Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
Finally a day with little to write about!
But I'm sure I will find something to ramble on about once I begin!
 
As it was a 'rest day' for my feet I spent most of the morning reading and chatting to Luo Wei (Amigo) in the comfort of my air conditioned room. Hunger soon set in and I was forced to leave the comforts of a cool room and head out into the heat wave that engulfs me as soon as I open my hotel room door.
 
The rooms may have air con but the rest of the hotel doesn't.
 
I decided to find something to eat on the way to KFC for a caffeine fix. I soon come across the husband and wife team from yesterday. He had the noodle trolley and she had the rice trolley. Today it was to be a 'Her Trolley' Day as I had already tried his wokkup. He wokked up a dish that was very much like spaghetti with a tomato sauce and believe me, it really did taste like it too. She wokked up a frenzy and I soon had delicious rice and mixed vegetable dish before me.
 
What a wonderful team effort!
 
I then spent an hour or so in KFC's trying to figure out where to go next. Should I head down to Huang Shan or should I continue further to the east or should I head on down to Jiangxi Province? I had not woken with a single thought on the subject so I thought reading the Good Book may lend a hand. Why can't I be normal and actually plan out an adventure in advance? Buying a bus or train ticket a day or two before leaving a city really is a wonderful idea. But no I have to wake up and then change my mind destination at the last minute, usually at the bus station ha ha!
 
Stoopid Boy!
 
Anyhow, I have decided one thing.
I will go to Hefei tomorrow and then I'll decide north, south, east or west.
Ha Ha!
 
Anyhow, so much for my rest day. My feet needed a walk so together we headed to a beautiful little temple known as 'The Memorial Hall of Hua Tuo'. Hua Tuo was a famous Doctor and Pharmacologist (is that really a word or is it Chinglish?) during the East Han Dynasty (AD25 to 220). He was born here in Bozhou and carefully studied traditional Chinese medicine and Confuciousism. He became 'very' skilled in surgery and also began his own natural herb garden and from there everything blossomed...ha ha ha!
 
I guess this led to Bozhou being one of China's most important traditional medicine centres.
 
To find the temple go to KFC and begin walking back along Xinhua Lu.   Take the second little road on your left. It's a quiet street and it won't be long before you'll find a Net Bar on your right. The temple is not far from the Net Bar. If you judge it from the front you will mistakenly believe it is a small place with small grounds. Wrong! After paying your 10 Yuan entrance fee and have finished walking around the main buildings take one of the little paths on either side of the main building. You will soon find a large pond/small lake with a beautiful pagoda in the middle of it.
 
The day's heat was probably the hottest since I have left Fujian Province.
Looking at my map I'm not that that much further from the coast as what I am in Shaowu City.  
 
After leaving the temple I decided to try and find a smaller temple that Charles the Great had told me about. I had its where-abouts marked on my map (a dot marked by pen) in the little alleyways behind the bus stations on Weiwu Dadoa. Silly idea really, in such heat with such sore feet. I walked here and there and almost everywhere before heading back to the little Net Bar not far from the first temple.
 
Here I spent several hours catching up on emails in between power failures.
 
During these times everyone would move outside where at least there was a little breeze and slam down a bottle or two of cold water. I then headed home for a shower and to read for an hour or so before heading back up to my favourite eatery on Renmin lu. Here I shared a few beers and bowls of noodles with the staff and their children before heading to the local Net Bar (found on Renmin Lu. Turn right from Xinhua Lu and soon you'll see a fridge with a Coke Sticker on it just in the doorway.
 
When I returned to my hotel the 'Floor Girl' greeted me with a happy smile and went to open the wrong door. I questioned as to why and pointed to my door down the hall way. She then began to laugh and mentioned that there was now another foreigner staying in Bozhou in my hotel on my floor.
 
She then confirmed that all foreigners look the same.
 
In the west we say that all Chinese or Japanese etc look the same. It's really not until you've lived in a country for a while that all the differences become reality. To me now they all look different. Of course they mostly have straight black hair, some long some short. But the facial features are no longer the same.
 
Here it seems that no matter what our hair colour is or how big or small our nose is etc, to most we all look the same. This has also been told to me by many Chinese I meet travelling. How cool for me, to Chinese girls I actually must look like Pierce Brosan!
 
How strangely funny!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was Seb Fontaine
The album was 'Prototype 4' Disk 1