The week passed quickly and before he knew it Step realised it was Friday night again. His heart beat faster when he thought about Inspection Day. Even if he had to work hard for the weekend it would be nice to live in a house with a normal family. How he hoped he would be chosen by the Foster Parents.
Tear sat opposite him in the Inspection Room. She looked very frightened but was determined not to cry. The doors opened and in came the adults in ones and twos. A young woman with a sweet face caught Step’s eye.
“Hi there! How would you like to live on a farm for the weekend? There won’t be much hard work, just collecting the eggs of a morning. There’s nothing better than a fresh boiled egg with some home-made bread cut into soldiers to dip in the yolk.” She smiled and prattled on. “There’s a billabong where you can swim if it’s hot and horses to ride.”
Step was thrilled. He followed her to a Land Rover and threw his small bag in the back. They drove for what seemed like forever and it was nearly sunset when she pulled up in front of a tumbledown house at the end of a long driveway. He wondered about getting back to the orphanage in time for school on Monday. Climbing out of the Land Rover he walked to the back and grabbed his bag.
“See you”, called the woman as she swung the car in a circle and headed off down the track.
Step looked in amazement as the vehicle disappeared in a cloud of dust. Turning back to the house he climbed the rotting wooden steps to the verandah, knocking nervously on the front door.
“Go round the back,” called a man’s voice. It didn’t sound too friendly, but Step was relieved that at least the house was occupied.
Step pushed past prickly bushes until he came to a small verandah where a large, ferocious dog showed its teeth. Fortunately, it was on a chain so Step was able to avoid its excited lunges. The man wheezed and then spat on the grass.
“Took your time getting here, didn’t you?” the man said in an accusing voice. “Weekend’s half over already. This is where you’ll be sleeping, beside Bluey.”
The man pointed to a strip of dirty carpet on the veranda floor beside the dog kennel.
“There’s some newspaper if you get cold. Now your job is to feed the animals. After each meal we put the leftovers in a bucket. You can have first pick and then take the rest down to the pig sty. Don’t eat too much. I want our pigs to get nice and fat. Now take this wheat around to the chook pen and when you get back you can go through the scraps for the pigs.”
Step looked through the window into a well-lit room where a woman and two children sat around a wooden table eating and drinking. He realised how thirsty he was and asked if he could have a glass of water.
“You’ll be drinking from the tank when you give the animals their water. I’ll give you the Vandal Proof Key in the morning. Meantime you’ll just have to share with the pigs.”
Step carried a billy can full of wheat to the chook pen. As he scattered it around he looked longingly at their water bowl. It was full of feathers and other unspeakable things but he dipped his fingers in and sucked them gladly. He comforted himself with the thought that he would be going home to the orphanage tomorrow.
The remains of the dinner were disgusting. He found a chicken wing which looked relatively untouched and nibbled on it doubtfully. Some peas and a potato rounded off his meal but an orange he found was soft and covered in mould on one side.
He carried the heavy bucket to the pig pen where he was greeted with delighted squeals and snorts. The water trough was repulsive, so Step reconciled himself to spending a thirsty night. At least he could look forward to clean, fresh tank water in the morning.
Looking back on that night Step decided it was one of the worst of his life. As the hours passed by the cold seeped into his bones despite covering himself with newspaper. Bluey chewed noisily on his bone and growled at the owls and other night creatures as if they might take it off him.
And the thirst! Step had read that if you put a pebble in your mouth it stops you being thirsty but even though he selected a small smooth stone from amongst the bushes it did little to help. Needless to say, he was up at dawn waiting for the Vandal Proof Key.
The man appeared and let Bluey off his chain. The dog disappeared with an excited yelp and ran in circles around and around the house. He showed Step the Vandal Proof Key. It was made of brass and shaped like a T. The man hauled a dirty bucket to the water tank and set it beneath the tap, using the T to open the valve. As the rusty water rushed out Step put out his hand to catch some drops. The man pushed his hand away.
“Wait until it’s full. We can’t waste water.”
Finally the bucket was full and the man took the T and put it in his pocket. Step lifted the heavy bucket and headed off to the pig pen.
