13.08.09The Ming Tombs, the north park and another half marathon of walking await me on this fine Thursday. I catch the bus up to the tombs and it's my first local public transport excursion in China and being able to match the Chinese characters in the guide book with ones at the bus station and then jump on the correct bus fills me an overwhelming sense of joy.
It's amazing how the simple tasks become challenge mountains when you have no means of communication and can't even read the language.
The tombs turn out to be well worth the journey and the
park around them is beautiful, it's full of lakes, rivers, wooded ar
eas, quaint bridges, and pavilions. Old men swim in the lakes and in the roasting heat it looks so inviting, although I know if I so much as touched the green water I would instantly fall ill to some terrible disease.
People are practising Kung Fu and Tai Chi in clearings in the trees while more old men sit around and play cards or mahjong using stone plinths as table tops.
Come night time I take a bus to the South Train Station and tour it's shopping area, which is even more built up and glitzy than Harbin, it's actually quite ridiculous. I also buy some much needed fruit as my diet as consisted solely of fried street food so far, although it's tasty and the ingredients them selves are probably ok, the abundance of oil in the cooking methods can't be doing me any good.
Gorged out on fresh pineapple slices I walk back home and decide that from now on I need to curb the walking as my feet are absolutely aching.
No comments:
Post a Comment