On Sunday I went to Lingyenshan with a group of friends and when we all arrived at 9am the clouds were threatening to soak us, in fact at 6am the rain was on. I’ve been here many times before of course but not with such a large group. There were 4 couples with children and the youngest was 6, so I thought this would be a problem because it’s difficult in places……….not the kid the track I mean………..I don’t even know the kid and then again maybe he is a bit difficult. After about an hour the sun came out with a vengeance and so it was time to cover up. Some folk hadn’t even brought a hat which is just bloody stupid really. The walk is good, it has some difficult areas, it’s quite steep and then you have a chance to rest as you go back down hill. However there are a few parts where the loose stones make it like ice and you have to be really careful. A few ended up on their arse, including the adults, but thankfully I stayed on my feet.

I want one of these remote control cars, they are bloody marvelous

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It took us about 4 hours to do the walk and I’ll be honest I was getting a bit weary by the end of it, I was running out of fuel and I only had a very small lunch and breakfast and I was running on empty. But we all made it safely to the end and when I got home I stuffed me face, had a shower and hit the sack, I think I was sleeping before my head hit the pillow.

This morning I decided to go to Xishan as it is my new motto to explore more. After breakfast I went to the park and then after me shower I headed to Xishan. Its two hours away an unfortunately the bus driver was on the horn shouting at people most of the way. I’m not going to dwell on that, but they are fucking morons.

Xishan was quiet and today I really just wanted to go for a walk and a bit of a recce. I spotted many places selling fruit which I had no interest in. It’s the Pipa that I bought the other day and it really is over rated. The stone in the centre is so big that the amount of fruit you get is very small and the taste is, well for me, so so. A little sweet, a bit citrus. There were a few other things like the fish bladders being dried in the sun, not sure if you eat them or may or maybe they use them as condoms.

I spotted a café and popped in for a look. The coffee was expensive, 30 rmb, but the cup was nice and the coffee was very good. There were about 10 locals drinking tea and were a bit bemused by me I think. A young girl about 7 years old came in with a dog and she spoke with her mother and then she wandered over my way. The dog made a bee line for me and of course I had to say hello. Cookie was a very nice wee dog and he just wanted someone to pat his head and scratch him behind the ears, I can relate to that. The young girl spoke to me telling me that Cookie likes these beef strips and she gave them to me so that I could feed the dog. She just started speaking to me like an old friend and the rest of the room were quite taken by this; none of them could speak English. They brought me some tea over after I had finished my coffee and I even got a refill. A very pleasant half hour sitting there and not what I expected from such a small place. I told the Mother that her daughter’s English was very good and they also complemented me on my Chinese.

There was a loop road that I walked which was about 8 km’s and so I set off to see what I could find. I came across numerous restaurants selling the food they catch from Taihu (Lake Tai), none of it is of interest to me. I’ve eaten most of it before and I find it quite tasteless. I came across a temple on the lakeside. There is an old village that I went to years ago and will go to again, I just forgot where it was and today I did not really have the time or the inclination to go in. The pictures will let you see what my trip was like today and so I will go the noo and have another lazy night after such a long day walking in the sun.