Ocean of Morality

˙dn ʎɐʍ ʇɥƃıɹ ǝɥʇ ǝq oʇ spǝǝu sǝıɹʇuǝ ƃolq ʎɯ ɟo ǝuo ʎɹǝʌǝ ʎɥʍ uosɐǝɹ ou ʎlǝʇnlosqɐ s,ǝɹǝɥʇ

Saw this last week. Perhaps not the safest way to get those bricks up. 

I had a day off recently and headed to the North Train Station. It only has 3-4 trains a day, serving the suburbs, but I'd been told it was quite fun watching the city traffic come to a standstill as your train passes through the railway crossing, and then seeing city gradually turn to countryside, all for a 2RMB (20p) ticket. In any case, the journey only lasts 40mins and, after shunting the engine round for 20mins, heads back. However, on arrival I found my chosen train had been cancelled and the next one was due 3 hours later.

So instead, I pulled out my map and decided to walk for an hour to TanHua Park. I'd spotted it on the map before, but never made it. The 5RMB (50p) entrance fee was a bargain - a surprisingly nice find. Old folk were sitting in the many nooks and crannies, playing cards or mahjong [see photo above], but otherwise the park was quiet and pleasantly uncrowded. At the top of the hill was an impressive pagoda tower, sadly locked [see photo right]. The grounds were well kept, though the rusting funfair rides had seen better days! Another hour's walk and I returned home trainless, tired but tanned.

Being gout-free for the last three months or so has enabled me to exercise more regularly - mostly running and weight lifting. That, and having less and fresher food each day (thanks for that mixed blessing, ma-in-law!), has helped me lose some weight at last. A year ago I was over 100kg (16 stone). Six months ago I was down to 95kg and I'm now under 90kg (12½ stone) for the first time in decades. The internet informs I'm still technically "fat", but no longer "obese"! Naturally I'll be celebrating this with a KFC bucket....

It's Chinese, it's really ugly, it destroys trees and it's coming to an English forest near you! No, it's not the wife, it's the Asian Long-Horned Beetle which has recently been spotted in southern England, probably having arrived in wooden packaging cases from China. It bores into trees to lay its eggs that hatch into larvae and eat their way through the tree trunk undetected, gradually killing the tree. Thankfully it only affects birches, beeches, sycamores, maples, horse chestnuts, willows, poplars, cherry, apple, plum and pear trees. So oaks are OK....

Saw this online the other day and it made me feel quite ill. So I thought it share it with you and make you feel ill too. It's not really moving, you know!

I drove down to Yuxi today (90 minutes each way) to hand-deliver a replacement passport to a Lattitude volunteer who lost his some three months ago. Getting the new one has been a very long and tortuous process. For example, the Australian Embassy insist on a personal visit from the applicant despite being 1500km (900miles) away ...and knowing nobody can fly or take a train in China without a passport.

Driving in China is very different from the West. In the city cars generally go very slowly due to congestion and the random driving of other vehicles. Traffic rules seem more like vague suggestions, with the huge numbers of bicycles and mopeds apparently exempt anyway. The expressways are often quite empty of traffic, but some drivers see this as an excuse to put the pedal to the floor and weave recklessly around other cars and trucks. You can usually see at least one accident every 20-30km.

In my experience, the top three worst drivers are:

Minibuses - often from the countryside and rarely with functioning indicators or drivers with brains. But they know all other vehicles are worth more than their junk-heaps, so we all give them plenty of room.

Black Santanas - a very common car here and, for some reason, always driven by idiots. Steer clear and expect random braking.

White-Plates - private cars belonging to soldiers, police, leaders, etc get a  special white registration plate [see photo]. The rules of the road genuinely do not apply to them, as they will never get stopped, fined or prosecuted by the traffic police. So they happily drive through red lights, up one-way streets the wrong way, down bus lanes, etc. Any accident involving a White-Plate is always the other person's fault, and don't they know it. By far the worst drivers in China.

I'm ashamed to say this story kept me chuckling for hours. A girl walks along the street in China - and then promptly falls through the pavement! Click here for the video footage.

What are the food treats I can't buy in China and miss the most? Well, in order, pork pies, Branston pickle, Curly-wurlies, cup-a-soups and Weetabix. But maybe not for too much longer. A Chinese company has just bought the U.K. company that makes Weetabix. So maybe soon YOU will be asking ME to send you packages containing your favourite cereals! Ha!

There was an odd selection of food on offer in TengChong. At the top left of the photo are little fish (so fresh they wriggle for a while as  they are skewered and placed on the barbecue). Bottom left and middle are flattened chicks(!?) and bottom right are stickfuls of grasshoppers. Which would you opt for? No choosing the apples, now!