“Don’t you dare spill a drop, or I’ll have your guts for garters,” the man called out in a nasty voice before going back into the house.
Step put the bucket down carefully and scooped the water out with his hands. Never had anything tasted so good. Once his thirst was quenched, he set about the unpleasant task of cleaning out the water trough before filling it with fresh, clean water. The pigs pushed him aside as they drank noisily and happily, dropping bits of food in it so that it soon looked just as putrid as when he started.
The breakfast scraps consisted of greasy bacon rinds and burnt toast so Step decided to give them a miss. He imagined dinner that night at the orphanage. It might only be a lamb chop and three vegetables but it would be clean and served on a white plate with a knife and fork. Beside it would be a glass of milk and after would come a pudding with custard. When would the woman who brought him here come back to get him?
“Hey you.” The man kneeled down to Step’s level and looked him in the eye. “We think we might like to keep you so we are sending word to the orphanage that we will be your Foster Parents. Who knows, you might live here with us for the rest of your life. We could find you a spot to sleep in the hay shed if you work hard.”
Step was speechless. A wave of horror overwhelmed him. One thing he was sure of. He was not going to stay in this dreadful place one more day.
Step was excited and scared at the same time. It was the day of the Inspection and he wondered where he would be sleeping that night. Would he stay in the orphanage or would some people take him home for the weekend?
He took special care dressing himself and combed his hair until it sat flat on his head. The other boys were subdued, all wondering what was in store for them. They filed into the Inspection Room, boys sitting on one side and girls on the other. They sat in order of size, from the youngest to the oldest. Step was the first one seated on his side of the room. He looked across at Lottie, her ringlets swirling around her head as she glanced this way and that for her Foster Parents.
The door opened and the Parents walked in. They came in twos or sometimes just alone, walking past each child and checking them carefully up and down. A tall, thin woman with black hair in a bun and a pointy face asked Step his name.
“My name is Step,” he answered in a clear voice.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“Only two days,” he said.
“You look a bit scrawny to me. I need a big strong boy to do lots of heavy work.” She moved on.
Lottie disappeared with her Foster Parents. “So long suckers,” she called out cheerfully. “I hope I never see any of you ever again.”
Two of the biggest boys left with the tall thin woman. They looked unhappy, realising they had a weekend of hard work ahead of them. All they could hope for was that she would give them lots to eat and maybe pay them for their work.
Suddenly the crying girl appeared with her aunt. Nurse Smiley sat her down in Lottie’s seat and the aunt moved swiftly away. All the Foster Parents had left with the chosen children so Step realised he was staying at the orphanage for the weekend. He looked at the small girl who was still crying and crossed the floor to talk to her.
“Hello, my name is Step and I have only been here two days. Nurse Smiley is kind, the food is good and the beds are warm and comfortable. It’s not such a bad place. What is your name?”
“My aunt calls me Tear because I am always crying,” she said. “I miss my Mummy and my Daddy and know I will never see them again so I can’t stop crying.”
Step was worried. He had to get this girl to stop crying. If they could be friends, he would have someone to talk to and someone to sit with when he ate his meals. They could work together in the afternoon and maybe sit together in school.
“Look at me,” said Step. “I’ll be your friend and help you whenever I can but you must promise me you will stop crying. The other children here are not very friendly so it is always good to have an ally. The world is not so bleak when you have someone on your side.”
Tear stopped crying and looked at Step. It had been a long time since she felt as though someone cared. Even her aunt was always too cross and too busy to listen to her but now she felt something almost like happiness.
Nurse Smiley came into the room. “Come with me Tear and I will show you to your room. Then you can have your lunch in the Mess Hall with Step.”
For the first time Step looked forward to eating a meal. He picked up a tray, collected his soup and bread and sat down at the end of a bench. Soon Tear came into the room so he waved, and she came over to join him, balancing her tray of soup with great care.
He told her all about the school and hoped she would be in First Class like he was. Maybe they could sit together? Then he talked about the afternoon jobs and warned her not to peel potatoes with a knife.
Nurse Smiley came into the Mess Hall.
