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I was initially wary of wandering around by myself with my camera, waiting until I “sussed out” the street vibes. Having decided that the natives appeared friendly I set out on Sunday to take a few shots I had been planning to take. I walked up my street to a main road and crossed the road (A dangerous enough experience in itself, requiring caution). First I visited the wool market where vividly coloured wools are on display. Then I went to a street lined with stalls. I took pictures of bright fabrics, spices, meat, fish, and crockery on display in a hand cart. As I continued on my way I looked for anything that was different and photogenic. The babies and toddlers here are brightly wrapped in beautiful fabrics and I went to a local park where I knew there would be some proud parents having fun with their little ones. I wrote a poem about the children the night after. Here it is. 

Brightly softly wrapped in layers

Treasures carefully lovingly held

Children of

Wherever I went I only had to point at the camera to send people running to hide or to gain their delighted assent. Even those who hid were able to laugh at themselves when I laughed. I took some lovely photos of toddlers, including one little man who had the self-assurance of Mao himself and posed like a politician. 

It was a very worthwhile excursion and afterwards altered some for e-mail to share them with my friends as I did in

From the school we travelled in a Yellow taxi to the old city. These yellow taxis are tiny mini-buses that take about six passengers. Their suspension lacks something, especially with five substantially sized Westerners and a Chinese friend inside. For the company I went with the group to McDonalds. There are two McDonalds in Xiangfan. This one turned out to have coffee. The other has none. Though I don’t really understand why anyone would want to come to

The embankment area was paved and could have graced any western city’s riverside. At the foot of some steps was a rusty hulk which I suspect is a restaurant. I looked back to the watch-tower and found myself being sternly regarded by four very large warriors made of stone or terracotta, a warning to any invading foreigner. Back to the street, it was full of small shops, still the major retail sector here. This side of the river appeared more prosperous than the side I live on, more middle class. Here I found some shops selling genuine jade articles which cost a lot even in Australian terms. There were also shops selling good artwork. The Chinese prize large, interestingly shaped mineral specimens which they mount on wooden bases, which, to my enculturation, are incongruous as there appears to be no attempt to integrate the style of the base with the specimen. These were sold in the antique shops too. On our walk through this area we met more foreigners. The first was a German Australian from

One Friday night Alice took the other Aussie, his girlfriend and I to a very ‘posh’ restaurant where we had a variety of dishes of

I had two Grade one classes this morning and had a rest as I felt my cold reviving. I walked a lot of miles on the weekend. The weather is quite cold here and jackets and my trusty British working man’s cap are essential. Today I am writing in “Dico’s” which is like KFC or MacDonalds. This is the only place I have found real coffee in ‘normal’ sized cups. Alice, the wonderful English teacher who is our liaison person, took me to a very classy coffee shop once. It had lovely coffee but the cups could have been thimbles. Nescafe Gold is readily available but ground coffee is unknown in the shops. It is likely I will be irresistibly drawn to Dico’s from time to time. It is only twenty minutes walk from the school. 

There was a woman selling artefacts spread out on a cloth on the footpath. When I showed interest she invited me to sit on a tiny folding stool and examine them. I drew quite a crowd and was tempted to put my hat out. One Buddha pendant was obviously plastic but most things were carved stone, perhaps some jade, and old coins. A few seemed purposely aged but others had a more genuine look about them. There was a metal clad hand mirror with semi-precious stones inset, and there was a carved Chinese mermaid. I bargained for a little fat stone Buddha with a broken toe. It cost me about twelve dollars. I hate to think there might be a little man somewhere carefully carving these and carefully chiselling one toe off. When I had made my purchase I stood up and waved to my onlookers before proceeding on my way. Later, I knew that was too much to pay but it made me happy and it was no hardship to buy it. I’m sure the onlookers got their entertainment and laughed with one another at the price I paid. I looked at the same woman’s stuff months later and sure enough, an identical Buddha was there with a broken toe. Let’s just pretend it is a holy and traditional way of depicting Buddha, eh! 

Another street peddler who came there was a woman wearing minority costume and selling tea. These people travelled in a group from the south of

Once you are settled in a location you can start to wander abroad. If you are lucky you will have a liaison teacher whose job it is to show you around. Don’t expect too much of them. I have heard too many stories of liaison teachers who haven’t had a clue what they need to do to make you feel comfortable and have had no idea what you needed to know. You have a right to be shown some basic things including where the local eating places are. The school canteen will probably provide meals that are like canteen meals throughout the world, very poor examples of local cooking. Canteen in Chinese is ‘shitang’ – interpret for yourself! Assert yourself and have your first meals in company with a teacher or other companion provided by the school. You must bring a phrasebook. It will be your best friend. I had many meals, ordering by pointing at the phrasebook and nodding my head at the pointed-to reply. Begin to walk by going short distances from your school and/or apartment and noting the landmarks for the walk back. Increase your distance each journey and soon you will know the area around your starting point. You could explore the whole city by taking buses as they come, noting their number and catching the same one back. It is a good thing to find a map of the city and having the liaison teacher show you where your school and home are on the map. Be doubly careful they understand maps and get it right. If you have the right spot on the map marked you can show it to a taxi driver and he might even get you home. The other method is the mobile phone method. Call someone you know and tell them where you want to go and then hand the phone to the taxi driver for instructions. Both taxis and mobile phone calls are usually cheap in

 Today I did a lot of walking. I went with my Australian colleague and another friend who teaches in a nearby school. We went to China Telecom where one bought a simcard for his mobile. In contrast to Australia where mobile phone charges are highway robbery, mobile calls in