CHINA 2010 WEDNESDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER

MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL
9.45am when we woke although I had been disturbed by a thunderstorm. As the morning passed the sky became brighter and with washing and ironing done we would go for a walk to ‘Haiwan Park’. Never mind the packing ready for tomorrow’s departure!
As we crossed the road to take the upper level road into the park a large area of the road was flooded and some cars slowed down but the majority went at full speed through the deep water. We had a little difficulty getting to the footpath but managed to keep our feet dry whilst watching to see whether a young woman on her bike would ride through the water or get off and push it. She rode round the edge of the ‘lake’ close to the other carriageways.
In the park lots of trees had blown over and again the gardeners had been busy. We watched a crane at work with a man in the fork of the tree attaching a strap around the trunk then connect the loop to the hook on the crane. He remained in situ whilst the crane pulled the tree upright and then helped with the support posts using very large nails and a small hammer. Walking by the water we saw lots of rubbish but already the small boats were out cleaning up, especially plastic items and anything else he could collect in his large fishing net, leaving wood to float out to sea. We also watched a couple of young men jumping off the high wall into the filthy sea, one of them having second thoughts but then deciding to go for it after words from his mate. By now it was a lovely afternoon and as it was a public holiday lots of families were in the park.
On our way home we saw a man cutting back a shrub by the side of his small shop using a pair of nail scissors!
7pm we met up with Mander and Cindy who were taking us out for the evening. They chose a Hunnan style restaurant close to the top part of ‘Yundang Lake’. As we expected it was very busy and we had to wait for a table. It wasn’t long before we were shown to one in a small part off the main dining area and on a higher level. Behind me I had a large round window and a little girl who was bored with adult company came to sit in the curve once she had squeezed past my chair. As the evening progressed their table became very noisy as the family played ‘BoBing’ and a lot of red wine was drunk during the game. Mander had chosen a good variety of food all of which was spicy, some a lot more than others – the fish took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes so I didn’t have very much of that. The frogs did taste just like chicken!
When it came to getting home we had a while to hail a free taxi. I made Cindy laugh whilst reading a sign on a wall built over a road as it sounded like the English word ‘usually’ and that started Mander off with his pronunciation of usually, making her laugh even more. We asked to be dropped off at ‘Haiwan Park’ once we got in a taxi, the driver driving like a mad man which none of us liked and Keith and I were glad to get out. Cindy got in the back with Mander for the rest of their journey after declining to join us in the park.
It was now 9.30pm and no sign of the group other than the Chinese girl and the keyboard player. Eventually they began with the keyboard player singing the opening number but the sound was awful, not just from the loudspeaker but he was competing with the singer from ‘Scotland’ bar next door where their soloist had turned the sound up. Next a man sang and he was awful so when the Chinese girl sang one of her favourite songs that was the end of the session. She came to talk to us and we asked where everyone else was. They hadn’t turned up and they hadn’t been paid - but she didn’t say that. The staff were very surprised when we said we were going home as we had to pack and said they were sorry to see us leave Xiamen.
I did a little packing and sorting – how much tea have we got?! Then I remembered the box of slippers for the boys – good job they are wooden and flat. That’s it I was off to bed.

CHINA 2010 TUESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER

Both of us were up early as this morning is ‘Presentation Day’ beginning at 9am when the students will give their presentations to Management before leaving to enjoy the Mid Autumn Festival which takes place tomorrow. Most of senior Management attended the beginning but due to the typhoon and the delay we had in Shanghai only Capt. Mao remained to the end. A slight delay as Mr. Cai and a few others returned to congratulate the men and have an official photo taken by Yeti.
We went down to the office area to see Helen about our travel plans for Thursday as Mander was absent. (When he got home he found Cindy was not well and had taken her to the hospital.) There was still the Attendance Certificates to be signed by Keith for the students, and one or two of them were still hanging around for their travel arrangements so we let Helen see to them. Finally it was our turn and after getting flight information, and money to pay for the hotel, Helen disappeared saying she had a gift for us. She soon returned with a presentation box of tea for Keith and a crystal pendant for me. We waved to the office staff as we left and said we hoped to see them next year. It was all a bit of an anti climax – not just for us but for the officers who had put so much effort into their course and had done well in the 33 days Keith spent with them.
In the afternoon we had more heavy rain and when it cleared we went for a walk round the block to see what damage ‘Typhoon Fanami’ had caused. The gardeners were already cutting branches off trees ready for them to be replanted as most have shallow roots. At times we had to walk along the road as the pavement was blocked with branches.
Close to tea time I went to Trust Mart to buy a fish for tea. What should have been a quick trip turned out to take well over an hour as I got in the wrong queue at checkout. People are still playing ‘BoBing’ and so many of the tills were occupied by people with trollies full of useful household items. A lady behind me had one of her trollies half full of toothbrushes and toothpaste and I thought was she trying to tell someone something in their place of employment! In front of me I had three old ladies who were giving the young till operator a hard time over a tin of ‘Nestle prepared food for the elderly’ which came with a free mug only the till didn’t recognise it and a supervisor was called. Sheets had to be checked and at last the item was found and the code entered. The old lady had another mug in a box, similar to the free gift and I think the operator had had enough by now and just let her have it putting it in her shopping bag. Then there was the frozen dumplings that her mate had shown her. One of them had gone to get some more but came back with a bag of fruit so ‘my old lady’ went for the dumplings only to find on returning they weren’t on special offer and she didn’t want them! When it came to paying ‘my old lady’ produced a wad of Trust Mart scratch cards but it wasn’t enough to pay for the goods so she had to search her handbag for her purse, then scratch about looking for the small amount of change to settle the bill. They weren’t going to be rushed at packing their few items either. It was dark when I got home!

CHINA 2010 MONDAY 20th SEPTEMBER

Just as I stepped into the shower Mander rang to say we would meet for breakfast at 8am. No change of plan – go to the foyer as quickly as possible we are going to the airport and will have breakfast there. 15 minutes after the call we were showered, packed, and on our way. Keith attempted to strangle Mander when this flight was cancelled again and we would return to the hotel. No, we would wait.
Needing to take his medication as I could see he was beginning to go very red in the face Keith went to get a coffee and sandwich just as it was decided to go and have breakfast. I was still full from last night and only wanted a coffee but the restaurant only had hot soya milk or cold drinks so I ordered kumquat juice for Keith and I. We sat a while carrying out an English lesson with Mander and Capt. Ke regarding sockets and plugs in between checking flights. The typhoon was still over Xiamen with strong winds and a little rain. Mander had rung Cindy (Lin) last night who had said it was okay just a little wind – how sickening. Suddenly we were able to get boarding cards but still have no idea what time we would fly even though boarding time was printed as 10.30am.
Down at gate 43 we left the group watching a movie on TV and returned to the comfort of ‘Yea Sun’ lounge where I had a cup of Mocha Coffee presented in a triangle shaped deep cup with the words ‘Yea Sun’ in the white froth. We made our drinks last until Mander came to say we had tickets for lunch provided by the airline in the restaurant next door. What a contrast from the comfortable sofas with picture windows of the airport activity and the landscape of Shanghai. Hard plastic seats and formica tables, noise and no view! We had a choice of beef, chicken or duck – hard luck there was only beef left when I went with Mander to collect our food. Still it was edible and came with peppery rice and a small bowl of cabbage in soya sauce along with chicken soup plus a can of coke.
The others returned to the departure gate whilst we stayed on the upper level wandering around the shops and noting ‘Leonardis Belgium Chocolates’ started at 538 yuan for a single layer box. (£53.80) We were looking for a guide book on Fujian but so far we were unable to find one in English. A couple of hours later I started with stomach cramps and then the runs and thankfully we still had no departure time. We had said we would listen to the announcements which kept repeating “Xiamen was closed to the adverse weather conditions and our departure time would be announced later” even though other airlines were giving a time for their planes to take off. Suddenly Mander telephoned we were boarding now!
We were transported out to our plane and once everyone was seated sat there, again waiting for instructions to the pilot regarding take off. Eventually he announced we would depart at 17.40pm – over an hour since boarding. Our descent into Xiamen was very bumpy and the closer we got to ground level could see rain battering against the window, but at least we were back safe. As we left the airport entrance we noticed a box containing lighters with a sign saying ‘help yourself’. We had also seen this at Shanghai airport and thought it was a good recycling scheme especially if you hand in an almost empty one and are lucky to pick up a nearly full one!
We said our goodbyes and went in a people carrier with Capt. Mao who has just moved into an apartment close to the Office and our lady, whose name we cannot remember as we have not had much contact with her and her English is not so good. Travelling along with the rain almost stopped we felt we were in a strange city and couldn’t recognise anywhere. Buildings that are normally lit up were now in almost darkness, down side roads we saw upturned trees and parts of roads were flooded. Arriving at the security gate to our apartment block, and collecting our luggage out of the boot before saying goodbye again to Capt Mao, we were also handed a large box of Mooncakes given to us by the University. How lovely!
As it was after 8pm we dashed round to ‘The Soup Expert’ for a light supper to see lots of plastic advertising hoarding hanging in shreds from buildings, broken plant pots, and broken glass outside the mobile phone shop. Another sight we had not expected was to see the shops closed but then Mander had said no buses had been running today and the students had not gone to the Training Centre either.

