Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

Hangovers!
They may be bad but once over them you realise how good it is to feel healthy!

Friday night was spent at a lavish restaurant with several of the 'Big Guys’ from the city police along with several school leaders and teachers. Saturday was spent mostly in bed recovering as the humidity began to tip toe into Fujian Province. Thankfully Sunday Lisa, Catrine & I all woke feeling ‘normal’ so around lunch time we decided on a visit to Ancient Heping Town/Village which I was lucky enough to visit several times the last time I was living in Shaowu. The township is one of the oldest communities in northern Fujian and while other towns its age or older have been partially restored, the ‘town’ of Heping has pretty much retained is uniqueness.
It dates from the Tang Dynasty (AD618-907) when it was a simple rice farming town.
The name Heping is made up of two Chinese characters which mean 'Rice Plain'.
The village of Heping dates well beyond the town.

Moss covered cobblestone alleyways allow you to zigg zagg your way around the village and visit some of the three hundred or so buildings which were built during the Ming (AD1368-1644) and Qing (AD1644-1911) Dynasties. On both the inside and the outside of many of the buildings you can find beautiful stone carvings. The area has a famous history when it comes to education. One of Chinas oldest Classical Learning Academy's was first opened in Heping in AD926 during the Tang Dynasty by a government official named Huang Qiao. He retired from his position in the capital of Luoyang (Henan Province) and moved to Heping town and now many people who share the same name from surrounding provinces travel to Heping to pay their respects.

Many scholars, officials and members of the elite were graduates of the academy.

It was such a beautiful and peaceful place to visit and all buildings can be entered for free, some homes you will actually be invited into and even after a short time walking its polished cobble stone alley ways one gets the feeling of walking through a real life movie set. It's hard to explain how it makes me feel visiting such places but I guess the one feeling I can explain is the feeling of being lucky to live such a wonderful life. To experience the places I am lucky enough to visit is such a precious gift. Around five we headed back out into the town and grabbed the next rickety old bucket of bolts that came our way.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Hugh Cornwell
The album was ‘Hoover Dam’
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