G'day to you all,

Hope alls well in your lands. All is sure well here in the south of China. Summer has finally found us and the weekend was into the 30's, or so I'm told. Tianyang is a town full of festive spirit and parties at the moment. On another subject but still to do with summer, Sunday evening whilst eating dinner at the market place I happily saw the return of the summer fashion that I've come to love so much. You wouldn't get away with it back home but here in the south of China all girls wear tiny denim shorts and high heels. Each summer day is like going to heaven.

The one thing I can't understand about it though is they will wear high heels even if you're going mountain climbing.
The shorts and the heels can not be separated and for me that's not such a bad thing, for the girl's ankles
I'm sure it is!

Anyhow, where was I? Tiny shorts, high heels...um, tiny shorts, high heels...um...oh yes the weekend. Since the return of the true warmth (this is when the Chinese begin to wear short clothing and not only me) I've been out for BBQ and beer most evenings. For me this is a bad thing. I've now had to add an extra 30 to 40 minutes onto my evening bike rides. Oh the things we do!

If you're reading this and for some reason you seem to be reading it slowly it's because this is the third time I've started it. The power keeps going out and I don't CTRL + S every second, maybe I will right now...done! Thankfully I have batteries for my little iPod speakers as The Black Crows and Jimmy Page are on at the moment and for that to stop would be a REAL BUGGER!

OK, BBQ. I wish Tianyang had a bbq more like Jinghong's in the Xishuangbanna. There they had every vegetable you could think of but here we have only a grass type thing on a stick and that's a real bugger especially after so many nights of only meat and beer for dinner. Last week I had BBQ with my buddy Mike. He was once an English Teacher in a fine arts college in Guangxi somewhere but made more money selling Amway, so he now concentrates on that and spends more time with his family. When I first met him I thought he was American as it was dark and we walked past each other and he stopped and said, 'Shaaaaane'. He obviously had many American Foreign Teachers through out his schooling.

One of his friends came along to bbq. He was a criminal lawyer who was part of a court case before the Tianyang Court House that day where three men had been sentenced to execution. I could write more about what happens prior to the final moments but I won't. Just think of Monty Pythons 'Life of Brian' and you'll get a good idea. There's a parade though the streets and people take the opportunity to set up little stalls and sell snacks and drinks...unbelievable! Enough of that, I want to keep my VISA, oh and it's a Residents Permit too, only for the privilege few! It entitles me to leave China as much as I damn well please and then to come crawling back for the next fix of BBQ and Beer. Add to this tiny shorts and high heels and I'm sold!

I've been playing badminton with Lisa along with riding so it's not so bad. Who am I kidding? Soon I won't be able to see my....toes! tee hee! Thursday night I headed for BBQ with more friends and Friday night I headed to BBQ with Lisa and her friend Susan. I had purchased a DVD burner Friday afternoon and spent from 12:30am to 4:30am trying to get a successful DVD back up of all my photos and documents. I finally made a successful back up on CD and went to bed.

My Baise buddy Brad rang early Saturday morning. He always seems to ring when I've had bugger all sleep. How he knows I have no idea. I guess it's like when you were young, Mothers 'just knew'. When you older, Policemen 'just know' when you've been up to no good. He was in Tianyang and would be round later in the afternoon.

This takes me to where I was at the beginning of this entry. Tianyang is the centre of a 'festival' that is happening at the moment. It begins when the families all gather in the family home and then head out into the hills to 'sweep the tombs' of their past family. Hey, we use cluttered grave yards and graves and here they bury their dead on a beautiful hill in a tomb. Whilst sweeping they burn money and other paper 'things' to help their family in the afterlife. They then decorate the tomb like a Christmas tree and go home for a huge 'present' family feast. It's a beautiful thing. They even get time off work for this.

Saturday Judy from Tiandong came to visit and we all headed out for green vegetables and ice cold water. Argh, just joking, if only it were true. It was back to BBQ Street for a heap of meat and 'cold' beer. Yes, most of the fridges have been plugged back into to a power supply and I'm once again a happy Aussie drinking cold beer. We ate whilst countless of my students ran around us saying 'Hello Shane'.

Sunday we headed to Baise to meet Canadian Sarah, one of Baise's latest two Foreign Teachers. The other is also Canadian and the new teacher in Pingguo is also Canadian. It seems the last year was the Aussies turn and this year it is the Canadians turn to occupy Guangxi. For those whom don't know the Chinese school year begins in September and ends at the end of June. We spent a great day visiting some of the sites and eating lunch at a great little restaurant run by a friendly family. Sarah has been in and out of China for over three years and her Chinese is great. She was in Baise about a year and a half ago as well.

It is now Monday evening and the next wave of the festival began today. It is time to celebrate the lifestyle and customs of the 'local' people. Our school has tomorrow and Wednesday off to attend a huge festival on a mountain. I can't say anymore about it for now as I have no idea. I can say that most of the female teachers were clad in Traditional dresses full of colour today. If you have seen the dresses in the Jinghong photos they are along the same lines. Not as colourful but just as beautiful. Today Yang Yang and Lisa were at the mountain throwing 'Love Balls' at all the men. See the Jingxi entry for an understanding. CCTV 4 is there all week filming the festival. They sing and dance, eat and be merry I guess. There is a big song and dance thingamabob in the town square this evening so I'm heading out to meet Lisa, have dinner and then head across the road to the square.

I'll be taking many photos tomorrow and Wednesday so I'll find out more about the festival and the 'whys and howcomes' and let yo know later. That's it from me mate...catchya later...