More of Lord Bao's park

May 13, Sunday

Chuck worked on the computer and I read and watched TV. I have determined that there are 2 contributors to my backaches here. The brown leather chairs hit my back at exactly the wrong spot. Even with a pillow, I have to place myself carefully. The other thing is that the sink is too low. This is an amazing thing, being a short person, I don’t believe I have ever found anything too low before. I now have my washbasin on the drainer, which helps a lot.

On TV this morning (30 channels)

0 – Man on the street interviews, 1 no signal, 2 Costume drama, 3 Makeup infomercial, 4 news, 5 Costume drama – comedy, 6 Cartoon, 7 infomercial for a slimming undergarment (the girls demonstrating are stick thin – of course they look slim. You never see the faces of the flabby ones.) 8 Costume drama – I think comedy, but all of a sudden there will be torture, 9 sitcom, 10 Costume drama, 11 – soap opera, 12 old people’s lives, 13 talk show, 14 worker’s life, 15 diet commercial, 16 no signal, 17 soap with young people, 18 cell phone commercial, 19 war film against the Japanese, 20 news, 21 costume drama, 22 French film with Gerard Dupardieu (dubbed in Chinese Louis XIV costumes, 23 sports channel NBA Phx vs SA, 24 nothing, 25 Modern drama, 26 mod drama, 27 documentary – war time, 28 Mod drama, 29 English Cost. Drama. In chinese

If I was better at the eras in Chinese history, I could probably differentiate all the costume dramas, as it is lots of them have lots of the leaping spinning fighting. Some look like the maids in the Mikado. Who knows? Channel 8 has some English language shows and some shows that have English subtitles. Channel 23 is all sports all the time – some very obscure sports like snooker. We became quite expert at the rules after watching the World Snooker Tournament for 2 weeks.

Other shows that I have seen are cooking with guest chefs, game shows and one that shows people with very mundane jobs that are incredibly talented in that job. (A bank clerk that can count packs of money very fast while blindfolded; a drill machine operator who drills through paper on a balloon, he finishes with a hole in the paper and the balloon intact; a shoe salesman who does intricate lacings; a crane operator who can move an egg and put it down on top of a pipe)

After lunch we went to Lord Bao’s park and walked in the opposite direction to explore more of it.

Fishing on the banks of the small lake was a popular exercise. Young couples hugging was another. There is a band of green parks around the city center all with lakes. We walked from one to another. One had a small fair area. This little boy was the only child there.


We kept walking. Chuck started to get worried that we were lost and was trying to match the street signs with the map (both in Chinese.) I looked at the bus numbers and tried to find the streets that had those numbers. This really isn’t a huge problem in China. If we are really lost, we just flag down a taxi and show them the paper with our address. I finally decided where we were and said if we followed this street we would end up at our favorite Carrefour. I was right, but unfortunately, there was a major construction project in our way.

We ended up taking tiny paths past people’s doors and climbing over things and around stuff, but we got there. After our 2 ½ hour walk, we needed a drink, so went back to the tea place. We both had blueberry spins. This time they came with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprig of parsley.

Since we were at Carrefour, we did a little shopping and then taxied home. (4 flights)

A short rest and then it was time to leave for dinner. The Chinese eat early. By 6:30 restaurants are full. The people at Meng Cheng greeted us like old friends we have been there so often. Order takers waved hello when they saw me. It was a little embarrassing. When we sat down at our table after ordering, the waitress brought me a special drink. It was a “Mother’s Day Present” of watermelon juice. Chuck ordered a beer.

We had eel and bitter melon for cold dishes, and fish, grilled pork and tofu with bok choy for hots. Watermelon for dessert.

Home again to sit with our feet up. (4 flights)

Only 8 flights – but a very long walk.