Day 2 : Shaoshan

The sky was clear and blue. The sun shone mercilessly, casting a golden hue upon everything. I squinted my eyes as everything seemed so to be looking so bright. China was experiencing a prolonged heatwave, with extreme temperatures at some places. It had not been THIS HOT in 50 years!

It was crazy hot, and I was just as crazy because I was going to be walking under the sun later on. My fear? Hmn ... sunburn, freckles and heatstroke. My weapons? Sunblock, lots of water, an umbrella, and arm covers.

The motorcyclists did not need to wear helmets. They needed umbrellas. 

I jumped into the van, a JAC, for a comfortable ride to the next destination, Shaoshan (韶山).

Our vehicle for the next couple of days, China's very own make

The van was tied with red ribbons on both sides of the side mirrors. It's a superstition to ensure a safe journey.

Shaoshan is a small city located in the county of Xiangtan. It is about 120 km away from Changsha in the southeasterly direction, and this city is popularly known as the hometown of Mao Zedong.

We were dropped off at the Mao Zedong Bronze Statue Square. Well, as the name indicated, there was a 10 metre bronze statue of him here. As of today, people still paid homage to his revolutionary leader of modern China by placing wreaths of flowers at the base on this statue.

Chairman Mao, the founding father of the People's Republic of China
MH said that the statue was built in 1993, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth

The garden surrounding the square was beautifully landscaped, and there were stone tablets inscribed with poetry. I think they were written by Mao Zedong himself. 

A stone tablet 

A short walk away was the childhood home of Mao Zedong.

The sign ...

But the short walk there was distracting. On the left side of the road were ponds where water lily or the lotus plant were cultivated. So many water lilies. I loved the pink blooming flowers they looked so pretty!

A blooming water lily hiding  under the leaves ... 

Naturally, there were carts piling the roadside, and they were selling fresh lotus pods. 

Lotus pods for sale .... RMB10 for 5 pieces 

A lotus pod, from which the seeds could be taken out 

Just peel off the brown skin to consume the seed inside. Be sure to remove the green germ inside first. Otherwise, the seed would burst in bitterness in the mouth. The crunchy and nutty lotus seed was pleasant to eat, somewhat tasted like the flesh of an old coconut

Finally we reached Mao Zedong's school and childhood home. We were free to stroll into the small building which was the school ....

The classroom at the loft
This was the school where Mao Zedong received his education as a child 

But there was a queue to enter the house. At peak seasons or peak hours even, one had to queue for 4 hours for a 10-minute tour of the house!! But we were lucky to wait for only 10 minutes.

The house was made of mudbricks and had a thatched roof. The pathway led us from room to room, and we exited at the back of the house. It was a bit annoying that I could not linger in the house as I would like to. In each room, I stayed a mere few seconds before the queue behind me pushed to get through. Seriously, I did not know what was the hurry .....

This was what the kitchen looked like ... 

Anyway, Mao Zedong's family was considerably wealthy at that time, his father a landowner.

View of the house from opposite ... 

I loved the large pond in front of the house, and also the lush green paddy plant sweeping across the 

landscape. It was beautiful and exuded a sense of peace. 

By the time we finished our tour, it was time for lunch! The were many restaurants along the road, and we had ours at one of them. I was not so hungry ... but I could not wait to get some shade. I was burning hot!!