Tea shops on every corner

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Our journey has taken us further east to Tunxi. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, with tea shops on every corner and tea plants in every field the slower pace of life has been a welcome change and has given us the opportunity to explore the beautiful villages of the region. Of Particular note is Hongcun - which is famed for its unique irrigation system - while I know little of irrigation in practice it means that every street had a carved channel for water running down the side of the houses. Residents wash their clothes and their dishes alongside the ducks that vie for space.

While there may be fewer ducks, the temples scatterered throughout red sandstone peaks makes Qiyun Shan, the mountain residence of taoists monks worth a mention.

With all these places to see it is easy to build up an appetite and my pallete has been having a re-education. While I have never considered myself a fussy eater some of the restaurants in Anhui province have highlighted my desire to eat meat while remaining as far removed as possible from the food chain - I have had the opportunity to look my dinner in the eye and have been faced with frog, chicken feet, and pig snout. While the range of exotic dishes can make you feel far from home, you turn a corner and before long stumble across a KFC which makes you realise the world is definately getting smaller.

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Photos

For my colleagues at Scope
The answer to the lack of air con

Blind Masseuse
Traditionally the job of a masseuse was restricted to blind people. It was thought that blind people could see through their fingers and hence give better massages - this of course greatly helped the job prospects of blind people living in China. While the profession is now open to all, blind masseurs still have a certain status that sighted masseurs don't have.

Comments

[Lindsay]

Thanks
Hi Abigail, Thanks for signing me up to your travel blog. I will look forward to your various entries from your travels. Lindsay