Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
As promised several months ago the school organised a day trip to Golden Lake in Taining County., which is part of Sanming City. Canadian Jo and I headed to Taining last year expecting to visit a beautiful lake in Taining Town. No one told us that it was freaking huge and about half an hour from the town and unless you had organised it it was difficult to know exactly what there was to see there.
 
As Jo and I thought we were going to spend the afternoon walking around a nice little lake in the middle of the town so we only allowed for that, the afternoon. After finding out where it was and how huge the lake was we decided to spend the afternoon walking around the lakeless town instead.
 
For those interested in seeing how beautiful little Taining Town is click here.
 
Thankfully several months ago when we were at another huge Mr Du organised feasts he mentioned that the school wanted to organise a few day trips for us to places that we would not normally be able to organise 'ourselves' type thing.  
 
When he mentioned the Taining Geo Park we pretty much jumped at the chance!
 
Im not going to write any more myself.

Below is a heap of information on Golden Lake and what there is to see there. It really was a wonderful afternoon and the most amazing highlight of the day was not only the very cute tour guide we had but also the freaky temple built high on a cliff face obviously by freaky monks who were freakin out!
 
That's enough from me...continue reading please!
Try your best to make sense of the tourist signs!

Though some of them are very funny think about how it would be with out them.Even though we all have a chuckle, without them we would have no idea about the history etc of what we are looking at or visiting. Especially if it isn't in any guide book!

The Scenic Zone of Ganlu Rock
It is situated in the northeast of the scenic area of Golden Lake. Here, red cliffs, rock holes and caves develop on a wide range of area, where the Rock Holes & Caves Museum lies. In the caves, there are a number of temples of different styles. Integrating rock holes, caves and temple culture, the scenic zone consists of two scenic spots Tiantai Rock and Ganlu Rock.  



Ganlu Rock Temple
Uniquely constructed, Ganlu Rock Temple lies in the cave of Ganlu Rock that is narrow inside while wide open outside. The spring water oozing from the rock layers in the temple is clear, sweet and cool like manna, and is called Dragon Spring, hence the name Ganlu (literally manna) Rock Temple. The temple was wholly constructed with wood, connected with T-shape negative tilts without a single iron nail used.
 
Shuiji Waterfall
Shuiji Waterfall, also known as Baishuiji Waterfall, is the largest waterfall at Golden Lake. It is double-tiered with a distance of over 100 meters between. The upper one is Xieji Waterfall, the lower one is Shuiji Waterfall, and both of them have a cliff of displacement of about 10 meters wide and 20 meters deep, offering a spectacular sight.  
 
The Scenic Zone of Meikou Calm Lake
Situated at the central area of Golden Lake, also known as Five-Kilometer-Long Calm Lake, the beautiful scenic zone is amazing, grand and spectacular, and the landscape of Danxia landform on water is rarely seen both at home and abroad. It is the core scenic zone and the essence of the Large Golden Lake.  
 
Five-Kilometer-Long Calm Lake
With the broadest water surface at Golden Lake, Five-Kilometer-Long Calm Lake is 8 kilometers long from north to south, 3 kilometers wide from east to west and over 60 meters deep. It is soothing and relaxing in that it is surrounded by ranges of mountains, studded with islandsCwith the water and the sky merging in one color, and with the blown grass and the floating shadow of mountains in water.

One-Ray Sky on Water
Situated on the northern edge of Meikou Calm Lake, it is a gorge like one-ray sky on water almost in the direction of north to south with the narrowest part of only two meters wide hardly for a cockleboat to pass through. There is a round pond with a diameter of about 20 meters at the end of One-Ray Sky on Water. Precipices stand high around the pond, leaving a very narrow view to look up to. With the one-ray sky reflected in water, and a ray of sunlight pouring down the water, the infinite variety of landscape is amazing.
 
Information on the Sanming Area
 
Situated in the northwest of Fujian Province, Sanming City neighbors Fuzhou in the east, Quanzhou in the south and is bounded on the west by Jiangxi Province.
 
History: Jiangle County was the first county in Sanming established in the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280). For thousands of years, Jiangle County has remained until now, and more counties were established in this area. The name of the city 'Sanming' came from the combination of the two counties, Sanyuan and Mingxi, which constitute the city proper.
 
Physical Features: Sanming belongs to low mountainous and hilly area, as well as river valleys. The main land of the city can be divided into several types, including fluvial landform, Danxia landform, karst landform and some other trivial landforms.
 
Taining County has the largest area of Danxia landform in Fujian Province.
 
Climatic Features: Having a subtropical humid maritime climate, Sanming has abundant rainfall and moderate climate. It is affected greatly by maritime monsoon. Its rainy season may last from March to September, and October to February is the dry season. The average temperature of a year is about 17-19C(63-66F).
 
 Scenic Spots:
Golden Lake of Taining is a major scenic resort of the country. It is water-centered scenic area characterized by Danxia landform. Here, gullies and valleys are deep, various landscapes of Danxia landform develop, red cliffs are lofty, and peaks and pillars stand up like a forest.
 
Majestically overlooking the glistening Golden Lake, the scenic area is a place of interest combined with Danxia landform and vast lake water and is rarely seen in China. According to the distribution and characteristic of landscapes of Danxia landform, the scenic area is divided into four scenic zones: Ganlu Rock, Maoer Mountain, Calm Lake of Meikou and Calm Lake of Yikou.
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by the freaky Pink Floyd
The album was the freaky 'Atom Heart Mother'.
Maybe it was recorded whilst high on a high cliff face by freaky Monks freakin out!
Sounds that way to me, one of my favorites!
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