Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

Ok then, its official!
Get ready world, she’s going to change it!

The little girl I was just speaking to is going to become the greatest English speaker in the entire world for one reason and one reason only and that’s because she believes that the word 'ten’ is stupid. She wants it to be what it actually should be ‘Onety’ because if twenty is twenty and thirty is thirty, then ten should be onety or something that at least sounds like one and then eleven can be onety one and twelve onety two etc. She kept on asking me where the ‘teens’ came from but as I have no idea and had never thought about it before so I couldn’t answer her question which is in fact a damn good question.

She was in Grade four mind you.

Her translator was her ‘big sister’ who was a high school student who couldn’t stop laughing at all the crazy questions someone of her age was coming out with when both ‘translator’ and I had never thought of them. She would huff and puff, stamp her feet and jump up and down at all the silly things that didn’t make sense to her in the English language and she now wants them all changed to make them more common sense.

She will though begin with the number ‘ten’.

Imagine if is she did grow up and change ten to onety then Pearl Jam’s album Ten would have to be changed to Onety and that kind of doesn’t work does it. If it was to be re-released under that name there would be many side jokes linking it to Humpty Dumpty thus creating a sure failure.

So as it’s now Onety O’clock I think it’s time to change the topic.

The last few days have been totally amazing and both spent at the Seven Star Crags Park which is a group of misty limestone hills that have caves and grottoes hidden within. In the LP it’s noted as being attractive but not worth the hefty fifty Yuan admission price so thanks to that very unfair piece of advice I entered thinking that I was going to visit an attractive yet still crappy park but thankfully within minutes of my arrival I was totally in heaven and racing around in wide eyed wonder at what was surrounding me.

The Seven Star Crags

The park is now sixty Yuan to enter and having visited so many parks all over China I would actually happily pay around one hundred Yuan to enter this one.

The Seven Star Crags are located at the fringe of Zhaoqing city by Star Lake and form what is said to be one of the most scenic places in Guangdong Province. In one small area you have all the beautiful aspects of the Guilin area in Guangxi Province yet you don’t have to travel so far to get to each of them. The limestone crags are naturally arranged in the same formation as the seven stars of the Big Dipper constellation. Chinese legend has it that the pillars of limestone grew from stars that fell from the skies.

I’m thinking that the Egyptians came across and after deep consultation with their mathematicians and priests decided that the Big Dipper constellation was what was needed over here. The park itself is an eight and a half kilometer area of some of the most amazing scenery and I honestly don’t think I’ve seen so many tripods in the one area in all of my travels.

It is consisted of five lakes, six mounds, seven peaks and cliffs and eight caves.

Throughout both my visits I got to check out some of the many caves and two of them came complete with underground rivers that were large enough to navigate by boat. Amongst the limestone hills are several Buddhist and Taoist temples and grottoes and their sculptures can also be found scattered throughout the park.

For bird lovers there is also a migratory bird reserve within reach by boat ride.
I’m not much of a bird person so I chose to stick to the crags and rivers.

There are several gates leading into the park but most people either grab a boat from the Arch Park area or like me choose to walk the leafy land bridge that takes you from the southern gate (also located within Arch Park) to star lake which is found on the far side of the huge Zhongxin Lake. There are plenty of toilets and found all over the park are enough food and drink places to more than keep everyone fed for the day.

Thankfully unlike in many parks I’ve been to, there are no pesky ‘vendors’.

You know, the ones that follow you up and down hill stairs doing their best to annoy you and spoil your time until you finally give in and buy just so they bugger off. All food and drink are ‘mostly’ normal prices but some do try to grab an extra Yuan or two. If you give them a frown and say the ‘normal’ price they give a little giggle, you are both friends again and you are soon on your way with drink in hand.

I spent all day yesterday there and covered most of the park but as I’ve been locked away due to the weather I decided to head back this afternoon when the drizzle finally scampered and still had a great afternoon.

Below is a quote I found about the park

In plastic playgrounds like Disneyland and Disneyworld, where landscape artists work with unlimited creativity and funds, they can't begin to recreate something like the Seven Crags Park. Here nature sculpted and nurtured to provide the inspiration and invigoration for those who the above.

As for tomorrow.

Tomorrow a beauty named Sofia, whom I met in Mc Donald’s several nights ago will take me to Dinghu Shan so I’m once again hoping for another rainless day.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Sacred Reich
The album was the awesome ‘Live At The Dynamo’____________________________________________________________