“Children, listen up please.”
The buzz in the room stopped and all eyes looked at her expectantly.
“Of course, you will have your jobs this afternoon but as a special treat, because you did not get chosen today, we will be having a projector night after dinner. The film we are going to show today is called Pollyanna and is about a girl who is always glad about everything. I hope it will make you feel glad that you are looked after and cared for at the Opera Orphanage for Unwanted Children.”
The children clapped and cheered. They all carried their plates to the kitchen and looked at the roster to see what their job was for that afternoon. Step was on washing up but because Tear was new she wasn’t on the list.
Cook glared at Step. She had eyebrows that ran in a straight line above her eyes and looked very ferocious. “You again! How do I know you won’t slice your hand with the big knife and turn the water red with your blood?”
Step promised to be very careful and put a glove on the bandaged hand. Tear was given a tea towel and told to wipe the dishes until they were perfectly dry. They worked away happily and talked about all sorts of things, including the film they were going to watch that night. Life at the orphanage wasn’t so bad after all.
The schoolroom was a small weatherboard building outside the orphanage. Step walked up the wooden steps and hung his new satchel on a peg on the wall. The classroom was square, with three rows of desks on one side and four on the other. There were two blackboards, one on each side of the room and in the middle was the teacher’s desk, where an old, grey haired man sat in a chair, reading his newspaper.
The classes ranged from Kindergarten to Sixth Class. Step was told to sit in the second row from the front as he was to be in First Class. A boy and girl in his row moved over to let him in. They didn’t look too friendly. The teacher, whose name was Mr Scott, handed him a book and a pencil and soon he was tracing over letters. The boy next to him punched him with his elbow. His pencil skidded across the book, leaving a dark, angry mark. Mr Scott was cross and the boy in his row smiled with satisfaction.
At recess the other children ignored him. One of the big boys, called Teddy, came onto the verandah with a billy of milk. He swung it around above his head and Step was amazed that the milk didn’t fall out. They lined up with their mugs as Teddy poured out the milk. Of course, Step was last and there were only a few drops left when it was his turn.
Back in the classroom he had to copy sums off the blackboard into his exercise book. He was good at adding and subtracting and took great care forming his numbers. He also watched the boy next to him for any sudden movement in his direction. Then they were writing stories. Mr Scott asked them to imagine they were a King or a Queen for a day and to write what they would do.
Step wrote that he would put all the bad mothers and fathers in gaol. All the children in orphanages would be given a hundred pounds to spend on anything they wanted. Then they would go and live with the King in his palace for ever and ever. Mr Scott thought it was a very good composition and read it out to the class. The other children didn’t clap or cheer. They just looked at him with frowns on their faces.
Lessons were over for the day. They all lined up for lunch with a tray in their hands. Cook gave each child a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. Soon they were sitting at long tables eating and talking, but no one spoke to Step. He sat at the end of the row, shunned by the others and wondered if it would always be like this. He looked up as a pretty girl with ringlets tossed her head.
“My Foster Parents are taking me home tomorrow,” she said. “I will have a bedroom all to myself with lots of toys and they are going to take me to the zoo and the beach and on holidays. Maybe even to Disneyland.”
She wasn’t talking to Step. Rather she was addressing the whole group. “And then I’ll be out of this awful place forever. Good riddance.”
Step realised that tomorrow was Saturday, the day of the Inspection. Would someone like the look of him and take him home?
First of all he had to complete his job for the afternoon. Nurse Smiley led him to the kitchen where Cook was delegating tasks to the children.
“Aaaah! Here’s the new boy. What are you like at peeling potatoes?”
This was a job his stepmother always gave him so he announced he was very good at it. Cook gave him a huge pile of potatoes and a potato peeler. He would have been happy to do it by himself but another older boy sat near him and grabbed the peeler.
“You can use this knife. I’m using the peeler!”
Step wasn’t used to peeling potatoes with a big sharp knife and soon he cut himself. Blood poured over the potatoes.
“Yuk”, cried the other children. Cook rushed over, but not before the older boy put the peeler down and moved away.
