Lazy morning as a sore throat was rearing its ugly thorns, the highlight of which was during Amanpour’s interview with Samantha Cristoforetti, the woman who’s just broken the record for the longest stay in space by a female (a very inspirational woman by all accounts): Amanpour was asking her about life in space “millions of miles away”; Samantha smiled a little and gently pointed out that she was about 400km from the earth’s surface, before then answering the question!
Then off into the city for an afternoon walk.
Anshun’s Confucian temple was very quiet and the soft, piped music gave it a gently calming, rather than empty, atmosphere:
Wandering through the backstreets we were taken under the wing of a lady walking in the same direction who showed us to the market:
Sausages:
Dumplings:
Weighing our lemons, with the universal signal for “ten”, which I’m pretty sure was a special tourist inflated price (unusual round here):
As we entered a plaza, we were amicably accosted by a young lad who’d just sat an English exam and was keen to talk and share photos:
I was slightly surprised at some of the views he expressed (who’d taught him to “dislike the Japanese because they killed many Chinese in WWII”? We gently explained that it was a long time ago, and we should be friends now), but he was very talkative and engaged (although we politely declined his request for our contact details).
Too poorly to go on the bouncy castle (pants 🙁 ), we watched a young lad kick off his gambling addiction (very surprised at the toy slot machines and suddenly became aware that I’d never seen anything like this in England, and probably for good reason):
And another jacket slogan – I don’t think the old man wearing it understood what it meant:
Then back through the bustling market:
With tempting wares:
And a stark juxtaposition of contrasts:
And Rudy sharing his happiness with the locals (we were the centre of attention as we made our way through the market and pretending I’m invisible (I wish) just makes me seem rude, so I’m trying to act the part, taking lessons from Rudy):
An impressive chili haul:
And lots of street-side butchers that took me back to my childhood:
They’re making duvets, on the street:
Then back to our hotel on the illuminated (they like their coloured lights do the Chinese) lake:
Where Rudy discovered the dressing gowns. Although he struck me as the dressing-gown type, apparently it was the first time he’d worn one, and enjoyed playing to his reflection in the TV. Several poses later, he was satisfied. It was sometime before I could stop laughing.
