Pagoda and Mermaid

A mermaid surfaces near a pagoda gazebo along the shore of West Lake in Hangzhou China.  Despite the isolated feeling of this picture, there were MANY people around the whole time we were there.  At any other moment, I would have photographed several people under the canopy.  In a way, it captures one aspect of the lake’s dichotomy, where I could choose to be alone with my thoughts and my camera, or join in the communal vitality of the area.