Are You In, Grandma?
China, Here We Come (12)

20.11.2008

The weather was 4℃ to 11℃ today. It was colder and colder.
When I woke up, I saw the neon light decoration on the bridge was still on. We had the buffet breakfast this morning. On the second last day of the journey, Xiang and I were taking breakfast together. I thought there might not be any more chance that we would have our meal together, especially after my term of office ended early 2010.

When I was getting up the coach, the hotel waiter told me that we left our shampoo in the room. I told him that we did not want it anymore. It was left behind by Xiang. I asked the waiter to keep it.

We visited Yan Ziling Angling Terrace on Fuchun River this morning.
Yan Ziling Angling Terrace is about 15 km west of Tonglu. It is on the Chunsan Hill of the north bank of Fuchun River. It was believed that Yan Ziling was born in the Dong Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220). He went studies with Liu Xiu. When Liu Xiu became the emperor and invited him to the Government Official. Yan rejected and lived as a hermit in Fuchun Hill.

We had to take a few trips of boats to visit the various places of interest around Fuchun River. It was very strange that my seat would be occupied when we came back to the boat. I thought I always bring the good fengshui to the seat. When we changed to a larger boat where all the visitors came together, I sat with two young ladies from Shanghai. We chatted for about twenty minutes. Then Yueli came and joked that she would tell my wife when we would be back home. I did not answer. Actually I would like to tell her that I was sure nobody would occupy my seat and I could have a peaceful mind. Hey, hey, no need to hurt for a seat anymore.

A few aunties who were from Shantou asked me about my age. They thought that I was forty plus. They said that I was always greeting people with a smiling face. I thought I was always joyful that made me look young.

We continued our journey to one of the Ten Most Famous Places of Interest in Zhejiang. That was the Chuiyun Tongtian River.

Chuiyun Tongtian river spans 4.5 kilometers. It was also named as the "Long River Underground" with the river course dropping variance of 380 meters and the total area of 80,000 square meters. The underground water source is abundant, the water quality is clear, and the air is fresh.

Chuiyun Tongtian River has attracted multitudinous tourists from everywhere.

The attraction of this river consisted of the "Thousand Meters Boating Underground" and the "Advanture of the Underground Grand Canyon".

The 4.5 km river course consists of two grades. After boating through the first grade river course, the boat was lifted up to the second grade course of eight meters higher than the first one. The boatman was very experienced when rolling in the river. The lifting up of boat in the 'lift cave' was exciting.

We just wen through the "Thousand Meters Boating Underground" programme and did not continue with the "Advanture of the Underground Grand Canyon".

The last stop of our Zhejiang Trip was at the resort of Red Lantern Rural Home Land.

The other name for the resort was "Home of Grandma". It was based on the saying, "If you look for fun, visit grandma's home. If you look for delicious food, go to mother-in-law's home". The resort is located at the rural countryside.

A handsome young man brought us visiting grandma's home. There were shophouses of ironmongery, bamboo aritcles weaver, wooden barrel trusser, wine-making, pottery, etc. We walked pass a shop after another. Since it was the 'Grandma's Home', we went up stair to see a 'grandma' arranged to meeting us by the Resort. Then we came to a ancestral temple. The guide told us that we could not take photos in the temple.

Oh dear, we had come to the Mobile Temple which was very popular in the recent years.
That was our last stop of our journey and my China trip was ruined by it.

When we escaped from the temple, everyone talked about it. That was the second time I faced that "Mobile temple" in my four trip to China in the recent four year,
Distressful!

We walked to the reception of the resort. As it was small, we had to wait for the room key outside the reception. My goodness! It was very cold and it took donkey year for us to get our room key.

It was cold when we walked from our wooden hut to the restaurant for our dinner.

We went to watch the tribal folk dance after dinner. There was a campfire in front of the stage. Some of our group members were sitting in the open-air. I took shelther in the hut and leaned against the wooden partition to keep myself warm.

Although it was very cold, the male dancer were sometimes topless. I thought the dance made them sweat. We were cold because we sat still.

Xiang came into the hut and sat behind me. He might be cold too.

When we were back to the room, Xiang requested me to switch on the heater. It was the first time we needed the air-conditioner to keep us warm.
I was not aware Xiang was not feeling well. Even when I was in the toilet and he told me he needed to use the toilet immediately.

It was actually very unfortunate.
When we just arrived in China, I paid much attention to him. When he told me that his stomach upset, I would make the Chinese tea as the herbal tea for him to take. But he was very popular and I thought there were be many people taking care of him. Therefore I was more careless. When he offered me a flatbread in the Zhuge Village, I did not even thought of "better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off". I was his roommate!

I was not used to sleep in the room with heater. Yet I could not sleep without a blanket. Too bad for tonight.


04.05.2009, 05.05.2009