“I told you to use the potato peeler. What a silly boy, using that great big knife. Whatever were you thinking?”
She wrapped his hand in a bandage and sent him out of the kitchen. “Go and find another job. I don’t want you here.”
By now Step was feeling mightily discouraged so wandered slowly along the hallway towards the front door wondering where he should go next. To his surprise there was a commotion at the end of the hall. A small girl about his age was clinging to a woman and crying very loudly.
“I have to leave you here,” said the woman.
“Don’t go, don’t go,” cried the girl.
“I can’t look after you anymore. I have to go far away to my new job, and you are not allowed to come with me.”
“But Aunty, you are all I have left. Don’t leave me.”
Fortunately, Nurse Smiley arrived and spoke to the woman kindly but firmly.
“I’m afraid there is no room here. Our orphanage is full. We can only take sixteen children.”
Step wasn’t sure if he should speak but he felt he had to try and help somehow.
“Nurse Smiley, what about the girl with the ringlets? She said she was going to live with her Foster Parents for good and she is leaving tomorrow. Then there will be room for this girl.”
Nurse Smiley looked cross at Step’s sudden interruption but then looked at the tearful little girl and considered what she would do. “Very well”, she said to the woman. “Bring her back tomorrow and if Lottie is taken then your niece can stay.”
On a dark, wet and windy night two figures walked hand in hand, illuminated by the street lights. One was tall, with a long overcoat and a hat pulled low over his head. The other was very small, a young boy dressed in an ill-fitting jacket and long baggy shorts which reached well below his knees.
They stopped at the front of a sandstone building. A sign over the front door read, “Opera Orphanage for Unwanted Children”. The tall man put a small suitcase on the front step and knelt down stiffly beside the boy.
“Now do what I tell you. I want you to count to sixty and then knock on the big door. Remember sixty, not a second sooner.”
“Are you coming back?” asked the boy.
“Of course,” said the man. “Just as soon as my ship comes in.”
With that he turned and ran swiftly into the darkness. The boy counted carefully but stopped in frustration when he reached the thirties. Somehow, he got muddled and wasn’t sure what came next so he debated whether to start all over again. When he again reached twenty, he decided that was enough so looked up at the shiny brass knocker on the door. With his arm stretched up he still couldn’t reach it, so he looked around for something to stand on. A small rock beside the step gave him an idea. He picked it up and threw it at the door. It made a loud, resounding thwack which echoed down the empty street.
Almost immediately the door opened. A woman wearing a white uniform and a starched white hat on her head stared at him in astonishment before pulling him inside and closing the door.
“You poor wee thing!” she exclaimed. “Let’s get you warm and dry in the kitchen.”
Soon he was wrapped in a blanket and sitting by the heat of a large, black fuel stove. In his hand was a cup of hot chocolate. After eating some bread and honey he was taken to a bathroom where he enjoyed the luxury of a steaming hot bath. Warm pyjamas were waiting for him on the chair and then he was lying in a narrow bed alongside many others. He was vaguely aware of children breathing gently around him but soon sleep descended like a soft warm veil and all the drama of the day’s events was forgotten.
He woke to the sound of boys chattering. Looking around he saw eight beds in a row. The other boys were pulling up the sheets and folding their pyjamas. At the sound of a bell, they stood to attention at the end of their beds. The woman in white appeared and checked each boy and bed carefully.
“Biff, your shoelaces are undone. Tom, look at your shirt buttons. Jack, straighten your blanket. Right boys, off to breakfast.”
She turned to the new arrival. “Quickly, put on these clothes. Just this once I will make your bed because Matron wants to see you straight away.”
She led him along a corridor and down some stairs. Reaching a large green door she knocked twice and paused until she heard a voice call, “Come in”.
Inside the room was a large desk. Behind it sat a woman dressed in black. On her head was a magnificent black headdress with three pointed cones. She indicated the two chairs and commanded, “Sit”.
“You will call me Matron. This is Nurse Smiley,” she said, waving her headdress in the direction of the woman in white. And you, young man, do you have a name?”
“I..I don’t know,” he stammered. “They always called me Step.”
