Skywatch Friday - Sky Above Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Hey friends, I'm back after a week's absence! I've been chasing clouds and last week, the chase ended in China! Yes, I flew to Kunming, China on the 18th of February, and arrived back in Mygardenhaven this evening. As you can see, I couldn't wait to share with you the photographs I took while in Kunming, Dali and Lijiang in the province of Yunnan. As it is a Friday today, I'll start with these spectacular sky views above Yu Long Xue Shan, translated as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, in LIjiang.





The name of the mountain is inspired by its shape - that of a gigantic dragon which is snow-clad all the year round. Looking at the white clouds above me, I imagined that they were the spirit of the dragons guarding the mountain.





The skies here are a deep azure, a perfect colour for the background canvas for Nature to paint the  mountains, glaciers and of course, the white clouds.





From the vantage point of Spruce Meadow, you can see how it feels for the clouds to have allies in the form of the tall spruce trees standing guard at the foot of the mountain.





There are so many more skyscapes I would be sharing on Skywatch Fridays in the coming weeks. In the meantime, let's go watch more skies by clicking on the Skywatch Friday link at the bottom of this page.

Skywatch Friday - Sky above My Garden Haven

I couldn't believe my eyes...the skies above my own garden looked so captivating today. It was not the dramatic sky of billowing clouds, nor the melodramatic dark powerful storm clouds that might get me dashing indoors to grab my camera. It was just this - what do you call this type of clouds?

Remember my pergola? This is my favourite shot for this post-clouds over pergola! 

Looks to me like they are scurry-clouds...right then, I'll name them my scurry clouds! You can just sense that motion when you look up at them...there they go, scurrying off to the horizon, as if on a mission.

This is my second favourite - clouds above my Blue Pine.

I couldn't carry on referring to these clouds as "Scurry" all my life, could I? So, I checked it out, and comparing the photographs to my Scurry Cloud photographs, the nearest match I could find was "altocumulus". Oh alright, Alto is quite a cute name too.

To satisfy my curiosity, I found out some interesting gossip about our boy Alto - known to carry water droplets but can also carry ice-droplets when temperatures are low enough! Not a high-flier, though - a mid-level kind of cloud, hovering between 2,000 to 6,000 metres. I could tell that from his name... . Now Cirrus, though, that's a high flier! We'll meet him sooner or later.

Don't you just get a strange feeling looking at a sky like that?

So here we have it...an arresting sky with altocumulus clouds filling the whole canvas above.


For more Skywatch Friday features, please click on the link at the bottom of this page.

Skywatch Friday- Sky over Moeraki Boulders

When watching the sky, remember to keep your eye on the ground once in a while. It is fine to gaze at the clouds, trying to make out what the shapes look like, but you might just trip on a pebble, or bump into a boulder if you do that on this particular beach.


This is one place where the 'skyscape' might possibly be overshadowed by the landscape. We were informed about the spectacular  Moeraki boulders by a friendly, chatty local who said we might want to stop at the beach to see some rocks. We asked her why, and she said, "Oh, it is just a place where tourists like to stop and see those rocks there, take some photos..." she shrugged. What an understated introduction to the famous Moeraki Boulders, a site which is one of the most visited and photographed site in all of New Zealand! We later learned that these 'rocks' are rare natural wonders formed from ancient mud balls.


Are these rocks stealing the thunder from the serenity of the skies above them? Or are the skies providing the best backdrop ever to these unique natural formations? You be the judge of that.

What a beautiful sky...perfect for a blissful day to spend at the beach.

Lone Ancient Rock, looking up at the sky, wishing he could be a cloud, wispy and light, free to roam the New World.

The contrast between the texture of the rock in the foreground and the sky in the background is phenomenal.

If you were an artist, which would give you more pleasure to paint? Boulders or that sky above?


More clouds to watch at Skywatch Friday.
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Sky above the Highland Temple

I have been watching the sky, wherever I go. These photographs I took were from the top of the Genting Highlands in Malaysia from the temple grounds.











For more Skywatch Friday, click on the Skywatch Friday link at the bottom of this page.

Skywatch Friday- Balinese Skies

My destination for Skywatch this Friday is Bali skies. The first picture is of a slightly overcast sky above a misty volcano.




The clouds here appear to be billowing out of the crater! Better run for cover!

The clouds are wispy here, drifting in the wind like cotton candy melting and slowly disappearing...

 

Here we have it...that perfect cloudless sky for a perfect kite in the sky image!




May the Garuda in the sky guard and protect you.





Go on ahead to Skywatch Friday for more skywatching thrills.
Click on the link at the bottom of this page.