30 minutes late and that they don't put the train up on the board until new estimated departure time is there. You learn something new everyday. Slightly annoying as it meant I could have had longer in the park. I really enjoyed Changsha. I think partly as it is such a contrast to where I live now. I loved the vibrancy of the city and I think it would have been a great place to live as a student. I would like to return in the future too.
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