CHINA 2010 SUNDAY 19th SEPTEMBER

Around 6.30am some Chinese man rang our room – too late we have been disturbed so by 7am we decided to get up. It was very foggy as we looked out of the window. I hadn’t slept well hearing what I thought was fireworks in the early hours. It had been almost midnight before we turned out the light.
After breakfast on our own at ‘Lakeside’ we had time to stroll along the waterways by our hotel. There is a vast amount of land to be developed and in around two year’s time this will be a popular place and expensive. At 9.30am Mr. Tu and Mr. Sun arrived in a covered three wheel truck used as transport by the students, the seating being a carpet covered plank down the sides. Was this to be our transport for the morning? No a shiny black Buick arrived and climbing inside reminded us of sitting in our Lexus as the car had all the gadgets including satellite navigation and parking/reversing camera.
Mr. Tu said we had a choice we could go to a hill or visit a Museum. We chose the Museum as we both felt we had done enough climbing yesterday. Back into the city centre we stopped by a modern building with the sign advertising ‘Abacuses Museum’. This would be interesting especially as the young men had no idea what an Abacus was. It was also by the Haohe River and had a nice garden to wander around. Inside the display showed the history of the Abacus and displayed no end of varieties from minute silver ones to a round room where the stage was filled with a giant example constructed out of rosewood and every joint was connected with a mortise and tenon joint. In the gardens we met a couple of Americans who had just arrived in Nantong after spending 3 days in Shanghai. The man was to be working as a surveyor in the shipyard for the next three years and on being introduced to the cadets said he had been an engineer on oil tankers. What a coincidence and also last night Keith had encouraged the audience to talk to the ‘Westeners’ if ever they had a chance.
By now it was lunchtime and the students took us to a small restaurant famous for its beef dishes. We were shown into a small room and as the fat owner wearing a very heavy gold chain around his neck began to take the order he reminded me so much of the lady cashier in the ‘barn’ in Xiamen as he tried to promote some of the dishes. But the men and our driver stood their ground and plates of food began to arrive. We sampled river prawns and the only difference we saw was the razor sharp spike on the top of the head was larger than other prawns we have eaten. We ate river fish and sizzling been with peppers which were the only dishes familiar to us.
Time went very quickly and now we had to return to our hotel to leave for Shanghai. Mr. Sun was quite emotional as we said goodbye again and we promised to let them have copies of the photos I had taken during our short but pleasant visit. We also thanked the driver for giving up his time to take us out, and again the students as they had volunteered to be our hosts and were excellent ambassadors for their College. We travelled in a small coach to Shanghai airport with everyone falling asleep except Keith and I. I didn’t want to miss anything, but we did discover that the man on reception had run every room at 6.30 and there was a lot of angry people. We made good time and duly checked in then went for a drink in a comfy lounge. 5 minutes to boarding so we set off to gate 27 that was close by. Funny there were not many people around. I took a quick dash to the loo and on returning discovered our flight had been cancelled due to typhoon ‘Fanami’ currently over Xiamen. Everyone got out their mobile phones trying to find alternative travel but there were no seats on the Express train – that would have been interesting but a very long journey and no idea when the next flight would be. This is China and airlines do not organise hotels etc. especially when it is convenient to blame the weather so the Company would have to pay for us to stay in the airport hotel. We collected our baggage and had our boarding cards destroyed and went to the taxi rank. Getting into two taxies we followed Capt. Mao’s some distance to the ‘Green Tree Suite’ which was the nearest airport hotel. A bit seedy in a seedy area and whilst Capt. Mao, Capt. Ke and one of the Company’s senior ladies went to Expo we went with Mander and Mr. Yang to a dumpling cafe for dinner. Lovely, except we had asked for the black fish and it did not taste good so we all left it alone. Comments were made to the cashier at the end of the meal but she assured Mr. Yang it was a fresh fish. We had been invited along to Expo but we had been on the go since 7am and wanted our bed. However we did take a walk round the block and by the canal stopping at the ‘Mirror Bar’ for one small beer before returning. The bar was very small and dark and the music too loud but hospitality was good with a large bowl of sunflower seeds and a plate of sliced watermelon produced with our drink. Hanging from the largest open space was a punch bag with a pair of boxing gloves attached! I was asleep by 10am as Keith was re-arranging his presentation in case he is asked to repeat it.

CHINA 2010 SATURDAY 18th SEPTEMBER

Just after 7.30am Mander rang to say we would go out to breakfast as the hotel was not very good so by 8am we were walking down the street again looking for a suitable coffee house. By coincidence the ‘Lakeside’ had just introduced a breakfast menu from 7am and as we were the only people we were made very welcome. A new place, as most of the buildings are, we sat by a large picture window on orange plush velvet sofas whilst overhead were lines of chandeliers, short black and white bead curtains and potted plants. Breakfast was lovely and the friendly manager brought a basket of assorted bread with compliments of the house closely followed by a plate of small spicy potato cakes with a chilli dip – lovely! Mander had never tasted such good bread or eaten a croissant so he asked if he may take the uneaten ones, which is quite usual in Chinese restaurants, although he was a little worried as these had been free!
We should have left for the University at 8am but because of the enormous breakfast it was 8.30 before we got away. Keith was a little anxious about his presentation and wanted to look at the hall and check his computer worked with their system. A very nice room with tiers of comfortable purple seating leading down to the stage area and once he had tried out the microphone and adjusted the sound we set off to explore with our student friends. We found out they were in trouble for being late in last night even though the College knew where they were.
Our first stop was at ‘Langshan’ one of the five hills in Nantong – ‘Wolf Hill’ so called because a white wolf was once said to inhabit the mountain. It is also the home of the Dashi Zhi Buddha known as one of eight famous Buddhist Small Mountains in China, so there was more climbing to do. Although it was early it was very busy not only with people going up but people coming down. When we reached the Temple area the view down below was lovely with also a good view of the Yangtze. We were unable to climb the tower but watched as people lined up to burn their money and see the wind take the blackened remains into the blue sky. With Mr. Hao leading the way we began our descent down to a cable car station that would take us to the park area below. Going down very rough tracks and steps with Mr. Sun assisting me at times we found the cable car was not going to our destination, it wasn’t even moving, so we had to climb back up the steps again. Eventually we returned to the better smoother steps and were soon back at the car to drive to the park entrance.
I was in my element as a Chrysanthemum Show had just opened but it was now lunchtime so getting out tickets endorsed we returned to the car to search out a restaurant. We found one that served ‘Langshan Chicken’ a speciality of the house. Lots of meat on this chicken’s bones and served in a rich sauce! We were intrigued to know what was in the glass pyrex dish that came to the table bubbling like mad – drunken prawns. Live prawns in Chinese white spirit (that we refuse to drink) and soya sauce and we had to wait quite a while until they died happy! Mr. Nee ordered so much food we thought we would never get through it and when we did a dish of sizzling beef appeared. At least we knew when a plate of sliced sweet and water melon arrived we were at the end of the meal. The cadets were very good at keeping Keith’s glass full of beer as well as their own.
Back to the gardens and a drive around in an electric car - our lady driver being very good to let us take photographs especially of the displays of chrysanthemums that were in need of a good watering. Everywhere we stopped we had a lovely view of ‘Wolf Hill’. We were allowed a 15 minute break to walk down a pier to the solar powered lighthouse with the Yangtze now on both sides. Keith and the men had climbed down some rocks to a site called ‘Claw Rock’ close to the pier and a jetty that was in a poor state with part of it falling into the river. Although we would have preferred to stay in the park the students had other ideas and we headed back into the city to visit a Museum. This was the home of a benefactor to the education of the people of Nantong and its industries. Ahead of us in the house was a group from Paraguay and one of the ladies handed Keith and I a badge which we fixed to our camera bags. This badge caused a lot of confusion from then on. People holding numbered boards would tell Keith which bus he was on, whilst another asked which group was he with. Did they not notice the three Chinese young men in Naval Uniforms accompanying us?
We also found time to visit a Dinosaur and Natural History Museum but by now it was almost 4pm and Mr. Hao wanted to take us somewhere else. We had arranged to have dinner with Mander at 5.30 then get ready to leave for the University to be there for 7pm, so we asked to return to our hotel. Mr. Sun produced a present of a picture carved on a piece of bamboo which also contained his name amongst the Chinese characters before we said our goodbyes but I hoped we would see them tonight.
Everyone from Hailong had now arrived at the hotel and we all ate at the same restaurant as last night. As the team had more work to do before we arrived at the University they left leaving us with Mander who ordered a plate of beef and a cocktail glass of spicy jellyfish, which we had sampled last night, before we left.
Mr. Nee had returned to Shanghai so we needed a taxi to take us to the University. The hotel couldn’t help, but thanks to the security guards at the road entrance who tried to help, we were able to take a taxi that pulled up outside our hotel entrance to drop off a passenger. When we arrived at the hall Keith was given a round of applause much to our surprise as we were supposed to be there before the students came in. There was not a vacant space – those that couldn’t get a seat, mainly freshmen, were sitting down the steps and spreading out into the floor space between the seating and the stage. Keith set up his computer and then Mander said could we go to another room to give a short talk to a few students who were unable to go to his presentation. (One of the students had prepared a slide show of different places set to music which would keep the audience entertained until we returned.) This large room was almost full and as Keith spoke more students came in eventually filling this room. We had no idea so many people would want to come and listen to him, especially on a Saturday night. After a short question and answer session we returned to the original hall. All went well and afterwards Mander spoke to the students in Chinese and English. (He worries that his English is poor but we were very impressed by his speech to the students.) The evening ended with the freshmen leaving and the remaining students dressed in their smart white shirts and navy trousers, and contracted to Xiamen Hailong Manning, having their photo taken whilst saying whatever was written on the screen. It was a greeting from them to the parent Company that will be celebrating 60 years on the 29th of September when more celebrations will take place to which we would have been invited had we been in China.
A teacher gave Mr. Liu, Keith and I a lift back to our hotel and then we returned to ‘Lakeside’ for a beer so Keith could wind down. Mr. Liu was not happy with the price saying restaurants only charge 10 yuan for a beer and 30 for a small one was too expensive! We left just before 11pm as the coffee bar was closing but said we would be back for breakfast especially as they had lent us a bottle opener with our ‘carry out’.

