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.