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.