CHINA 2010 FRIDAY 17th SEPTEMBER

NANTONG WEEKEND
At noon we made our way down to the foyer to await the arrival of Helen and Mr. Zheng who would drive us to the airport for our flight to Shanghai where Mander would be waiting for us. We will then travel by road to Nantong, a city situated on the Yangtze River.
Our flight was due to depart at l.30pm and we boarded on time but after we left the gate we sat for another 30 minutes until the pilot received instructions for takeoff. During this time we were issued with a bread roll and a cup of water for those that wanted it and when we did get airborne our lunch was 2 bread rolls, a piece of Maderia cake and an individual snack size packet of pickled vegetable, plus a drink. I ate the cake and drank more water! As we made our approach to Shanghia Hongqiao Airport the young man sitting next to me by the window practised his English telling me he was a salesman for Sharp in Shanghai and his home town was Guanzhou and we should visit. 30 minutes late we met up with Mander and Mr. Liu, the Manager of Hailong Manning in Shanghai, who had met us on our arrival into China many moons ago, and we set off for a long drive to Nantong.
We hadn’t travelled very far on toll roads before we were in the countryside with lots of greenery and detached houses but some of the traditional style buildings had added solar water heaters spoiling the roof tops as far as I was concerned. We also passed a Temple area with a large gold Pagoda standing out amongst the countryside as it glowed in the sunlight.
Arriving in Nantong we made a stop at the Maritime College where the students were occupying the road rather than the pavement. There are around 10,000 students in this college and those dressed in blue, grey and black camouflage were freshmen, some of which would be attending Keith’s presentation. We left Mander and went on to our hotel with Mr. Liu.
The hotel was not far from the College and on the edge of what will eventually be a large complex with many restaurants and night clubs and a very large garden area, part of which had already been constructed and being so close to the Yangtze River had water running through the grounds with walkways alongside. As it got dark the area became illuminated with lights threaded through the trees and on the outer roadside trees with pendants of lights changed colours as the light dropped from top to bottom. The building across the road from our room, which is on the 6th floor, was opposite the oldest restaurant in the area and again built in traditional Chinese style. By the road was a freestanding ornate wall of Chinese scenes and gold lettering concealing the parking area. Getting to our room had been a bit of a hike going up to the second floor, walking along a not too clean carpet, exiting across an open walkway, through a building site of open space and into a lift to get to the top floor. As the lift door opened we saw this was a vast improvement than the second floor as the carpet was clean and glass beaded curtains hung three quarters of the way down narrow parts of the corridors almost in front of picture windows where there were no doors. We had a very large boutique room split into 3, a glass shower room, business suite and our bedroom where a huge TV screen was only feet away from our faces! The business suite was a failure as the desk and 3 leather chairs had been placed on the opposite side to all the plug sockets so once all the wires from computers and modems etc. had been inserted there was no access to the bathroom or the door! As Keith looked in the desk drawers he discovered a previous occupier had used one of the large ones for rubbish when there was a metal waste bin already provided at the end of the desk!
Time to eat and Mr. Liu took us along the road, which he explained would be a ‘walking road’ once the area was complete, to a lovely restaurant where we were joined by two cadets from the College, Mr. Tu (Deck) and Mr. Sun (Engineer), once the staff had found our booking. The food was beautifully presented but we had no meat as Mr. Liu is a vegetarian. We did enjoy a hot dish of prawns served with chunks of dragon fruit and celery, and the fresh tomato soup contained large bones with a little meat clinging to the surface but I ignored them and collected several pieces of sweet potato along with the juice when ladling it into my small bowl. We sampled a delicious cone made of puffed rice filled with spicy sweetcorn and other small crispy vegetables and wondered how they had ‘glued’ the rice together. Time to leave but not before another young man, Mr. Hao joined us. Also Engineering cadet he was to help our driver, Mr. Nee find his way into the city centre so we could take a boat ride that Capt.Mao had organised for us.
It took quite a time to get into the city due to Friday night’s traffic and find a suitable place to enable us to take a boat on the scenic Haohe River. Whilst small boats were available for the public to hire we stepped down into a larger electric boat with 8 individual seats on each side so everyone could have a good view through the sliding windows of the illuminated buildings and bridges alongside the river. The length of the river is 11km but we only travelled 6 in a figure of 8, which was a bit annoying as I had hoped to take photos of some of the sights on Keith’s side. As we travelled along going under many bridges and passing people walking alongside illuminated walkways the Students gave us information about some of the buildings especially a very large impressive one which was a 5 star hotel. Our boat driver had given a running commentary and spoke slowly so if we did know Chinese we would have been able to understand him, but we don’t so Mr. Liu did most of the translating for us. All too soon our journey was over and we returned to the car to be driven to another part of the city where we briefly watched people rehearsing a play in the open air theatre by the river. On a higher level a man was showing off his skills at line skating by speedily weaving on one skate through a row of small cones, whilst sat around tables were small children with their mothers painting and using plastic containers with fine nozzles of bright colourful paint to fill in their pictures instead of using brushes. Under a long canopy people were having neck massages, whilst other people were just happy to sit and watch the world go by with music playing in the background. Time to return to our hotel and get the young men back to College as at 10pm the dormitories are checked to make sure everyone is in their room by that time but first our driver stopped at a convenience store so Mr. Liu could buy cans beer and cola for Keith and I.

CHINA 2010 THURSDAY 16th SEPTEMBER

I have been researching ‘Wudang Mountains’ after watching a travelogue programme whilst trying to prepare our evening meal. The place looks amazing and with all those steps I was pleased to see one could take a bamboo sedan chair for a considerable part of the journey. With so many visitors to another of China’s UNESCO sites there must be a cable car so far up the mountain as the majority of Chinese people are not that keen on walking, let alone mountain climbing. The first site I went on was to get a map to find out where ‘Wudang Mountains’ were – in Hubei Province but what caught my eye was an advertising banner at the top of the page. Quote “Learn the Deepest, Darkest Secrets of Cheap Airfare from a Fired Airline Travel Agent.” Perhaps when I have a little more time!
We spent this evening ‘legally’ gambling playing ‘BoBing’ (Mooncake Game) in the company of the entire staff of Hailong Manning along with several Managers from parent companies. We had been warned it would be a noisy affair and it was what with the shouts of glee at winning a prize or the pinging of the 6 dice as they landed in each bowl. We don’t know how many tables there were set out in the restaurant’s main dining area on the 3rd floor but it was full and 10 people are at each table. I had decided to wear my skirt of many colours and Keith and I, along with Hong Kong John who actually turned up, had been seated at table 4 along with Mander on Keith’s side and Tina, the Company translator, on my side with John sitting the other side of her whilst the rest of the table was occupied with senior staff from the Engineer crewing section. The object of the game is to throw the dice into the bowl and get as many fours as possible. I began to feel guilty at the number of prizes we were winning, especially me. We came away with 2 large carrier bags full of toiletries, cooking oil, packs of dried mushrooms, cans of dried fruit (one of which I gave to John as he had particularly said he wouldn’t mind winning the item) multi Kleenex loo rolls, several bottles of shampoo and a large pack of Johnson’s baby milk (which we will hand over to the florist for their new baby before we leave) and 4 ‘Seashine cards’ with credit on them up to the value of 300 yuan. We have stocked up the cupboards for Walter and Maureen and as there is no time limit on the cards will keep those for our next visit. When all the prizes had been won, including the biggest prize which was cash but as we didn’t get that have no idea of the value, food and drink appeared. We were the last to leave along with Mander, Helen his assistant who has looked after us, and Tina who went up to the seventh floor to meet a friend. During the night we had several toasts with so many different people it’s a good job I was only having a very small amount of red wine in my glass. I need a clear head as we are going to Nantong tomorrow for the weekend.

CHINA 2010 WEDNESDAY 15th SEPTEMBER

Nothing exciting happened yesterday worth writing about.
This afternoon Keith went for a trim but I have decided to wait until I see what they do to him before I go. I suggested a hairdressers round the corner from us as it is always busy but when we arrived there was just a pile of rubble inside, and the three ladies behind us were just as shocked so I guessed they were planning a visit to the salon too. Not to worry there are hundreds and down a side street across the road there are at least two. We chose to go in the farthest one as the first one was busy and Keith didn’t want to hang around in the heat. He had asked Mr. Wang, one of his students, to write out ‘50% off and nothing off the sides or back’. “Okay” said the young man – we’ll see! After a shampoo he did as asked and Keith was very pleased, and even more delighted on the price of 15 yuan. I will return tomorrow.
Our next visit was to a travel agent behind the ‘Marco Polo Hotel’ as our guide book said the assistants spoke English and we hadn’t seen any other travel agents. With clear skies again and very hot we walked alongside ‘Yundang Lake’ making a brief stop every now and again for me to get the camera out. The hillside was covered in purple and green and reminded me of the North Yorkshire Moors with its August heather only this landscape was broken by a large rocky hillside. It was so quiet in the park area with just a few fishermen around the lakeside and the fish nowhere near any of them. Once or twice we saw a large fish leap out of the water and make a large splash as it landed. We found ‘Apple Travel’ without any trouble and the assistants did their best to help us. We were looking for information about Fujian Province and ideas for our next visit. They had no leaflets on the Province but plenty about Thailand, including a street map of Chiang Mai, Vietnam and America. The young travel agent brought up their website of various tours designed for 2 people upwards, but we wanted more information about the resorts so we could decide how many nights we would like to stay. In the end we said we would research on the internet and come back during our next visit to Xiamen.
As we walked over the footbridges across the lake where the hot sun had begun to melt the non slip surface I suggested we buy a good guide book of the region. Each step we took we could hear a hiss as the air escaped from the large bubbles making us laugh. It was getting late in the afternoon and the buses would be getting crowded so we decided to look on the internet and if we find anything order it online.
It was lovely walking under the shade of the trees where one or two people were asleep on marble benches. The only sound, apart from me talking, was from the birds but as we approached Hubin XiLu the noise of heavy traffic broke the peace. There was no horns sounding but someone riding a bicycle should really get out the oil can!