“What sort of a name is Step?” Matron huffed.
“When my Mummy went away my Daddy brought home a new Mummy who called me Step for so long we all forgot my real name. She didn’t want me around so Daddy brought me to this place. He said he would only leave me here until his ship comes in.”
Matron shook her head crossly before she began to talk.
“Well, we will do what we can to find your real parents but, in the meantime, we have to find you some Foster Parents. We only have room for eight boys and eight girls so now you are here we are full. Every Saturday morning you are to present yourself for the Inspection. The Foster Parents will come in and choose the most well-behaved children to take home for the weekend. If they like you then you might stay with them for much longer. Sometimes they keep children until they are grown up and ready to go out to work.”
“After breakfast you will go to the classroom where you will have lessons from 9 o’clock until 12. After lunch you will be given a job to help with the running of the orphanage. Do you have any questions?”
Step had many questions running around in his head but couldn’t think of one single thing to ask of Matron so decided just to wait and see what happened next.
Nurse Smiley took him to the breakfast room. The other children had already gone so he sat alone, eating his bowl of porridge, and wondering what lay ahead. He was glad to have a warm bed, good food and clean clothes. Nurse Smiley seemed kind. On the other hand, what would the other orphans be like? And even more scary that that, what would the Foster Parents be like? Would they choose him and if they did, would they be kind like Nurse Smiley or cruel like his Stepmother.
“You have to go to the classroom now,” said Nurse Smiley. “Come with me and meet the other children.”
A long time ago, nearly seventy years it would be, my father used to sit by my bed and tell me stories of Step and Tear. I can’t recall much about them, except that they were orphans and terrible things happened to them. Each story must have ended happily because I always went to sleep afterwards.
When my grandchildren were about four and six, I began telling them Step and Tear stories at bedtime. They sometimes made suggestions about the direction the stories should take and named the orphanage where the children lived. My youngest grandchild felt that because Step and Tear were older, he was being left out, so a new, younger character called Sad was created.
Eventually I wrote these stories down using the A to Z format to contain them. After all, it had to end eventually, although there were a few tears shed when that final chapter was completed and read to the grandchildren, now 11 and 13.
These stories are pure fiction and while set in the 1950s, they bear no resemblance to any orphanages existing at that time.
For once my A to Z is written and ready to go. As I will be cruising on the Pacific Ocean for most of April, that is just as well.
I could have written about Zhouzhuang Water City in China, near Shanghai (see the picture above) but instead chose to sum up my approach to retirement with one descriptive word.
ZEALOUS
Zealous
showing great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective
Enthusiastic
having or showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.
Adventurous
willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences.
Liberated
free from social or traditional ideas, especially those which make no sense
Obsessive
thinking about something a great deal to the exclusion of all else (within reason)
Unflappable
having or showing calmness in a crisis.
Satisfied
contented and pleased with one’s lot.
I may not achieve all those objectives but I can try my best to remain ZEALOUS about life in retirement. See you all next year!
When we talked about travelling to China, friends from Aqua Jogging told us about their trip with Peregrine Adventures. We looked at the itinerary and decided it had the right mix of cities and countryside. When we rang to book we were in for a disappointment. The tour we had chosen had dropped the Yangshuo component. It was part of another tour but the two could not be combined. It was then we decided to do it on our own. Researching Trip Advisor we found that the Phoenix Pagoda Hotel at Fonglou near Yangshuo was popular because the owners were very helpful with tourist information, had bikes for the use of patrons and were situated in a quaint rural converted farmhouse. I still remember the excitement I felt speaking to Lily on the phone. I was actually talking to someone in China!
The flight to mainland China was only one hour and ten minutes from Hong Kong and was quite spectacular. As we came in to land we could see water everywhere. The curving Li River, the flooded rice paddies and the strange karst formations gave the area a distinctly other-worldly look. The sky was quite hazy as several small factories were belching smoke and small fires were common.
Our taxi driver was holding up a card saying John and Linda. He drove for about an hour along a freeway through the weird karst hills with small settlements built in the flat land between. Almost all the flat land was cultivated but we did see quite a few deserted multi-storey houses. Finally, we arrived at Phoenix Pagoda where we were welcomed by and Lily and Jerry and paid our 300 Yuan taxi fare (about $60).
