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’.