CHINA 2010 MONDAY 13th SEPTEMBER

The hot weather continues with no humidity which makes it more pleasant. In the middle of the afternoon we went into the city to visit one of the shopping malls around the Railway Station primarily to buy a mobile phone case for Keith. We were successful on the second floor of the ‘World Trade Centre’ and happy with the price so bought 2 which should last him a while.
I browsed the fashion shops ending up in one and buying a T shirt with the help of the staff as I need their biggest size! Some of the fashion I declined especially T shirts with sayings that either don’t make sense, have words of adoration, or mis-spelt. An example of this was on a shirt a girl was wearing the other day which said “I love herpes”! (Guess it should have read ‘I love Hermes’.) Whilst paying for my shirt the young assistant tried her hardest to sell me long denim shorts – in this hot weather – so short shorts – at my age and with these legs! Another lady piped up that I was not old which was very flattering of her.
6.15pm we went across the road to meet Mander outside the restaurant used by the Company. We had been invited to join ‘Hong Kong John’ and meet his Engineer students at a welcome dinner. We were very annoyed when Mander said John would not be coming – he was too tired! What bad manners to refuse our host’s hospitality. Still we enjoyed the evening as we usually do and met his students. There were two Company dinners taking place and Mr. Cai excused himself for a short while. I said to Manders “that is two meals he has to eat” only to be told there has been many occasions when he has had to eat three! At times like that it is good there are many plates of food to choose from so you can eat lightly in each private dining room. Tonight we sampled pigeon cooked in the same style as the duck which very meaty and delicious. Again we had the beautiful platter of Xiamen’s signature dish of the worm in jellyfish, along with slices of sea cucumber, set amongst a small herb and floral arrangement and containing a wine glass with two small goldfish swimming around.
Sitting with us was a Chief and Second Engineer and although the Second Engineer didn’t talk to us the Chief was quite good and we laughed about his experiences in Texas. He said he could not understand what they were saying! I asked how they managed without tea as coffee is the main drink in America – his response “we drank Cola”. The language problem ended in a very expensive taxi fare as they asked to be taken back to the port and the driver took them to the airport!
I asked everyone if they had visited England but it was only the Chief who said “yes”. Keith asked him which port had he visited but as it was such a long time ago Chief could not remember other than it was only a small port and sounds as though it was in the countryside because he said “a man was growing vegetables in his garden and cutting them and leaving them”. He wanted to know why he was leaving them so we came up with various reasons such as them all being ready at once or a good season and too much for his family to eat. We told them about villagers leaving produce outside their houses either for free or a small amount of money which was usually donated to the village Church or a local charity. Again Keith asked him about the location saying was it in the North or South of England? “I don’t know I am an Engineer!” which made us all laugh and we both said “we like your answer”.

CHINA 2010 SUNDAY 12th SEPTEMBER

8.30 I had a rude awakening to the sound of banging – not the workmen but drums! Keith seemed to be sleeping through it as I got up. I couldn’t see anything from our balcony but by now a women’s voice was coming over a loud speaker and singing in the traditional high pitched tone.
Across the road in front of the restaurant area a line of red topped shelters were in course of erection and an inflated arch appeared by the stone sign stating ‘International Food Street’ so I guess it is a wedding photography firm touting for business.
After breakfast and emails we decided we would take a look but by now it was 10.30 and the nearby drumming had stopped. We found the shop and it was very hot as we stood and saws a group of men dressed in black with ‘fur’ trousers and colourful lion heads laid on the red carpeted pavement. Leading up to the shop front was a line of floral arrangements and an inflated arch with two lucky symbols on the top. Confetti was strewn everywhere but nothing seemed to be happening outside although inside young women dressed in red tops seemed to be very excited about something with lots of shouting and jumping up and down.
Whilst Keith stayed on the pavement I crossed over to ask if we were too late to see the dancing but before any of the young men could answer a lady in red came rushing up to me to tell me the ‘shop’ had just opened and I could be their first customer. What the shop was I couldn’t see and had a feeling it was yet another ‘spa’ so was reluctant to enter. With everyone else coming out and more or less pushing me I went with the flow. Inside the women stepped aside to allow me to sign the red book please, noting I was number 44 and yet I had been told I was their first customer, come and see the photos, have a bouquet of flowers, have pictures taken, give back the flowers, have more pictures by our poster with our teacher! The media were there and by now Keith had come with his camera and I just laughed not having a clue what was going on.
When things quietened down the wall of photographs of girls in camouflaged uniform were explained to me. I was told they are specially trained to deal with helping people in disaster areas and the lady in red produced a red information card in Chinese, but with numbers I could understand, telling me I could donate 6800 yuan to their training, but I could spend this money in Xiamen. I said we didn’t live here but I was pleased to hear about their training programme and thanked her. Whether it was because we were there I don’t know but the drumming began again and the men performed their ‘lion dance’ after which some of the girls lined up holding a long red ribbon and a lady, who I recognised as their teacher from the poster, cut the ribbon to the noise of more confetti being fired from hand held tubes.
Next stop to see just what is happening under the line of red canopies. The end stand featured a small display of inlaid furniture items such as stools, tea tables and plant stands. The rest of the stands were occupied by a housing company promoting their business by having tables set up to play the ‘Mooncake Game’ which is only played in Xiamen and where lots of locals were already trying their luck to win a prize. We stood and watched one table where everyone was having a go and an old lady in front of me threw one 4 and five 5s. A good throw and most of the crowd thought she should have a good prize but the young staff manning the stall didn’t agree and she didn’t win anything. From playing the game I know 4s are winning numbers. As we left a young girl came running after us and asked if she could talk to me, behind her followed the photographer I had noticed. She wanted to know if we knew about the game, had we participated today, and what were we doing in Xiamen? Some of the answers I wrote in her book so she could get a translation but the fact we knew about the game and could show them our dice hanging from our camera bags seemed to please them. More photographs, especially of our camera bags, before leaving them to return home for another coffee!
With it being so hot we stayed home in the afternoon. In the evening we met up with Mander and his partner Lin, Helen should have come as well but she had telephoned Mander earlier to say she was feeling unwell and sent her apologies. We had invited them out for a meal as a way of thanking them for their kindness during our stay. It was just as well we had this get together as we learnt John, Chief Engineer, had arrived from Hong Kong and we would be joining him and his group for a celebration meal tomorrow evening. We also learnt we should leave for Suzhou on the 23rd and celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival in Xiamen and finally Mr. Chai said we would join the workforce on the 16th for a meal and to play the ‘Mooncake Game’. What a great company to work for.

CHINA 2010 SATURDAY 11th SEPTEMBER

Predicted thunderstorms for today made us think about our plans for the day. When 10am had passed, the time given for the first round of bad weather, we settled on Plan A – the ‘Botanical Gardens’. Just in case the 2pm rain should come I packed our plastic capes in my bag instead of umbrellas and a couple of boiled eggs as we planned to take the long route into the gardens.
The weather was good with a nice breeze ideal for walking. We caught a 531 from the harbour to Shangli district and then crossing over the road a number 2 to the top of Longhushan Lu. The number 2 bus was a small one but the fare was 2 yuan as it had upholstered seating, most of which was occupied. We hadn’t far to go but as the centre seat on the back row was vacant I would occupy it whilst Keith took a seat in the next row. Big mistake on my part as I jumped up – wet trousers and knickers again!
We were too far from home to think about changing and I hoped the sun would soon dry me out. We paid a reduced fee at the ticket office and received an up to date leaflet showing this route. We set off on a long uphill winding road relieved there were no steps – yet. With blue skies and puffy white clouds, colourful shrubs and trees, and good views including the dam and golf course as we looked back, not to mention the perfume in the air. We met up with a family whose small son was already tired of walking and further along said “hello” to a couple of students sitting under a large rock. Lots of “hellos” came back as a large group were sitting up the lower level of a long flight of steps behind them. With a winding road we occasionally got views of what lay ahead for us which included crossing over a long bridge. From this point we could look down to the sea as well as spot another Temple hidden in the distant hillside to the East. Eventually we came to a wooden map and saw we were almost at the point of taking a route down to the University grounds or continuing on to a Peak.
We had only been walking for an hour so decided to take the Peak route. Leaving the road where pots of bougainvillea had been placed in areas where it was unsuitable for planting we followed a narrow path leading to steps but at least there were flat stretches between each small flight. Just when I was going to say to Keith that we hadn’t encountered anyone else in a while a man appeared giving us information that we would have to climb then go down and would end our walk in ‘Nanputou Temple’. That will be nice and handy for the 22 bus!
The landscape began to change around the Peak where I insisted Keith took my photo but with the wind billowing my blouse and trousers I looked so fat that I wished he hadn’t bothered. Still I feel it was an achievement. It looked as though there had been a fire in the immediate area and among the rocky landscape the gardeners had collected bundles of twigs and left them in neat piles, some bundles being wrapped in black polythene. There were more steps to climb just when I believed we were on our way down. Again the climb was worth it as we found a beer stop! Under a traditional style pavilion we sat on a marble seat to have a long rest and whilst Keith supped his beer from a small plastic cup I drank from a bottle of coke. Within minutes we were joined by several people of all ages. An old man came to play cards with the group of men sitting behind the glass counter, one of them being the kiosk owner. We noted that some of the women had walked up in high heeled shoes whilst men wore plastic flip flops. The views from here were lovely looking down into the grounds of Xiamen University and next door ‘Nanputou Temple’. Behind where we were sitting was a series of large flat rocks and close by a lookout turret probably from the war with Japan or Taiwan. By now a woman had replaced the man in the kiosk and the man had passed by going down into what looked like a tunnel which presumably led to the turret to carry out some work as suddenly there was a lot of banging coming from that area. As men appeared from the rock area I went to check if there was a route down but saw nothing other than pine trees and a large area that had been prepared for either a building or perhaps another small reservoir as there are already a few in this area.
When it was time to leave we took the set of steps by the kiosk building and could now see a lot of work was taking place and a pair of ladders had been set up on the stone steps making it a little difficult to pass by. Gardeners were digging holes in between the trees close to the lamp lined pathway. We came to a small junction leading to a new toilet block most of which had been hidden by concrete in the shape of large rocks to fit in with the landscape. There was also a motorbike and small crates containing a total of 19 loudspeakers. Two young men on their way down asked “What is in the boxes?” and Keith explained but didn’t know why there had been left there. We walked down to the next level with the young men learning they were from a small town in Fujian province, and having our photo taken with the talkative one before saying “goodbye”.
The small steps continued, sometimes going into sharp corners, but all the time the landscape was lovely and forever changing as we neared the Temple buildings in the hillside. I was so glad we were going down and not up! Apart from lots of ornate lamps there were plenty of rubbish bins and it was nice to see that people used them, but we still encountered old people searching for discarded plastic bottles.
Eventually we completed our downward route and chose to walk through the quieter areas of the Temple taking photos of lines of washing hanging outside the monks’ accommodation and noting that there appears to be no running water in their small rooms as we saw one monk carrying a bowl of water along the corridor. The two ‘lion dogs’ outside a small Temple had been covered over with bed linen - not a sight one usually sees. Behind one of the larger accommodation buildings I found a small pool with a bridge across it and close by a large rock with an opening. Venturing inside the narrow opening I found the floor space and part of the inner rock surface had been filled with small statues similar to ones that I had noticed around the base of the rock outside.
We left the Temple grounds pleased to see the souvenir stalls, map sellers and beggars were no longer operating in the area. We had a while to wait for a 22 bus and were able to get seats for our journey home. We had not realised we had really caught the sun today, especially Keith as he had been walking with his shirt undone.
We went to ‘Haiwan Park’ for our final fling and as usual had a really good night even though one session included locals getting on stage to sing. I say locals, a Westerner sitting at the table behind us with his Chinese girlfriend sang a lovely song to her during which she rushed on stage to embrace him to the cheers from the crowd. When the song was over he picked her up and carried her back to their table in his arms! Feeling peckish Keith ordered a plate of something in breadcrumbs which our waitress had informed him was very hot. The dish was the very hot green chillies stuffed with cheese and covered in breadcrumbs then fried and presented with a bowl of Thousand Island Dressing. I took a small piece from the tip of one of the peppers and that was enough for me. However Keith persevered and almost got through two of the four before asking the waitress to clear the table agreeing they were hot! I told him we should have stuck to the chicken wraps but one has to try something different.
Just after midnight we thought the group had finished but they returned to the stage for another session playing lots of good music including some requested by us so more dancing with the locals. We left around 1.30am waving goodbye to our entertainers at which point Keith caught his leg on one of the planters and fell into the plants. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the staff didn’t put dirty glasses on the marble top and as Keith stumbled he knocked them over breaking quite a few and cut his thumb. In the short time the front of his shirt was covered in blood as people fussed around him and one of the older men I had been dancing with produced a napkin to wrap around his injury whilst I thanked him for his help needless to say Keith was very embarrassed.

