The Last Offerings of Winter

---

Winter arrived early, with a deluge of snow at the end of October, and also departed quite late. It seemed to me that we were well into April before the signs of spring made themselves apparent... But as I am writing this a good few months after the event, I could well be distorting the truth.

It was on one particular weekend that greeted the city with another surprise late-snow storm, that myself and a few others had arranged to go to Xiang Shan (Fragrant hills) park. This place is well-known for it's autumn colour when the hills are clad in shades of golden yellows and reds... but the only colours we saw were shades of white.

At the base of the park is hotel by well-known Chinese architect IM Pei. The park consists of several different routes to the peak of the main hill. These are dotted with pagodas and temple-like structures (which more often than not turn out the be restaurants). More or less the whole day we were in a permanent state of snow-ball fighting, which kept us warm enough.

Despite the unexpected weather, or maybe partly because of it, this was a very enjoyable outing. My only regret was wearing trainers rather than walking boots. While we were moving, the slush around my toes did not bother me too much, but on the lengthy ride home in a non-heated bus was more difficult.

---