富春山居圖／李明熙
乘船遊覽杭州桐廬縣的富春江，看元代傳世名畫「富春山居圖」的實景地。富陽區一段雖被譽為富春江最美的一段，但我偏偏聯想起國產特務電影「天機：富春山居圖」，荒誕橋段霎時腦海浮現，令我在渡船上暗自失笑。
遠看富春江的兩岸山巒起伏，近觀則碧水綠林，的確很美，可是渡船速度有點太快，摩托太吵，未能感受到富春山居圖的畫意，已經到達了嚴子陵釣臺。
嚴子陵年輕已與東漢光武帝交情甚篤，但看透官場追名逐利的險惡，多次拒絕光武帝的邀請，寧隱居富春江垂釣，也不願為仕。後人讚揚嚴子陵高風亮節，其中以北宋范仲淹撰寫的「嚴先生祠堂記」最廣為傳頌。今日釣臺上亦立有不少石碑，展示後人對嚴子陵的敬仰。
離嚴子陵釣臺約半小時車程，我們到訪有「江南第一井，南宋第一村」之稱的深澳村。「深澳」指地下引水道，村莊在建設前已規劃水利系統，現時有 17 口坎井，200 多處明清及民國時期的古建築。
古村中有一間名為「民國記憶」的咖啡店，保留傳統古建築的結構，注入時尚風格。我倆都覺得既是咖啡店，又似博物館。櫃檯上放著一部半米高的玻璃滴漏咖啡機，旁邊亦放著不少專業的咖啡烘焙器具，招牌咖啡就叫做「民國記憶」。我問掌櫃那是甚麼味道，他說是甚麼咖啡混入甚麼朱古力等等，我看價格不比星巴克的便宜，還是點一杯藍山黑咖啡比較安心。
我喝著咖啡，看到鄰座客人品嚐「民國記憶」的反應，又一次暗自失笑。
Cherry Blossoms in Hangzhou/Kimberlogic
While many people flock to Japan in the spring to see the first sights of bloom from the Cherry Blossoms and other flowers, we found an alternative in Hangzhou. Known for its vibrant spring blooms, I was eager to see the nature side of China as opposed to the city. One of my favourite things to do is walk amongst the trees, taking in the smells and the white, pink and fuchsia colours and feeling the soft petals dancing in the warm breeze like snowflakes.
The downside to scheduling a trip to see nature is that it isn’t exactly predictable. Cherry Blossoms have a very short window for their peak bloom. Mid-March to mid-April is a common time frame when estimating the trees’ bloom in the Northern Hemisphere.
Trying to time our trip to Hangzhou with the peak bloom of the Cherry Blossom was tricky, but following the suggested time frame, the end of March seemed like a pretty good gamble. A gamble is what it was and it was a gamble we ended up losing.
When we arrived at the basin of Yang Shan Fan Cun（陽山畈村）, all we were met with was brown earth and brown trees. A couple trees had a few flowers, but not enough to even say that one tree was in full bloom. It was quite disappointing, but we were able to laugh knowing that Mother Nature works in her own time and not with our travel schedule. As we walked around the brown basin it was easy to imagine how beautiful it would be in full bloom. There were thousands of Cherry Blossom trees from the top of the mountains sloping down into the valley.
Although the basin was disappointing, we were not wrong with our estimate of the Spring-time bloom in Hangzhou. Throughout our travels of the city and the West Lake, we encountered gorgeous trees in full bloom. We even had the opportunity to visit Taiziwan Park (also called Prince Bay Park) which was full of tulips.
Taiziwan Park was redemption for the basin. There were many beautiful paths to walk through the gardens to admire the vibrant colours of the hundreds of thousands of tulips. There were even cherry blossom trees in full bloom inside the park.
Since there is always something to grab your attention in China, whether in the city or in the country, the most abundant flower is normally overlooked; the canola flower. When in bloom, these flowers create large golden seas across the landscape, and they have a much more predictable and longer bloom than the Cherry Blossom.
The highlight of our flower peeping was not the basin or even the tulips, it was when we stopped on the side of the road and took a walk through the canola field. Canola flowers grow like weeds, but in a large field, they are as beautiful as any other flower.