CHINA 2010 FRIDAY 10th SEPTEMBER

After a lazy day yesterday we went for a long but not too strenuous walk. After leaving home well into the afternoon we took a quick route to the ferry terminals passing under the coastal road where there are several ‘junk’ stalls in the passages. We might as well take a look whilst we are here as Keith is looking for another mobile phone case to attach to his belt. Somehow when we emerged from the underpass we hadn’t got across the road but found ourselves not far from the ‘Harbour View Hotel’ where we had dined weeks ago with Yeti. Pure coincidence we could cross the road at this point and began our walk by the sea. It wasn’t so busy in this area today, perhaps because it was late in the afternoon and most of the tour groups had left. Tied up by one of the jetties we saw a small passenger boat with a large colourful dragon on the boat’s roof and wondered why we hadn’t seen it before. As we walked by several ticket offices one lady tried to encourage us to take a trip to Gulangyu. The waiting room in this area was very smart with lots of seating and stalls selling drinks and snacks and we wondered where the boats went to from this particular terminal. Facing up the way we had walked, and by derelict railway lines, was a shop advertising ‘Taiwan Goods’ so we went to see if there was anything different to Chinese Goods – there wasn’t. However whilst Keith was looking at binoculars at one stall I was asking him “Who is Che Wing?”. He came over to me as I began to laugh realising it was a misprint. The label on the large box should have read ‘Coffee candy for chewing’. The staff looked on in amazement as I took a photo.
We walked by a couple of Naval buildings, one in the course of being rebuilt before crossing back over the road hoping to walk up a hillside to a rock with a globe topped spire just showing above the tree tops. Keith recalled seeing steps leading up but we could only find a set by a small shelter among the shrubbery at pavement level. Walking on we both saw a very large rat run across the narrow path amongst the shrubs and wondered if we really wanted to go in there. Still we walked a little further along the pavement reaching more garden area with a relief statue of military men fixed to the hillside but no sign of any access. So back we went to see just how far up the steps went. Oh my God another rat ran across the same path – or was it the original rat! The steps went no-where as Keith suspected. Back again as far as another Naval building and then up the incline to Suming NanLu. Along Zhongshan Lu we came across a small version of Dalian’s Korean Market and went inside to have a look around. The ground floor had stalls and shops (more like large glass fronted cublicles) selling women’s and children’s clothes and larger areas with shoes all for around 10 yuan. Upstairs was more upmarket with prices as high as 29! If you wanted thick soled canvas shoes this was the place to come as they were available in all colours and styles, including baseball boots. There were no clothes or shoes for men! Before we knew it we were almost home where I had prepared duck in beer for our evening meal.

CHINA 2010 WEDNESDAY 8th SEPTEMBER

It’s a good job I watch some local TV and although I cannot understand the language I can guess what is happening by the pictures. So it was a bit of a disaster to find that the area we had hoped to stand and watch the fireworks by ‘Yundang Lake’ was going to be the location for setting off the display. Knowing how much of the park was taped off yesterday we wondered just where the best place would be – on the upper road leading to ‘Haiwan Park’, but there are quite a lot of trees – by the bird watching area alongside the lake. In the end we decided to set off in the direction of the lake and see what develops.
We spent the afternoon walking around the antiques centre I had discovered yesterday. Funny that today, because I was with my husband, the shop owners were only too pleased to put on extra lighting so we could see their objects. We stood and watched a very old clock operate with a ball bearing running up and down a track taking 25 seconds to complete a circuit according to Keith’s stop watch. I loved the carvings whether it was wood, ivory or the white porcelain which Fujian is famous for. A young man welcomed us into his cousin’s shop to see a large modern standing clock when I had said “my husband likes clocks and watches.” We learnt he was from Hong Kong and was in Xiamen to learn more about the antique business. On the upper floors we came to walkways, illuminated at night by traditional style Chinese street lamps, linking the different buildings and work still being done on the site in general. We felt as though we had walked miles this afternoon after paying another visit to the supermarket to buy a fish for our tea. The smell was worse today and with long queues at the checkout I told Keith to stand in the lines by the toiletry section as the air was much sweeter here.
We had an early tea and set off for the firework display due to take place between 8 and 9.30pm. We had seen on TV the long line of tubes in place where the rockets would be set off by the bottom of the lake and hidden from the public by metal hoarding along what is normally a bus lane. We glanced down the side of the lake closest to our apartment block and saw only guards on duty on the pathway so took the upper road along with many other people. By now it was 7pm and the main road was closed to traffic – well it was our end but due to lack of communication at the far end traffic was still travelling along it!

We reached the entry into ‘Haiwan Park’ where several soldiers and police were stood and again the area taped off. The soldiers were saying we could go no further. Keith said to one of them that he wished to enter ‘Haiwan Park’ pretending we knew nothing about what was happening in the area. An elderly policeman came up and immediately let us though but there was nothing they could do about the crowds that followed us! All the parking areas in front of the clubs and KTV buildings were sealed off as was the access across the pond and to the 3 mounds in the park. One or two people went over the tape, as did Keith, but when many of us were about to follow several officers prevented us from doing so. I called out to Keith to try and tell him I would go the long way round but he either did not hear me or chose to ignore me! I caught up with him by the mounds where he was stood with a guard atop one of them. He saw me waving and joined me as we were moved on. No-one was going to be allowed to sit on the mounds, in fact no-one was really welcome in the park. The area by the fountains was deserted apart from officers patrolling to prevent people gaining access. After days of calm weather today was quite windy blowing down the park in the direction of Jimei across the water and apparently the fireworks could fall onto us. We stood our ground behind the taped area next to JJ’s (how convenient) and were joined by a German family who had no idea what was going on until the husband asked us. A work colleague had told him something was happening in the park – Bill Clinton was going to visit and he wanted to see if he would bring Monica! Just after 8pm the display began and lasted until after 9pm. We had been stood at the front but as late comers joined us moving into our space. This annoyed the German lady and she made them move whereas her husband and oursleves just let them stay - they were shorter than us and we would be looking sykwards anyway. At times we thought it was all over but realised there was a pause in proceedings to allow the smoke to disperse. At least the daylight cloud had disappeared and we had a clear starlit night. The Chinese really do know how to put on a show with displays at ground level as well as different formations of rockets bursting and banging into the sky, the noise echoing around the buildings, so at times it sounded more like a battle taking place. I kept these thoughts to myself as we were still in the company of the German family!

Our legs ached so we said goodbye to the family and went to JJs thinking it was all over. The staff had asked if we had seen the fireworks and told them where we had been stood. No sooner had our beer been placed in front of us than the display began again. As we looked up through the glass roof over the stage and bar area of JJs one of our waitress’ came over and I was taken to an open area by the washroom to see the display. Why hadn’t we been here to begin with - a great viewing area although we couldn’t see the ground level display. We had a couple more beers, one on the house when Keith showed Josh a bit of film he had taken with the burst of rockets and JJ’s sign in the frame, a copy of which Josh would like emailing to him. Tonight a male keyboard singer joined the group allowing the girls to reform again. Their Chinese singer had welcomed us and had a quick chat before going on stage. There was no ‘late night music’ session tonight they went straight into the lively music but there would be no dancing for us tonight and we had told the girls this too! By the time we left the park it was quiet with hardly anyone walking the streets or traffic on the roads and yet it wasn’t 11pm.

