Yuyuantan Park


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Asia » China » Beijing » Haidian district
March 28th 2019
Published: April 7th 2019
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I used to love Cherry Blossom Season in Korea, so when a coworker told me that Beijing has lots of cherry blossoms and Yumyuantan Park, in particular, is famous for them, I knew I would have to make a visit. I had a bit of a walk from the subway station, there might be others closer. I did manage to get lost once before getting on the right track. It took me about 15 minutes to reach the park and I made my way to the ticket office. The park looked quite busy, but there was no queue at the ticket office. I got a lovely surprise when I bought the ticket as it was only 10 RMB. What a cheap day out! The ticket was also rather beautiful as it a special cherry blossom one in light pink.

I made through the entrance gate and was immediately greeted with cherry blossoms and quite a large amount of people. I headed over to the map to see what the park was like. It was a pretty big place with a lake in the middle. The park's name means Jade Deep Pond. However the lake has not always been there, it was created during the Qing Dynasty, but wasn't manintained so dried up. It wasn't until the1960s that the Beijing government introduced water from the Yongding River into the lake in order to revive it. It wasn't until the 1990s that the rest of the park was developed and the sakura trees were planted. I decided to follow the crowds and head towards the cherry blossom trees. The trees lined both sides of the path and it was easy to get close to them to take pictures. Loads of people were taking selfies. I followed the path around and it came out near the lake. The lake was massive and there was a bridge across the middle that I looked forward to seeing up close later. The cherry blossoms weren't the only flowers in bloom, there were also some deep pink flowers and Yellow ones. It looked good to see the different colours together. I could also see the TV Tower, Which I have never noticed in Beijing before, or at least I don't remember seeing it before.

I followed the paths, which led away from the lake and the trees all around were beautiful. I also came to McDonald's. I was a bit surprised to see that. It had loads of outdoor seats perfect for an ice cream on a warm day. I kept walking and photographing the trees. There were also a few small hills, so I wandered up one of those to see if I could get a good view of the lake. I was out of luck, the taller trees obscured my view. I headed down the hill, I took the wrong path i.e. not the path and had to be careful not to stumble of bases of some small trees/bushes that had been cut back. There were quite a few stalls set up in the park. They seemed to be selling mainly sakura flavoured items. I was tempted by the sakura flavoured crisps and pocky sticks, but I resisted as I couldn't be bothered to carry them. I headed down to the water and saw some very brightly coloured ducks. I made my way towards the bridge and decided to do a figure of eight loop around the park. The bridge was really busy with people and on the opposite side, there were lovely red lanterns strung between the trees.

There was some kind of pagoda up the hill near to the bridge and I started to walk up the hill towards it but changed my mind as it looked quite busy and there were a lot of tall trees surrounding it, meaning no good view. I walked along the side of the river. This side was quieter as there weren't so many sakura trees. At the far side of the lake, there was a groupof old men by the edge of the water. They were gathering quite a crowd. It looked like they were about to go for a swim. Some had wetsuits on, but I think others were just stripping down,to their trunks. It was a rather chilly day, so I thought it was rather brave. I waited a while, but none of them seemed to be in a hurry to get into the water, so I gave up and continued on my circuit around the lake. I made it back to the bridge and crossed over again. Then I headed to the entrance/exit, that I had arrived at earlier. Yuyuantan Park was pretty and definitely worth a couple of hours to see the cherry blossoms and take a walk around the lake.


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9th April 2019

Yuyuantan Park
An oasis in Beijing. A must for us to visit next time we are in Beijing. Thanks for letting us know about it.
10th April 2019

You're welcome.
Hope you enjoy the place as much as I did.

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