CHINA 2010 WEDNESDAY 4th AUGUST

HONSHAN GONGYUAN (Goose Mountain Park)
After a morning wandering around calling at the Post Office to post a letter after receiving instructions from the counter clerk that I must add the name of the sender’s address on the same side as the person I want the letter delivered to, and then back to ‘Trust Mart’ for another teaspoon and a pillow for me. For the equivalent of £1.90 I purchased anatomically designed lavender smelling one. In the stationery section I have also found a good marker pen that comes with an eraser on the end that cost nearly as much as my pillow!
So when Keith came home I told him I had only just returned as the noise from all the work taking place in various apartments was deafening and that as soon as we had had lunch we should go out. I chose a trip to ‘Goose Mountain Park’ and according to our guide book bus routes l,2 or 21 would take us there the only problem was none of these buses pass our stop outside the apartment. However looking at the map Bus 22 would take us in the right direction and we should get off after the railway lines but before the Crown Plaza Hotel. This journey takes us through the old town as far as ‘Nanputou Temple’ so we knew where we needed to alight.
We had to walk a few yards back up the road where we came to a large derelict Temple the residents living in ‘shacks’ making good use of the stone slabs around it to dry food such as peanuts in their shells whilst someone had even put out lots of bread rolls with not a bird in sight to take advantage of an easy meal.
Crossing over the main road we followed the steep winding road as per our map getting some funny looks from people we passed. As we climbed the mountainside I commented on two bronze and black Mercedes people carriers parked on the footpath stating how nice they looked. Further along a group of men were gathered by some small buildings and with the doors of smaller units being open couldn’t resist a peep as we walked by. Each unit housed artificial funeral arrangements, some similar to those we have seen in Crete. Outside the larger building was a very ornate incense burner with bundles of thin incense sticks in the sand container. It was only then the penny dropped that we were passing a crematorium and the vehicles I had admired were in fact hearses!
We continued up this road looking out for signs of the Ferris Wheel and Carousel that Dr. Bill referred to in his guide book, but despite repeatedly looking up the hillside we saw nothing but greenery and lovely big butterflies. Eventually we came to some steps either side of a steep concrete slope. Should we stick to the road or take the steps? Stick to the road! At last we came to what looked like an entrance into the Park as the shrubs and hedges here were neatly trimmed. The view down to the coast road was good but with a heat haze visibility to Gulangyu and out to sea was not that great.
We began to explore the Park following steps and paths, the designs of which were forever changing just to stop us getting bored. Again we found ourselves climbing narrow steps between large rocks and at times having to retrace our steps as the paths came to an end. We came across a tea room which was occupied by ladies playing Mah-jong whilst a group of men were sat outside drinking their tea. Pretty routes lead us back to this area and I would swear I heard the men laugh as we reappeared through a gate way in the shape of a very large jar cut into the rock wall. More ornate paths, a couple zigzagging over lily ponds, eventually brought us to more landscaped garden with a view below but still the haze continued. Down more narrow weatherworn steps we came to the proper entrance into the Park and at pavement level observed the traditional Chinese stone gateway. How did we miss this as it was opposite the derelict Temple?
By now we were very thirsty not to mention hot even though we had taken plenty of water with us. A kiosk by the Temple sold beer but there was nowhere to drink it so we ventured on down towards the coast walking along the disused railway lines. Residents in the apartment blocks had parked their cars on the lines in the concreted area but we soon came to an overgrown part where we could just make out the wooden sleepers supporting the rails. Round the bend we thought we had reached the platform but knew it was impossible as this line is no longer in use. We did come to the end of the line and smiled at the sight of the ‘Rendezvous Cafe’ with the name ‘Train Way’ in large red letters on the glass door. We had several cold beers before we continued our journey home. Keith really wanted a taxi but those that stopped for us refused to take us, perhaps because we were so near home we shall never know but they would have made 9yuan. We passed a small garden with a very large bronze sculpture of military men, fastened to a steep wall close to the ‘Wyndham Hotel’ one of the more select hotels in Xiamen. (We have one of their street maps!)
We reached the ‘Walking Street’ where I said for the umpteenth time “we are nearly home now” but not wanting to walk through the market streets we seemed to take forever to find our way out of the old part of the city. We couldn’t recall ever having gone up a slight incline before but looked at the shops and eating places to take our mind off our tired legs until at last we came to the overhead BRT and our familiar surroundings.
Apart from our short stop for beer we had been walking for 4 hours. I was in no mood to cook tonight so we returned to ‘The Soup Expert’ and had the most wonderful grouper fish but still no soup – next time!