Our room was at the top of the hotel, (a restored farmhouse) on the third floor. Outside was a small balcony overlooking the rural village of Fonglou and of course the karst hills. Most importantly there was a large soft bed in the middle of the room where we thankfully sank into oblivion after 42 hours without proper sleep. This was not before dinner on the rooftop terrace. Jerry brought us local beer, spicy chicken, garlic broccoli and stir-fried pumpkin. Simple but very tasty.
The hotel had won an award for best restored farmhouse. We certainly get our exercise running up the stone stairs. The bed was on a limestone foundation, the floor and sink were of the same material. Lights, chairs, tables etc were all of bamboo. The wardrobe was a gnarled tree trunk attached to the wall!
The Phoenix Pagoda Hotel
Our first day was warm and hazy. After breakfast (freshly squeezed orange juice, muesli and eggs) we checked out the bikes and headed off to Moon Hill. The peace of our small village was left behind as we reached the highway. Fortunately, there were clearly marked cycle lanes although motor scooters used them too. Inside the entrance to Moon Hill was an area to leave our bikes, although we padlocked them for safety.
John riding to Moon Hill
The climb up the 800 steps was good training for what lay ahead in Yunnan and the Great Wall. At the top we gazed around the area at the rivers, towns and karsts and talked to Australians and Spanish tourists about their experiences.
There was a restaurant near the entrance to the Moon Hill Park. It was rapidly filling when we arrived, so we ordered drinks and pork with vegetables. As I drank my iced tea John said, “Do you realise there is ice in that?” This was my second slip up as I unthinkingly cleaned my teeth with the local water on the first day. I hoped those “Travel Bug” tablets would work! (they didn’t)
We enjoyed people-watching from our table. The manager, a small wiry woman with a 12-month old baby strapped to her back, was busy taking and giving orders, scrubbing down seats and tables, pouring hot water and refilling vacuum flasks. I have never seen such a human dynamo. She only stopped once for someone to retie her baby sling. The child woke up but seemed content to watch while her energetic mother raced around.
The human dynamo
Terrifying Taxi Ride to Light Show
We arranged with Lily for a taxi to take us to the Impression Liu Sanjie Light Show. I thought it would be a good idea to go in early and eat at a vegetarian restaurant recommended by Jerry. We were warned the traffic would be horrific but did not realise our intrepid driver would charge full speed down the wrong side of the road. John and I kept saying, “she isn’t going there!” but she did. On one fearful occasion we were heading straight for a bus when our driver swung off the road, through a car park and back into the traffic again. She dropped us off at a hotel called The Green Lotus and agreed to pick us up at 6.40pm.
As we walked towards West Street in the rain we realised we weren’t going to have time to order, eat and be back in time so searched for somewhere to eat close by. We sat down, said we were in a hurry and ordered some dumplings. Twenty minutes later they had not arrived so we had to leave. Our taxi was not waiting at The Green Lotus but after a few minutes a man arrived with a mobile phone. Lily from Phoenix Pagoda was at the other end trying to explain that he was the taxi driver’s husband and he would take us to the Light Show. The traffic was too bad for her to get to us. We walked in the rain for about 2 kilometres until we reached the theatre. Here we parted from our “friend” who for some reason sounded very angry when he talked on the phone to Lily.
We then had to follow a man holding a sign which read “100”. He gave us tickets and waved us on. Just at the entrance a stall was selling snacks. As we hadn’t eaten we bought nuts and a Sprite. The woman suggested popcorn so John said “yes”. Five stressful minutes later it was still popping in the microwave. Thousands of people swept past and the music began. It was now dark and we had no idea where to sit. Fortunately, all the seats were allocated and women with torches found us our seats.
The Impressions Light Show is directed by moviemaker Zhang Yimou, the man who also directed the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and several acclaimed films such as Hero. Six hundred performers, including local fishermen, take to the Li River each night with 12 illuminated surrounding karst peaks serving as a backdrop.