CHINA 2010 TUESDAY 7th SEPTEMBER

The 'CIFIT' economic Conference begins today in Xiamen and part of the Opening Ceremony was shown on CCTV9. Over 1500 delegates are in the city for the 4 day event which explains last night’s event in the park.
In the afternoon I went in search of another supermarket in one of the nearby streets. I hadn’t taken notice before that this supermarket was opposite a mock fort where statues guard the gateway with others on the roof over the entrance. As people were coming and going through the gate I decided I would investigate and casually walked down to a small waterfall with large colourful fish the small pond. As a security guard ignored me I felt more at ease, however as I turned away from the water feature I met another guard who said “hello” to me. I asked “was this a hotel?” as we were stood close to an entrance and he encouraged me to go and take a look. What a lovely surprise to find corridors full of small antique establishments, and such high quality items. I was really taken up with a small flat fan of flowers and butterflies embroidered in wonderful colours and placed on an ornate stand. From the base of the handle a tassel containing small jade beads completed this work of art. Nothing in any of the shops had a price displayed so as the saying goes “If you have to ask the price –you generally can’t afford it!” I met the guard again as I left the building and thanked him saying “it was so beautiful” and then he pointed up – there was another floor to explore and other buildings to view. I said “I would return another day.”
The supermarket was okay but again had a ‘bad smell’ which I soon became accustomed to but it didn’t have a lot of the items I wanted and so I only spent 4 yuan – 2 for a fish and 2 for my vegetables so it will be a cheap tea tonight!
I had to go to ‘Trust Mart’ as Keith needed grapefruit. The price today was 30 yuan a kilo so I was surprised that my 3 pieces of fruit came to 42 after being weighed, and the price on the ticket stated 35.80 a kilo. I went to check but the price shown was 15 for 500gms. I returned to the weighing area where the assistant originally had had trouble trying to find the price of my fruit and a young man on the phone had assisted her. (I had indicated with my hands the price of 30 which he acknowledged.) The young man was still there along with an older man and when I pointed out the discrepancy we all went to check the ticket by the fruit. A discussion continued with the young man eventually producing a calculator. After punching in various numbers he came up with 35 which I acknowledged. Back at the weighing counter a book and pen appeared on the counter so I thought he wanted a signature as I was due a refund. No these items were placed on a set of electronic scales along with a clipboard, some cloths, a large reel of green tape and a few more pens to reach the weight that would print out a new ticket of 35 yuan!

We took another stroll to ‘Bailuzhou Island’ to see if the fountains were running. As we walked by the lake we came to an area that was sealed off to the public but as locals were going under the red tape we followed until we reached a scaffolding barrier where we all had to return and find a way out onto the road. When we eventually reached the bridge over the lake leading to the Island we saw this too had been taped off but someone had broken it despite a couple of soldiers being on guard. I guess no-one is going to stop a local visiting his park! Again something was taking place in the amphitheatre and I went to take a closer look. Being able to see through a gap performers were having a rehearsal and most of the seats I could see were empty. Smoke appeared and the ‘CIFIT’ emblem of a large gold key in the shape of a joined number 8 and 9 (which is why for the last 14 years this gathering has always been held on the 8th of September) moved across the stage. Nearby was an outside broadcast vehicle so it looks as though the event will be on TV, probably tomorrow night when there is to be an hour long firework display. We walked up to the ‘dancing waters’ which we were delighted to see were running. The display is advertised to run from 7.30 to 8pm but when we left just before 9pm it was still in operation. Around this area the low trees had been filled with strings of small lights and large red lamps hung from some of the branches creating a fairyland atmosphere, especially for the young children who were watching the fountains. Despite the number of coaches parked in the immediate area we did not see any of the 1500 delegates!

CHINA 2010 MONDAY 6th SEPTEMBER

The hot weather has returned again and we spent the afternoon at home as Keith’s legs still ached from our hectic weekend and I fell asleep whilst reading about Tan Kah Kee!
We cannot go a day without a walk so as the evening reflections have been lovely around ‘Yundang Lake’, especially the few last days as we have had no wind, we took a stroll there. A keen photographer had already set his tripod in place by the corner of the lake looking over to ‘Bailuzhou Island’ and illuminated buildings such as ‘Pearl Orient Sightseeing Tower’ and ‘Marco Polo Hotel’ overlooking the lake on the left side so we moved a little further along to the sound of ladies singing in the distance. As we watched we saw lights flashing on the island and realised for once something was actually taking place in the amphitheatre. The music continued but we wouldn’t want to listen to the singing for so long. As we were about to leave purple searchlights passed along the sides of buildings in the area and at pavement level bright blue lights flashed a reflection on the still lake.

CHINA 2010 SUNDAY 5th SEPTEMBER

Reading ‘Parks and Gardens’ section of our guidebook and studying the map whilst Keith got on with the preparation for the Nantong trip I suggested taking a 531, which is one of the small older buses to the terminus off the coastal ring road in Shangli district. From there we can walk up the road that is only open to light traffic and is in the countryside.
We had to catch the bus from a terminus opposite ‘Walking Street’ by the harbour but there was no 531 on the boards. We saw one bus go by and so moved to one of the terminus’ further up the road and began to chat to a young lady from Indonesia who was working in Xiamen. We were just about to have an interesting conversation when in the second lane I spotted a 531 almost at our stop with another bus already coming to the bus stop on the inside lane. Luckily the driver saw us. We only went a few more yards when the bus stopped at the next terminus. Being a small bus it did not get so crowded and as we were sitting on the front seats could watch the driver. Like another bus we recently travelled on her speedometer and tachometer didn’t work and there was so much movement in the steering wheel, but we got to our destination.
As we began our walk up ‘Longhushan Lu’ translated as Dragon-Tiger Hill Road we passed a school with a sign outside congratulating the students on their pass results with several gaining 100%, the teachers being also thanked for their endeavours. The school was named ‘Manila Xiamen International School’ and through the gateway we could see an avenue of large stone figures amongst the greenery. This is going to be a good start to our walk which will take us up to ‘Shangli Shuiku’ a reservoir almost on top of the mountain. The footpath constructed of large pebbles moved alternately from one side of the road to the other but with hardly any traffic it wasn’t a problem crossing the road and flashing red and blue electronic lights warned drivers of pedestrians along the route. We hadn’t walked very far when we came to a sign ‘Firefly Park’. Stepping into a small area with statues that are usually guarding the inside of entrances to Temples we were disappointed to see the gates were locked. However we could look over a wooden fence to the water below where someone had thrown a net into the lake supported by small blue floats stretching along the edge. Carefully leaning further over the rail we could also see a series of rough looking shelters which we presumed were eating areas and with a name ‘Firefly’ guess the place is only open in the evenings. Looking at the scenery we saw a dam wall at the far end of the pool whilst at our end was a very rough wall built to retain the water.
We continued further up the road coming to what we thought was a hotel but turned out to be a golf club. Turning round I spotted a huge rock carved with the face of the ‘smiling Buddha’ in the hillside and wondered how many people had seen it as they passed in their cars. We were somewhat surprised to see a number 2 bus pass by as our map shows no buses travel on this route, but it will be worth remembering for future visits. As we progressed up the hill we had a good view of the golf course set in the valley and lower reaches of the mountain and running by the reservoir but no-one on the green, well they wouldn’t be in this heat.
Having to cross the road we came to an area with a toilet block, a colourful pond and a gateway. We couldn’t identify what was beyond the gate and it would cost us 40 yuan to find out. The ticket lady was very helpful and produced a leaflet. On opening it we found it was another entrance into the ‘Botanical Gardens’. We said we had visited three times and would come back another day. At this point there was a footbridge across the road that lead to another road with a signpost similar to those in the Botanical Gardens stating ‘Civic Flower Garden’ so off we went again having a good view of the golf course when it wasn’t obstructed by the green high wire fence or the pine trees. We stopped to watch the biggest spider we have ever seen hanging from a branch of an overhanging tree. There was another and whilst I took a picture Keith became concerned that the hanging one had disappeared and he didn't know where it had gone. I saw more of these spiders on our way to the garden. We were just about to give up and return when I spotted a few cars partly concealed by bright pink bougainvillea and so we continued our exploration. Oh no, more steps! After a long drink of water we began our assent but even though we were getting nearer to the blue sky decided we had done enough climbing and began our descent. Why does it always seem quicker on a return journey?
At the junction we made another photo stop. Two large bronze snails creating a water feature on a small road island surrounded by a low criss-cross bamboo fence. From here on if we continued down the road, which was now called ‘Wenping Lu’, we could walk down the sunken creek created in the middle of the road. We did this although most of it was dried up revealing large boulders whilst we were still walking on a pebble path which is supposed to be good for the circulation. We saw lots of different sized butterflies and coloured dragonflies, not to mention half a dozen wedding shoots, one of which we had to disturb to pass by on the narrow path. Unfortunately this little walk didn’t last very long and we had to take to the road again. We could have taken steps into the forest area but didn’t and we didn’t even investigate an area beyond a large carved rock with ‘National Park of China’ emblem on it, but we will another day.
As we neared civilisation Keith let out “Oh No!” and I wondered what was wrong. A ‘Sedrin’ Beer truck had lost some of its load onto the road and a group of men were sweeping up the broken glass into a large orange bin, whilst the official road sweepers stood by watching them. It was almost by the bus terminus and as we passed Keith asked if there was a free sample for him! Again Keith had looked at the map and found another small bus, number 4, would take us to the BRT. It actually brought us almost home.
At 6.30 we were dining out with Polly and her school friend, Wei who had just arrived from Jinmen, an island about an hour’s ferry ride away. He showed us photos of the place which were lovely – just our sort of scenery but the Laowai is not allowed to visit at the moment. Wei has travelled in Europe and so his English is excellent. After our meal we suggested a walk to ‘Haiwan Park’ to have a beer and listen to the music. They were very sophisticated and ordered cocktails. As we sat at our usual table Tony, who we had met a couple of weeks ago in ‘The Soup Expert’, and a group of students from Xiamen University called in to say hello, most of the students being from Belarus and here to study Chinese for one year. Tony mentioned he had found alternative accommodation as Danielle was ‘too much!’ They left as a couple of the group were going onto another bar where they hoped they would get a job playing to the public. The young man was apparently a well known drummer in Belarus whilst the lady, and probably his girlfriend, was a keyboard singer. It was a great night but by 10.30 we felt it was time to leave. Polly and Wei wanted to stay in the park so we said our goodbyes and wished them a safe journey home to Taiwan.
It has snowed in northern China and the sheep don’t like it! It was so bad the snowploughs were called out and traffic came to a halt.

