Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya
 
Mate, what a wonderful day today was!
 
After my morning ElcheapO coffee I headed out into the blistering heat and made my through the crowded streets towards Jiao Shan (mountain) . It was so strange as when I went to find a table of course there were none free. Well actually there were plenty but of course two people always seem to use the four seats and the second table in hope that no one will even try to sit near them.
 
Bugger that mate!
 
I walked over to a lady and her daughter who had only two small bags, one on each spare seat and nothing on the table. I asked if I could sit down and they both looked at their bags and said no. I nicely asked again and pointed out that there were no other free seats. The mother looked at me in disgust , said no and motioned for me to move away. That was it for me, I began to laugh and gave her a big smile and picked up her bag and dropped it on her food tray, sat down beside her and said 'Hellow'. Her daughter couldn't help it and burst out laughing and after nearly having a heart attack the mother began to smile and said sorry.
 
Sometimes when in China you just have to be Chinese to get what you want!
 
After saying a happy good bye to the mother and daughter I caught Bus Number 4 all the way to Temple Island (a huge cost of 1 Yuan!) . I paid the 50 Yuan entrance fee with a smile. Yesterday I had a small temple in small grounds, today I got an entire island for 10 Yuan more. I debated with myself about the cable car and decided as it was only 20 Yuan I might as well treat myself.
 
I'm not living on noodles and EcheapO Coffee for nothing!
 
I planned to spend the entire day on the island anyhow and already most of my days' money had been used. So be it, I would have to spend longer than I thought on the island and find some friends to play with...ha ha ha!
 
The cable car was a nice luxury that took me directly to the Xijiang Tower. This is a beautiful octagonal pagoda that houses ten thousand small Buddha's. The pagoda is extremely beautiful but don't get too excited about the ten thousand Buddha's. Unlike the one hundred thousand stone carvings at Luoyang's 'Dragon Gate Grottoes', here they are simply little gold statues each in its own plastic casing.
 
Sadly it makes each level of the pagoda look exactly like the one below.
 
The view at the top seriously does make the climb more than worth it . So for me it really was a little sad about the inside of the pagoda. I spent many hours following exploring the island and its gardens. The monastery was beautiful and the gardens were peaceful and I lay for a sleep for an hour until it began to pour with rain. Luckily for me it was just after I woke.
 
I then turned very Chinese and instead of running for shelter I simply squatted beneath my umbrella until it stopped and continued walking.
 
The pathway that takes you around the island wasn't what I actually hoped for and also much shorter and infested by mosquitoes. Or maybe by that time I really smelt...ha ha ha! The beginning was nice and I walked by many carvings in the mountain but then when it got the back of the island it was damp and there were mozzies everywhere and suddenly it finished and took me back to where I was before.
 
I was hoping it would take me further out to then join the gardens.
 
After exploring the gardens I decided to walk along one of the little canals for awhile in the silence . The silence was soon broken by the sound of two girls happily laughing and slowly they came into view on a bamboo raft. We had spotted each other a few hours before and said hello as we passed in the Hall of Scriptures.
 
They waved and began paddling towards me and motioned for me to join them on the raft.  
HHHmmm, two beautiful girls on a bamboo raft...what should I do?
 
Soon we were paddling back out into the middle of the canal and spent the following few hours either going around in circles or doing our best not to fall in. Which one depended on who was paddling at the time. The raft guy was in hysterics for most of it. Usually when the girls took over we would begin going around in circles as one wanted to go one way and the other of course wanted to go the other way.
 
They were having a great time and we boys were sitting in fits of laughter so all was well!
 
After the raft adventure it was time to head back to the temple as Chung Ru and Xie Xiao Lin had not ventured that far yet. After we walked around for a time everything around us began to close so we headed to the ferry to take us back to the main land . I was going to walk back to my hotel but the girls wanted to give me a lift half way so I had to decide between walking or squeezing between two Chinese beauties on a scooter.
 
I choose the squeeze!
 
They had plans for that evening so we made plans to meet again at one the following afternoon and visit one of the cities temples known as Jinshan Gongyuan. After waving goodbye I headed to the Martyrs Cemetery and then walked around the little old streets towards home.
 
Once back at my hotel I lay down to rest and woke several hours later when Amigo and her friends called to say hello. She was with her High School friends whom we had gone to stay with. They had gone to Kaifeng to spend the day with her and have dinner at the night market.
 
How I wish I could have been with them.
 
After a shower I headed out to find a Net Bar and then headed into check out the night market. It really was awesome! Full of street eats and all things markety. For dinner I headed back to my new friends eatery were we all happily phrase book chatted and drank beer together . The food here is awesome and it is located directly across from the Tian Hui Yuan Hotel.
 
Another beautiful day in a life that is but a dream!
 
Beers N Noodles toya....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was Faith No More
The album was 'Angel Dust'