It was very impressive, like an Olympic Games opening ceremony on water with the precision only the Chinese are capable of. We had good seats in B section and marvelled at how so many people could be organised every night (twice tonight as there were two performances) in boats, on land and on water.
Getting out was not so bad. Towards the end of the performance people started standing up and moving towards the entrance. John wanted to get out before the crowd so I reluctantly followed. Our driver was waiting at the designated spot and again we walked about a kilometre to the taxi. The traffic wasn’t as bad this end of town and we were soon home.
Terrifying Tuk-Tuk Ride
The hotel was full of families and children were running up and down the stone stairs, singing and talking loudly. Who would have guessed that we had arrived in Tomb-Sweeping weekend where people from all over the country return to the town their ancestors are buried.
During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings to their ancestors. Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper. The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one’s ancestors in Chinese culture. Wikipedia
We ate in that night, but not on the rooftop terrace because of the rain. We pre-ordered our dinner so that when we arrived at 6.30 it was served immediately. The specialty of the area was its beer battered fresh-water fish but ours was baked with some sort of sauce on it. It was not the best fish I had eaten but Jerry was so enthusiastic about it I felt like Mr Bean and wanted to hide some in my bag or the sugar bowl just to please him. The vegetable dishes were great – grilled capsicum and eggplant with bits of pork. We drank the local beer which is quite yeasty and not bitter.
In the morning we decided to go into Yangshuo by taxi. We were told the traffic was still chaotic but went anyway. The driver dropped us near West St and we enjoyed looking in the shops and the market.
We found an interesting lunch venue. On offer, along with frogs and snails was “beef with four bacteria”. I definitely gave that one a miss. My mushrooms and lamb love hearts had me wondering but I ate it anyway. What part of a lamb is its love heart?
After lunch we were walking through a market when suddenly all the stalls were lifted off the ground and people began running in all directions. Some men in uniform swaggered past. They were not police as we thought but some sort of equivalent to traffic wardens. They certainly frightened the locals.
Getting a taxi home was harder than we imagined. We were offered a beaten up old tuk-tuk and warily accepted, showing the driver our hotel card. We then had a ride even more terrifying than last night’s taxi ride. It was almost gridlocked traffic from town to the turnoff to Fonglou but our driver not only drove along the wrong side of the road to the annoyance of oncoming buses but he careered down the bike lane forcing cyclists and walkers out of the way. A few times I thought we would land in the ditch beside the road.
Of course there were no seatbelts and the only airbags were the two of us! We cheered as we pulled up outside our hotel and paid our hefty fee of 60 yuan ($12).
River Rafting Trip on Yulang River
We had another misty day. I would have liked to see the karsts against a blue sky but at least it was not raining. Lily arranged our river rafting trip on the Yulang River. We were picked up by taxi and driven to a place upriver called Yima where the rafting began. Our raft was made from bamboo and had a double seat tied on it with two flimsy life jackets attached. I stepped on board first and thought it was going to sink when John climbed on too. Our cheerful boatman with a long bamboo pole steered us downstream. We went over a number of weirs where we had to put our feet up to avoid being drenched.
Floating on flimsy rafts
All the time the tall karst rocks towered around us on each side with many strange formations. At the entrance we were offered a flowered headband, plastic bags for the feet and a water pistol. We declined all three but saw other people putting them all to good use.
It was about half an hour’s walk back to the hotel from the bridge along the edge of the same road we had driven in the tuk-tuk. The traffic was not nearly as bad today. Beside the road was a Banyan Tree which was in a large park filled with Chinese tourists. Many of them had dressed up in traditional costumes and were parading around and posing for photographs.
Dressing up for Tomb-Sweeping week
John sat on a buffalo for a photograph but turned down the offer to pose with brightly dressed monkeys. They were trained to sit holding little batons over their shoulders and if someone tried to take a photo without paying they were ordered to turn their backs. I felt so sorry for them.
