n a sunny day in April, Vicky, Alicia and I went to the well-known Chenshan Botanical Garden. Located at Chenhua Road, Songjiang District, it is the largest botanical garden in eastern China, covering an area of 2.07 million square meters and consisting of 26 special theme parks.

At the gate stood many tulips of assorted colors. Seen from a distance, these bright, delicate flowers looked like artificial ones. We could smell the fragrance even outside the garden. After crossing a stone bridge, we found the entrance. With a SISU student card, half of the ticket price was knocked off, which sounded quite attractive since the botanical garden is located in Songjiang University Town.

There were lockers beside the ticket office, so we could put our heavy personal belongings here for a moment because we didn’t want to carry them inside. Behind the lockers was a heating drinking water machine. The infrastructure here demonstrated the tourist-friendly nature of this natural beauty garden. The working staff kindly reminded us not to smudge or tear the QR code on the tickets, because we should scan that to get inside.

The first thing that came to our sight when we got in was not cherry blossoms, which attracted us here considering that April was the best season to enjoy the elegant and charming flowers, but crowds of tourists. The tourists seemed to be families, couples or friends coming together like us. Many people were taking pictures with cellphones or cameras. My friends, Alicia and Vicky, carried a Canon and a Sony respectively. We had to admit that the main reason why we were here was to take beautiful pictures and to temporarily relieve our anxieties caused by proposals and book report writings. For me, I’m not a flowers lover, but I do admire their beauty. Who could say no to dancing cherry flower petals? When the wind drifted the petals into the air, we felt like being in a pink dreamland. I bet all girls would like this crazily.

Our first stop, actually two, was Spring Garden and Cherry Garden next to Gate 1, but these two were adjacent.

Stunned by the beauty of cherry blossoms, we spent about several hours here, taking hundreds of pictures of the scenery, and certainly of ourselves too. Typical girls! Our best photo is always the last one.

Vicky, in traditional Chinese Hanfu clothing, was so pretty that a granny offered to take some photos of her, with very professional equipments. There were many other girls in Hanfu clothing, among whom one young mother and her cute little daughter drew my attention, partly because of their red Hanfu clothing. The mother whirled the little girl in her arms, and the father ran and took photos for them, which reminded me of my sweet childhood when my parents often took me to the old children’s park.

Apart from these Hanfu girls, many other girls in Japanese Lolita clothing were also eye-catchers in the botanical garden. Some held a book or umbrella, stood under the tree, and perfectly blended in the beautiful landscape.

It is a pity that we didn’t have enough time to go to other parks and see baby-blue-eyes near Gate 3. So to be frank, the first stop is our last stop.

If you want to go to Chenshan Botanical Garden, make sure to come in the morning. The garden is so big that there are 12 tour buses, as well as 2 mini trains. You can choose to take the bus or train at any one of the 8 stations. The ticket price is 10 yuan per person. If you prefer walking, that’s a good exercise to walk around different parks, but you may not be able to visit all the gardens in one day. What’s more, you can have a picnic here on the grass with your friends or families, but don’t forget to take away the garbage. If you don’t take any food with you, restaurants in the General Building's hall at Gate1 and the Public Space at Gate 2, together with stores that sell snacks and beverage can be good choices.

To sum up, Chenshan Botanical Garden is a place you can’t miss if you study or work in Shanghai. For more information, you can check the official website of it. Come at the right time (March to May, and it’s said that April is the best in view of the period of flowering) with the right person (your other half, your families), or friends and you will definitely get a “right” view of it. Hope you all have a nice trip here!