CHINA 2010 SATURDAY 3rd

6.30 I was woken by the noise of the heavy traffic below. The sun was shining through the curtains but I soon went back to sleep. It was a good job Keith had set an alarm as he too was in a deep sleep when it rang. The Company had thoughtfully stocked the fridge with plenty of milk, juice, eggs, bottled water and fruit, including grapefruit which Keith enjoys every morning. I had brought coffee and our favourite herb teas so we were soon able to rustle up breakfast.

Whilst Keith went to his meeting at 10.30 I began to make a shopping list. On further exploration of the apartment I found some of the items listed in the most unusual places such as washing liquid out on the balcony, but then the washing facilities are out on the balcony so I guess it is the logical place for it. More coat hangers were hanging from one of the sink taps and on looking up I discovered the drying rail is fixed rather highly to the ceiling, part of the above apartment's balcony. An oval stainless steel shape it has several rings fromn which to hang clothes on the coat hangers. I do wonder how I am going to cope when it comes to drying the bed linen. I cannot hang anything over the balcony as we have a vertical plastic covered wire screen surrounding it. It feels very hot already. Watching CCTV 9 the news channel has stated that a parade due to take place at Shanghai's Expo has been cancelled due to the unusually high temperatures. It also stated Europe is also experiencing extremely hot weather.

Keith returned home with Manders (Mr Li) to collect me for an afternoon of sightseeing once we have eaten. When we reached the car several other members of staff were seated inside and we sped off to another lovely restaurant. We were introduced to Mr. Cai (pronounced Chi) the Managing Director of Hailong Manning who warmly welcomed us. A very relaxed atmosphere where once again too much excellent food was served and eaten!

We returned the office building and said goodbye to everyone except Manders who then instructed the driver on where he wished to take us. We began with a tour of the coast line passing some lovely beaches, most of which were deserted due to the hot weather. A few people were kite surfing something Manders thinks he might like to try - then again perhaps not! Over a long bridge to another island and back into Xiamen via another one. To stretch our legs after having no exercise since last Wednesday we went to visit the grounds of Xiamen University. I forget how many thousand students are studying a variety of subjects as this University but it has some lovely buildings and most in keeping with the old Chinese style of architecture. The fairly large lake and landscaped gardens made it feel a lovely environment. Close by was one of Xiamen's tourist sites, 'Nanputou Temple'. The Temple buildings were familiar to us apart from the colourful roofs especially the dragons and birds. The gilded Buddha statues were of the finest quality most being displayed in large glass cases. In the ponds we saw many turtles swimming around. Apparently people buy these as an offering and release them into the pools when they visit. We climbed part of the way up the hillside stopping to view more buildings. We could have continued to the top and eventually reach a botanical garden, but with the heat this was as far as we wished to go today, especially as we had left our water in the car. Mander suggested we go and taste the 'Mango Ice' and drink 'Bean Curd Milk', the bean curd being imported from Taiwan. The mango was nice - not too sure about the milk. Mander was disappointed with the dessert and said next time we would go to the best in the city.

Back home, after we had politely refused more hospitality from Mander to take us out to eat - after all that food at lunchtime, we went to the supermarket which was thankfully air conditioned. Being a Trust Mart I had hoped it was laid out similar to Dalian. No way in fact we had trouble trying to locate the entrance among the in-shops. Finally we succeeded only to discover the supermarket covers 2 floors. Two assistants came to our aid when we were searching out brown sugar and with the help of a young shopper we soon added that item to our basket. We achieved our goal apart from cornflakes but on paying found the glass tankard had no price ticket and we think the assistant wanted us to go and get another. No way as we had picket it up somewhere on the first floor so we declined to purchase it until another day. By now it was dark outside and supper was a very late affair especially with only one burner.

I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU ALL BUT THERE WILL BE NO PHOTOS IN MY BLOGS. CHINA'S SYSTEM IS TOO SLOW TO DEAL WITH THE UPLOADING.