is a lovely hot summer here we were really desperate. Then out of the
blue Elaine's friend who we went travelling and driving with before
invited us to come with her and her husband to go swimming in a small
river on the other side of the county. We of course agreed!
I drove over to the mountain, NanYan, that we visited a few days
before and then we met her there and the five of us all drove on to
the stream. We stopped off on route to look at a waterfall and as we
arrived a young couple were there exchanging romantic gifts, very
sweet, but after we arrived they left. The waterfall itself was quite
big and impressive but in the middle of summer there was not enough
water going down it to get the full impression, still I took a few
pictures and then we walked back to the car and drove on.
As we left the area around the waterfall we saw some people getting
their wedding photographs done, in china this can be before or after
the wedding, the couple will get all dressed up in their wedding
clothes and go to the beach or a waterfall or in this case a river in
a valley and get some pictures taken, as we drove past I noticed a
girl in her wedding dress sitting down eating a snack and managed to
snap a quick picture through the zoom lens before quickly driving
away!
As we drove through a small village with a single track road we found
a typical chinese obstacle, I managed to grab a picture of the two
lorrys parked up completely blocking the road without a care in the
world, and we just had to sit and wait, typical china!
we arrived after another half hour at a quite small stream that had
been dammed and a concrete swimming pool built into it, the water
still flowed out the bottom but it kept a good sized pool of water for
people to swim in with stone steps down and a relatively deep part
(2.5m). The bottom of the pool was stones of random sizes, some so big
you could sit up out of water on, randomly placed to catch any
thoughtlessly kicked legs!
There were about 15 chinese people there of varying ages but the pool
was plenty big enough so we got changed. Chris and I caused quite a
stir as the only foreigners ever to come here, and several people
warned us to be careful about swimming there, I guess if there were
any foreigner related accidents the pool would probably have been
filled in by the government!
The Chinese people were playing around but also several came with soap
and clothes and shampoo and would get all soaped up on the side before
washing it all off again in the pool, some people even brought clothes
to wash off in the pool too, ah well I suppose the cleaning products
kept the water a bit fresher that it otherwise could have been!
It turned out that most people there couldn't even swim, and of course
there were no lifeguards, but Chris and I were fine, Molly and her
husband brought a big inflatable ring and happily took turns motoring
out over water they couldn't touch the bottom in, and couldn't swim
in! crazy! and Elaine sat out on the side. Eventually, with much
persuading, elaine also joined in and found some old trousers and a
tshirt to swim in. Chris tried to teach molly how to swim and I tried
to teach elaine, with varied results, but elaine came on quite a bit!
Chris even got a picture of a rather bedraggled elaine swimming
around, and she is not a swimming person!
After an hour or so of swimming and relaxing we got out, towelled off,
and went for a few stops on the way back.
One stop was in a ancient house, 300-400 years old, which was built in
a small village as part of 7 houses given to seven brothers, both huge
courtyard style houses, and many of them were still standing around
the village and still lived in, surrounded by modern buildings too.
Inside we took a few silly pictures, one included here for your
pleasure!
After this we drove to a local restaurant for a lovely meal. The meal
included several very tasty dishes, the village was famous for its
NianGao (year cake) a tasty alternative to rice/noodles and also we
had a local delicacy of Muntjac, a small deer type animal I had never
eaten before but is apparently not allowed to be eaten in China! but
out in the country... well... nobody knows. The muntjac was very tasty
but we didn't order the local eels or frogs, which turned out to be
for the best, as after the meal upon visiting the single bathroom on
one end was the toilet, then a small corridor with a tap in the wall
for washing hands which was over a bowl containing the eels with a
cloth bag next to it full of the frogs, just kept in the bathroom
where it was cool and wet. As I stepped past the frogs to leave they
all suddenly jumped up and down and scared the life out me! I am glad
we left the toilet frogs for another time!
After the meal we drove back tired but after a very good day!
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