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.