CHINA 2010 SATURDAY 4th SEPTEMBER - JIMEI

Despite our late night we were still up by 9am. I went shopping whilst Keith continued to work on the computer. I made a mistake with the coffee I bought yesterday – it was mixed. Chinese people love their Nescafe and Maxwell House in a formula of coffee granules, powdered milk and sugar in sachets – we do not! So I had to buy Nescafe Gold at an exorbitant price.
In the afternoon we took the number 1 BRT to Jimei. We should have got off, as most people did, at the first stop over the bridge onto the mainland and staying on to the end was a big mistake. We drove past the University Jenny had taken us to when we first arrived and as the students are now enrolled didn’t want to pay it another visit. The only good thing about the last stop is we could see we were close to the ‘Expo Garden’ but saw no means of getting there other than taking a motorbike taxi and we don’t do that. So, we caught the bus back to the Gymnasium stop. The Gym is a very futuristic building with a large low silver dome and some event must be taking place as people were hanging around one of the ticket offices.
From here we saw a water feature in front of a series of apartments which had it been running would have been delightful. A symmetrical display of large terracotta pots containing water stood in squares big enough to take the base set around a large pool. Looking at the landscape it appeared we could walk across the pool, but we couldn’t, and so took the ‘plank road’ until we reached an opening leading to more apartment blocks and shops. Many of the places looked unoccupied and the site could have done with a bit more tidying up but the local people were very pleasant to us.
We came to a large wide road, with a colourful central reservation of sago palms and large yellow trumpet flowers giving ground cover, and hardly any traffic. It was close to the sea and work clearing the site was taking place behind colourful hoarding advertising ‘Home life is a vacation’ with pictures of buildings and yachts giving an insight to what the area will be like when developed. The apartments on the other side of the road looked very nice too and we wondered if this area had been built on reclaimed land from the sea.
We eventually came to the ‘Memorial Hall and Gardens of Tan Kah Kee’ but could not recall seeing this particular area. We pondered about revisiting the attraction but our plan was to explore an area along the seafront. I made a comfort stop in a toilet block situated by a small area for the resting place for rusting tuktuks, one having a bed of straw in the floor space between the two narrow seats. As we neared the ticket office for the attraction we kept being asked to take a ride – they had to be joking! The dark sky had caught up with us and the rain began and this time neither of us had an umbrella. Luckily we were walking under the awnings of numerous souvenir stalls where everyone was desperate to get our business.
We didn’t have long to wait before the rain stopped but it had been quite heavy and had left a lot of deep puddles so we gave the traffic a wide berth. A couple of tuktuks had stopped but again we declined. Protection for the passenger against the rain was a piece of old plastic hoarding cut to fit over the back window of this three wheeled vehicle, whilst another piece had been fixed over the front for the driver’s benefit but no thought taken about size as the bottom of the plastic rubbed on the front tyre.
Along the parade passing a disused swimming pool, with so much rubbish floating on the surface, were a number of pavilions and up a set of wide steps saw a small gateway with a large flat stone laid across the top and further along behind railings a most beautiful building. With towers and corridors on several levels and ornate brickwork we saw a few young people dressed in a school uniform of white top and blue track suit bottoms - this building was a school! (The site itself was formerly Yanping Fortress where in the 17th century Koxinga, the hero of Gulangyu, trained his troops to fight.) I climbed up some of the steps to see behind the railings was a collection of statues of young people around Tan Kah Kee who instigated the building of many schools and universities in the area. We walked further along admiring the flowering ‘bird’ trees under which sat groups of men playing mahjong. Crossing over one of the several bridges leading to adjoining pools connecting with the sea we came to one of the lovely pavilions by the roadside with paintings up the side of the spiral staircase leading to an upper level, and set in the water was a smaller one. This large pool was known as ‘Dragon Boat Pool’ where the famous races take place in June, but as the pool was still set out in lanes and several boats moored together close to Jimei Bridge we suspect rowing competitions are held on a regular basis. It was such a lovely area we wished we had come here rather than Tong’an, although I think the countryside will be better in Tong’an if only we could reach it.
We, or rather Keith, discovered that we could take a L22 bus back to the BRT from here and with the sky looking dark again decided it was a good idea. At the BRT station we caught a bendy bus only to have to get off before the end of the line as these long buses cannot negotiate the tight turn at the end. (The line is not yet complete and many of the existing stations do not appear on our maps.) The single buses take two manoeuvres to get round to the station in the opposite direction. With so many students wishing to be educated in the fishing village of Jimei we thought it a good idea to go home from the start of the line so at least we would have a seat. Taking line 1 is a lovely run with so much to see both on land and water. One of Keith’s students said that Xiamen would be better with an underground transport system – I disagreed, but then I am a tourist!

CHINA 2010 FRIDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER

I spent 72 minutes looking at 12 pages of Saga holidays and getting nowhere.
At least Keith had a successful afternoon buying a shirt, belt and casual shirt for 130 yuan and then a new umbrella for the same price as in the supermarket. We only went out for a smart casual shirt, grapefruit and eggs! I refused the grapefruit as they were more expensive that the supermarket – they weren’t as I discovered later, the price had risen again.
As we reached the covered market selling meat and vegetables it began to rain. Keith was alright - he had his new umbrella! I recall him coming home at lunchtime with the news that staff in the office had said we would see no more rain. The rain didn’t last long but we headed back home after having bought my eggs taking care not to get them broken as they were in a very thin plastic bag.
Mander had spoken to Keith before he came home to inform him about our forthcoming trip to Nantong where Keith is to give a talk to about 100 young potential seafarers who will have a limited amount of English. Several members of staff from the office will be going as well as many from the Shanghai office. He was also informed that the Chief Engineer will be arriving on Sunday and we could all go out to eat. Unfortunately we have an arrangement with Polly and her friend to dine with them and the table is booked. Keith said Mander looked very disappointed but Keith reminded him Polly was the daughter of one of the boss’s.
After our meal Keith wanted to go to Haiwan Park but I just felt so tired. However having already watched two music DVDs whilst Keith worked on his presentation, and nothing else on the telly we went up to the park. What a night we had dancing with an elderly man from Taiwan and another elderly gent sitting in a group at the next table. The band were so pleased to see us participating in the atmosphere that the two singers joined in, encouraging us when our stamina began to flag. They finished playing just after midnight and came to thank us for enjoying their music. First time we have heard “We will rock you” in rap form! It was nearly 1am when we got home and before going to bed we needed to check our emails to see if Saga had responded. They hadn’t.

CHINA 2010 THURSDAY 2nd SEPTEMBER

It had rained during the night the drops pinging on the metal railings and window frames, and thunderstorm disturbed me as well, so it was not surprising that we had had a power cut at some point. Keith had to reset the breaker in our lounge and had pressed the wrong button on the steriliser so that had to run for half an hour. By the time I got up the rain was heavy and blowing in all directions between the buildings. It also felt very cold!
After lunch I joined Keith in the Training Centre to answer some of the questions put to me by his students. During this time Keith was able to catch up with some of his paper work and wasn’t paying attention to what I was saying but when they all began to laugh he knew I was talking about him. I had said he would rather have a cold beer than a Taiwanese fun drink! After my session I joined in with a group discussion about what 3 items we could take on a deserted island. Once we had written these down we split into 3 teams, 4 people to each team. We all lost points for one reason or another, mainly because Keith had said place in order the items we thought were the most important from the 12 we now had and none of us had done that only our team leader remembering them in their heads. There was a lot of doubling up on our answers but that was allowed and there was a lot of laughter explaining the reasons for our choice of items. I had included a good book and told my leader that if I became bored I could read and if I didn’t like the book I could make a fire with it! One member included a compass – we were on a deserted island I said so he crossed it off his list. “No, it may not be such a bad idea if you go walk about.” “ Ah” said our leader “but we have the sun” – “not if he goes walkabout at night” was my response. The object was to get them to talk not so much as which items were the most important and Keith certainly achieved that.
The dark clouds remained threatening all afternoon and so he finished the class a little earlier than 4pm hoping they could get back to their hotel before the rain. The rain never came but it certainly was a lot cooler.
We went to ‘The Soup Expert’ again and this time our waiter let one of the girls take our order with a little help from the young cashier, who we are convinced has a reasonable knowledge of English but doesn’t get the opportunity to practice it.
Returning home Keith found an email from Saga Holidays – they have again cancelled our trip to Thailand due to the lack of clients! We are not very happy with them.

CHINA 2010 WEDNESDAY 1st SEPTEMBER

No sign of the storm although it did rain in the night according to Keith who said large puddles remained around parked cars and the gardens were wet when he went to work. It was a lovely morning, very hot again, and looking out to the mountains I saw another ridge far away. I decided I would like to be in the large tower block beyond the ‘China Bank’ electric hoarding as from a high floor I would be able to look across the sea, Haiwan Park, Yundang Lake and to the mountains – dream on!
We set off this afternoon on another kite hunt and on reaching our destination, which again did not exist, we called in the help of the army as a young soldier was approaching a bank we were stood close to. Having studied English in University he was most helpful including telephoning the kite company for directions to their shop. A car pulled up with a youngish driver and a younger boy sitting in the front passenger seat. The young men carried out a conversation with Keith’s piece of paper containing the address and telephone number on it passing backwards and forwards between everyone. Finally our soldier drew a map telling us we needed to get a 30A bus, go 5 stops then walk 100 metres and by now it had begun to rain. We thanked everyone and set off with our soldier by our side. We hadn’t gone far, in fact we hadn’t reached the pedestrian crossing, when the car pulled up and offered to take us. We all climbed in, including the solder, and the young lad began to talk to us in very good English. The driver and the soldier shook hands – they were complete strangers – and the young lad said “we Chinese are very friendly people, we like to help”. We agreed with him. So with more phone calls and the use of the satellite navigation system on a Nokia phone we arrived at a spot close to the end of the road leading directly in front of the Conference Centre where signs for the forthcoming Forum were in place and the gardeners busy cutting the shrubbery with petrol driven hedge trimmers. Once again we thanked everyone and as we got out a man wearing blue patterned shorts and carrying an umbrella was waiting for us. We followed him down a narrow path between the flower beds towards a Photographic shop. Stepping into a narrow alley we took the first opening on our left going down a couple of deep stone steps into a kite shop. Never in a million years would we have found this small dingy place. Lots of kites hung from the ceiling and stacked up against the wall were shelves full of kites each in its own coloured bag. A young lad was working on an ancient computer on a table under the window where lots of plugs and wires were hanging down and on a wooden seat were large boxes of foil kites and a few reels. Language was a problem but Keith managed to inform him we wanted a dragon and gave him a code for the particular model we wanted. He kept bringing out the wrong kites all with spars which are no good to us for travelling. He did produce a large orange octopus out of the foil selection on the bench but already having one said “no”. Finally we followed him into the Photographic shop to use their computer which was connected to the internet. It was such a small place and with customers sat on stools by the large glass topped counter, and an open umbrella on the floor, there wasn’t much room so I remained outside as the rain had now stopped. I could see it was awkward to see the screen as it was a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall by the side of several display cabinets. At last the kite was found only to be told “mei you” – there wasn’t any! Well you can’t say we haven’t tried so we might as well go for a beer! The girl in the coffee shop that we frequent in the area had to run next door to the convenience store to exchange a warm beer for a cold one and by the time we had finished our drinks the rain had started again. We didn’t complain as we walked up to the bus terminus as there was no wind and it was 31 degrees and I had an umbrella!

