CHINA 2010 SATURDAY 31st JULY

If you are wondering what happened the last two days – nothing much except going out to eat and household shopping!

Today was a great surprise with a knock on our door just before 9am. We had been up before 8am as the workmen in apartment 2010 had decided to start drilling and banging earlier than usual. Keith was not very happy as he was looking forward to a lie in. So it was just as well we were up as on opening the door Capt. Mao and Mr. Cheng were stood there. Capt Mao had tried to contact us on the mobile phone they have lent us but Keith had switched it off having been told it was the same telephone number as our apartment. (Since Thursday there has been talk about going out today but nothing for certain.) 5 minutes later having had no breakfast, but at least Keith had although his pots remained unwashed, the washing machine chugging away, but the bed made we were on our way out with Capt. Mao and Mr. Cheng.

Down in the small parking area the people carrier was almost full of Keith’s students and by the time we climbed in the car was full. Our journey began “Where are we going?” I asked “To Jimei and the gardens - lots of lovely flowers” was Capt. Mao’s reply. “Oh great” was the response from Keith “We’ll never get Pam out of the place!”

It didn’t take long to reach our destination on the mainland which was the site of the ‘Garden Expo’ held in 2007 and since the end of the Exhibition the area had remained a tourist attraction – no mention of it in our ‘Xiamen Magic’ Guide book though. Being early there were not many cars in the car park or people. Tickets purchased we headed for an electric car before Capt. Mao realised they were not free. More tickets and on we get taking up all the seating.

Our first attraction was a large Chinese section with lots of water, buildings and bronze effect models in different settings depicting the old way of Chinese culture. Passing a figure with a begging bowl and palm outstretched Keith placed a small denomination silver coin in his hand! Some of the display rooms were locked but with doors slightly ajar the gap was just wide enough to take photographs. I particularly liked the setting of the family sitting at a round table having a meal, whilst in the next room we could see how the food was prepared on a stone slab with rings cut to take several burners each having a large container on top, one of which I was informed would contain rice. With displays of paper umbrellas and red lanterns hanging from the eaves of some buildings they brought a lot of colour to one particular area where Keith’s students began pushing a couple of street barrows. Taking their photo I added that this is what they could end up doing if they do not pass their English test in two weeks time! In one part of the gardens I was engrossed in photographing the colourful long corridor and the ceiling and lost sight of which way the men had gone. I tried several paths but to no avail. Eventually Mr. Sun returned and guided me to the rest of the group. Finally in this site we climbed steps leading to a Pagoda entrance to get a wonderful view of this vast site created in an area of land and water. We had hoped to take the lift but it appeared not to be working so we had to climb several flights of steps to the sound of “Oh my God” and it wasn’t coming from Keith or myseIf before we reached a viewing level on the 4th floor. It was so much easier coming down ending in a museum, again with models in costume showing a more relaxed side of Chinese culture that included puppets, Mr. Sun going into his second childhood as he demonstrated to us all how the stringed puppets worked.

Outside Capt. Mao asked what should be do next? Having observed a small maze I suggested we go and find our way to the centre. Keith had already sussed out the layout whilst surveying the area from the Pagoda so was soon looking at the statue of a woman in the centre whilst others struggled – Mr. Cheng cheated and climbed over ashort wall and through a gap in the hedging. Sympathy went out to Mr. Gu, another student, who was too short to see over the hedge!

We spent around 3 hours in very hot weather with no shade so the last part of our trip was taken in the electric car visiting two of the several islands. We travelled the World with displays of buildings, statues and plants associated with each country and Keith and I would have liked to have explored some of the places on foot.As we headed back to the car Capt. Mao suggested we visit again one afternoon and stay to see the ‘Dancing Waters’ that run at 7pm and it may be cooler too!

Now it was time to go and eat and was I hungry. We ate in a large seafood restaurant in Jimei with several impressive plaques, one stating ‘China’s Most Famous’, and again sampled some wonderful food including small crabs which had been halved and although they were soft shelled they were a bit messy to eat but ever so tasty. Getting a table had been a slight problem as on being escorted up the stairs to the 3rd floor found all the large tables occupied so it was back down the stairs to the 2nd floor where a table had just been vacated. Clean plates, bowls, spoons and chopsticks arrived and so did the beer via Mr. Mai, the other Taiwanese student, whilst Capt. Mao and our driver had gone to order the food. As the bottles of beer emptied Mr. Mai reached down and produced another ending up during the meal getting the nickname Mr. Magic.

Returning home we hadn’t gone too far before some of the students were fast asleep. We were delighted to have seen another hidden gem of China as this place has not featured in any of the sightseeing places to visit in Fujian Province that we have checked out.

Our plan for the evening was to go to ‘Haiwan Park’ in time to see the ‘Dancing Fountains’. We arrived just as it got dark with plenty of colourful lights on the city buildings and also in the Park but no sign of moving water again. We watched the ladies arriving and joining in the dancing in a space between the bottom of the long stretch of fountains and the promenade by the sea before moving into the eating and drinking area. We stopped at the Country and Western place known as ‘JJ’s’ where after ordering drinks a large American dressed in long baggy shorts, loose checked shirt and baseball cap came to enquire if everything was okay and introduced himself as Josh the co-partner of this place, his partner being called Jeff hence JJ’s. Beer came in litre glass tankards to our table but large groups had their own mini kegs of Tiger, Heineken or Carlsberg beer on their tables. We had Heineken last week and much prefer to stick to the local Chinese beers which we find very refreshing in this heat. Keith began to feel a little hungry so asked for the menu. I chose a light snack of two shrimp tacos whilst Keith went for paella only to find there wasn’t any so had seafood linguine instead. As the evening went on we were entertained on stage by a trio, two women and a man from the Phillipines (we have been told most of the city’s entertainment is by the Phillipinos) whilst people of all ages had a go on the ‘Bucking Cow’! On each table was an old fashioned oil lamp and on some also a couple of plastic containers holding 5 dice so we ended up playing ‘Liar Dice’. With some of Keith’s throws of lots of 4s I asked why he couldn’t do these throws in the ‘Mooncake Park’ and win a decent prize!

It was around 11pm when we got home and the central reservation posts have disappeared. If it wasn’t for the perfectly round holes I would have said we dreamt it!