afternoon trip to Qingyang Taoist temple

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Wow it is totally freezing in my room as I type this, even though I have the heater next to me....as my right hand is doing most of the work, using the mouse, it's freezing while the left hand is warm....how odd....

Anyway we got paid on Friday, so we celebrated by going out to a Western restaurant, one we hadn't tried before called 'The Red Brick' which is an Italian on Kehua Bei Lu, next to 'Grandma's Kitchen'. The prices were fine and my risotto was yummy so I would recommend it....for Americans (yes I'm stereotyping) the portions weren't large, but hey, that's what dessert's for! Afterwards we headed to the French bar which is called 'Le Cafe Paname' on 143 Kehua North. It's very relaxed and European-esque (duh), you can either chill at the top on sofas or comfy chairs or play pool downstairs where the music is louder. It's very dark though and we were knackered so my flatmate and I ended up leaving at midnight! I know, what lightweights......it's a teacher's life you know!

Today we got up late and did the usual weekend stuff of doing washing and tidying up the flat, lesson planning.....exciting eh! But after lunch we headed out to a 'cultural' site near us (a bus ride away, catch the 59), the Qingyang Temple, which is a Taoist site. It's a bargain to get in, either 5 RMB or 15 RMB which gets you into a couple of other places and a free tea at the teahouse. Compared to entry fees at eg Wuhou Temple and Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, which are 60 RMB, it was a really good deal. The place itself is deceptively large - from the outside it doesn't look like much but once you're in, you'd hardly know you were in the city as it's quiet and there are no visible high-rises or skyscrapers. There's a few temples and shrines, and at the end you can peruse some paintings done on wafer-thin paper or mounted on silk, and you can bargain down, even though as a laowei it's not easy to get a fair price! We finished off by finding a spot in a quiet tea garden and having some tea, which was included in the entry fee.

In the ticket there is some typical Chinglish which says 'It really is the most happiness thing in the world when you come into this immortal scenic spot, listen to the immortal tune, taste the immortal tea and the display of Taoism.' Lovely!

One of the artists was this wee lady who was very cute, as she had painted some pictures that included different flowers on them such as chrysthanthemeum (I know I'm not spelling that right), peony, blossom and orchid, and had written them in English, and was practicing her pronunciation with us........however I didn't envy her as 'chrysthanthemeum' has got to be a bit of a tongue-twister in any language.....but she was so enthusiastic and said to me (in Chinese obviously but I understood) 'how much did you pay for his paintings? Ah! Too much! Mine are better and cheaper!' which was hilarious, but she was lovely. I'm really quite pathetic, after trying to study Chinese every day I get excited when eg on a TV programme I recognise words such as 'let's go', 'where?' and 'no thanks'! Obviously I still have a way to go!

So all in all, it was a nice relaxing afternoon.........we followed it by heading to 'Metro' which is a massive supermarket, which even had Christmas decorations (it's still November people!) and Christmas cards! Tomorrow we're having lunch at Pete's Tex Mex (becoming somewhat of a lazy Sunday tradition 😉) and then I guess it's back to more lesson planning (grrr)......counting the weeks til the holiday!

Zaijian

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