CHINA 2010 TUESDAY 31st AUGUST

I spent more time browsing the shelves in ‘Rainbow’ supermarket today looking for ideas for today’s meal. I was intrigued by the picture of Gulangyu’s hero displayed on a box of cakes and with a loose lid peeped inside to see what looked like very small bakewell tarts, but I know that strange ingredients go into what looks like a familiar bakery item to me, so put it back on the shelf for now. I had no idea what was in any of the other boxes on display either However on a packet of very small cakes wrapped in foil with a paper wrapper round each one stating the variety of cake I thought these might be worth trying. Now I say cake – a quick feel and I discovered the rectangle shape and about the size of a large wrapped sweet was hard, so that too stayed on the shelf. A packet of our favourite honey walnut halves went into the basket! In the upper shelf of the packaged cooked meat section a box with a picture of what looked like dried apricots caught my eye as the writing said ‘Vegetarian Gluten’ and next to that box was a clear plastic bag marked ‘Vegetarian Gizzard’ and then I saw ‘Vegetarian Liver’ in a similar packaging but the contents were white! How do you get vegetarian meat! I’m getting boring and I ended up buying a yellow tuna fish about the size of a trout and lots of fresh prawns, some of them putting up a fight and jumping back into the large tank as I tried to get them from the ladle into the plastic bag to be weighed and priced.
This evening we went for a short walk calling at ‘The Soup Expert’ to get their card as Polly wishes to take us out for a meal on Sunday evening. Amazingly we found more nooks and crannies around our immediate area including a small indoor market where a stallholder was washing down the seafood area at the end of the day. It looks like I can get fresh fish and meat not to mention loose eggs here.
The weather forecast has predicted storms for our area lasting at least 3 days and shipping has been told to seek shelter.

CHINA 2010 MONDAY 30th AUGUST

It’s been a right weekend and it didn’t get any better today. The kite makers that Keith had contacted by email had responded with details of their address and also their shop both on the same street in Qianpu village.
So we’ll try again. Why is it always so hot here? The new BRT terminal is now open improving the already excellent service although there is still a lot of finishing off to be done and the removal of the blue corrugated hoarding will be a big improvement on the landscape.
We set off to walk away from the Conference Centre passing through a small garden with a stone water feature of a little boy blowing the tip of a whelk shell where water poured down into the small pool below, today the pool being used to cool an old man’s feet! He soon moved when I produced my camera. This park was an area for small sports with a football pitch in need of re-turfing, a basketball court and under a large roof 4 Chinese ‘croquet’ courts where a few people were preparing for today’s match. We thought we would return when the action began.
Counting down the shop numbers starting in the 900’s we were looking for 437 when we suddenly arrived at a for number location – how come? Perhaps the numbers continued on the other side of the road – they didn’t. We called in at the gym equipment shop as we had details written in Chinese but the lady pointed back down the road. We continued to walk up the street in the heat with no shade admiring the neat landscaped roadsides and noting a large display informing everyone that as September approaches a Trade Fair and Conference will be taking place in the Conference Centre – nothing exciting for us laowais then!
At last we were almost there but a large hotel and a ‘Sunming’ electrical store stopped us in our tracks. An incident had taken place between a woman and presumably the group of men sat on the wall showing a little interest, but then they could be bystanders, and the police were talking to the woman. A young policeman remained in the 4X4 so Keith showed him our piece of paper and he came to assist saying we should walk back down the road. We told him we had looked but thanked him for his help. UrgHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Just to get into a cool atmosphere would be great and as we had walked as far as a large shopping mall and ‘Wal-mart’ we went inside the mall. The only good thing about it was the water feature outside. A large bronze dragon draped around a marble ball standing in a pool with a rock feature on which small plants were growing. Leading down the steps to the automatic entrance was a ‘stair waterfall’ falling into a pebble lined rectangle pool. I didn’t see anything to wear and if I had I was too hot and sticky to be bothered so as there is a BRT station at this mall we came on. As expected the bus was full.
Back home Keith returned to the internet and has found another kite shop in the same location. Amid my groans he has stated he will go on his own!

CHINA 2010 SUNDAY 29th AUGUST

Another of those days! We took a 22 bus to the terminus in the north of the island which should have been almost opposite ‘Guanyin Temple’ with a tall pagoda. Buts 22 terminated at ‘Metro’ close to the airport – I had misread the bus number in the crease of our map and Keith hadn’t checked it. Never mind a 33 would take us from the terminus to the Temple. 4 of us board the waiting bus and at the next stop it was full and our female drive shouting for people to move further down the bus to let more people on at the next stop. Unbelievable and it seemed most of the passengers were heading for the same stop as Keith and I.
As our guide book stated a Chinese Temple on one side of the road and ‘Walmart’, American religion on the other! With several Buddhist monks sitting under the shade of the landscape beside large wooden closed gates offering horoscope readings or selling incense sticks we entered through the small open doorway surprising a very smart young security guard. We said “hello” and continued to walk along the road by the side of very nicely manicured borders with different designs of stone lamps amongst the shrubbery. As we approached a bend with a row of ‘villas’ rising up the hillside we began to realise we were in the wrong area although we had a very good view of the pagoda. As a teenager was approaching we asked directions to be told we needed a gateway further along the main road.
This was more like it – a large traditional stone gateway with barrows outside laden with yellow paper squares, incense sticks in all sizes and something in cellophane wrappers that the women were trying to get me to buy but as usual I declined. Inside the gateway we had another uphill climb passing more stallholders and Buddhists sitting on small stools with a poster laid on the ground showing a picture of ‘ying and yang’ and not always done in black and white, the rest of the space taken up with Chinese characters. As we reached the large flat area on which the Temple stood the first thing I noticed was red ribbons hanging from the low trees around the grounds. I now realised this is what the women were trying to sell me and had I known I would have bought a couple. (The last time we tied ribbons on trees was in Benxi in 2005 and that was on top of Wunushan.) This place was very scruffy with building debris and plastic wrappers, bags, bottles etc. I noticed several people lining up by the brick oven ready to burn their paper offerings. Outside the corner of the Temple was a large reclining Buddha protected by a thick plastic shelter. Most of the body of the idol was obscured by wooden planks supporting the not so clear plastic front. Lion dogs guarded the steps leading to the Temple entrance and a small dog had decided to take a rest by one of them. I wondered what he was thinking as he kept looking up at the statue. We were somewhat disappointed to find there was no access to, or even up, the pagoda but as I saw people climbing steps that appeared to lead up the mountainside wondered if there was an entrance towards the rear. We climbed up so far but we were moving away from the building. It was quite pleasant walking through the woodland with a carpet of ferns, sunlight shining through and large black butterflies floating close by, but the steps were built at a sloping angle and when we came to a sign in Chinese with ‘1800 metres’ we decided enough was enough and came back down which we found harder than going up!
Walking back down the roadway we came across what we believe to be several ‘driving test centres’ where the drivers were negotiating tight manoeuvres between poles hanging from a structure over the site. The vehicles being used in all centres were old looking 4X4s and we thought this was an odd place to have these centres unless they thought their God would help them pass their test. We watched one driver reversing into the space between the poles oblivious to the fact that he had caught another pole with the front of his vehicle whilst a couple watching him clapping at his success!
Being very disappointed with Plan A we proceeded with Plan B – to visit a small street highlighted on our map which was about a block away once we managed to cross the road. There were so many new buildings and so many demolition sites we didn’t find our street and decided to call it a day. The highlight of this area was walking by tea shop after tea shop but not the smart sophisticated places these looked more like wholesale depots with huge cardboard boxes piled up inside and outside the premises.
On our way back to catch the 33 bus a taxi was parked outside a school so I suggested we got the driver to take us to ‘Metro’ where we could get the 22 back home. We made a brief stop in ‘Metro’ just so I could get some cornflakes and perhaps a decent brand of coffee. They were reluctant to let Keith in with a half empty bottle of water in his hand. We didn’t want to throw it in the waste bin so a kind assistant offered to keep it until we finished shopping. Got the cornflakes, got the washing liquid – didn’t get the coffee. Got the wrong checkout (as the young cashier was undergoing staff training and had made some drastic error on the till) and vowed never to return.
Coming home was also a nightmare as at the second stop a young Mum brought baby in a pushchair onto the bus and sat on the first seat of 3 facing inwards. Therefore at every stop she had to tip the pushchair over towards her so passengers could get on, baby hanging on to the side as she did so without making a murmer. It wasn’t long before the bus was full especially with young children and parents heading to the beach. Why do they have to have their swim rings inflated before they leave home? One young lad with a very large white plaster covering his forehead was sick everywhere only I hadn’t realised until we got off the bus and Keith announced “Never Again!” I thought the young lad had had an accident and Mum was cleaning him up. Our journey had taken 45 minutes from ‘Metro’ and I pointed out we could have gone back to Tong’an in that time. Keith just looked at me!
At home Keith uploaded the latest edition of ‘Google Earth’ as we find this very handy when researching holidays. It said 15 minutes – 1hour 30 minutes later and still uploading. When it was finished some of the images we looked at still gave dates as far back as 2003.
Not a good day and I was cooking tonight!