Birthday Cake Before Dinner
We ate lunch on the rooftop terrace of the hotel followed by another bike ride where we managed to avoid the rain. Jerry announced tonight’s dinner was on the house as it was for our birthdays. We ordered beer and peanuts, to be followed by pizza and finally fresh fruit and icecream. We were the only people dining in tonight but hardly had we started on the peanuts when the pizza arrived. We were really enjoying the pizza when in trooped Jerry, Lily, the cook and the security guard with a birthday cake. They stood around the table and sang happy birthday. Then they sat down with us and started eating the cake, presenting us with ours first. I wasn’t sure whether to eat the pizza or the cake but shortly they left to go and have their own meal. We happily returned to the pizza.
Happy birthday to us all
That was our last day in Yangshuo. We were flying to Kunming the following day to join our Peregrine Adventures tour group. We were so glad we hadn’t missed out on this picturesque part of China and especially the genuine concern and care from our hosts, Lily and Jerry.
We can’t talk about Xi’an without mentioning the Terracotta Warriors. It was Anzac Day 2014 but there was no celebration of it in Xi’an. We were shivering in eight degrees Celsius and looking glumly at the rain falling.Wearing our warmest clothes we were not too worried because we knew the warriors were under cover. What we didn’t know is that there were three pits to visit plus the museum so there was a fair bit of outdoor walking to do. The first pit was the largest and we were keen to get a good view of the infantrymen in their rows. So were hundreds of others so it was the quick and the dead to get a space beside the railing.
It was interesting to see the site of the well where three men were digging when they found the first warrior. It was decided to leave that warrior in a broken condition because that is how he was found.
It was here we were conned well and truly. We thought we were looking at the man who found the first pottery fragments in March 1974. He was there, signing books so I was inspired to buy one. I found out later he was a bit like Santa Claus, filling in for the original.
The Terracotta Army is 2,200 years old and is 1.5 kilometres from Emperor Qin’s mausoleum. The emperor was worried about dying and was searching for the secret to immortality. Just in case he didn’t find it he prepared for the afterlife on a massive scale and all his concubines, wives and workmen went with him when he died at the age of 49. It is thought he was taking Mercury to prolong his life but alas it had the opposite effect.
Great variety in the soldiers Pit Number 2
Pit 3 is the smallest pit, known as the command centre and was discovered in 1976. We then moved on to pit 2 where there were some close-up views of various soldiers and officers. We headed across to the museum where I especially liked the bronze chariots pulled by four horses, the second of which looked like a 2000-year-old caravan.
Xing Xing offered us a warm meal in a farmhouse or a Subway. John and I opted for the hot meal which was home cooked style and very tasty and fresh. Mr Yung lived on a farm which became part of the Warriors Museum Complex, so his old house was knocked down and he was given a new one. Fortunately, it wasn’t in an apartment block. He now finds cooking meals more lucrative than farming.
At 5.15pm we met for a walk to the bell tower, the drum tower and the Muslim Quarter. The last of these was fascinating with a huge variety of food being cooked on the footpaths outside the shops. We tried a date filled persimmon cake. Delicious!
That evening we hopped on a local bus to take us the two stops to the Shaanxi Grand Opera House. Because we had quite a filling lunch John and I opted to share the 16 courses of dumplings on offer before the show. They were delicious and accompanied by rice wine, beer and tea. The only problem was Ian in our group caught his finger on a chair and sliced the top off it. His wife had her first aid kit but he was in pain and will have to watch out for infection. You just don’t need that to happen on a holiday.
Xing Xing had only been able to get us C grade seats but they were fine. The show was entertaining although obviously geared to the tourist market. There was a mixture of orchestra and dancing supposedly from the Tang Dynasty but there were a few modern instruments thrown in, probably for the better as many Chinese instruments are strident and hard on western ears. The percussion was great but the dance of the masked warriors designed to expel epidemics and ghosts was my favourite.
We hoped to have a good sleep that night as the next night we would spend twelve hours on a sleeper train with two other (as yet unknown) people on the way to Beijing.
One of the things we really wanted to do before we left was ride around the City Wall of Xi’an on bikes. The wall is twelve metres tall, twelve to fourteen metres wide at the top and fifteen to eighteen metres thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometres in length with a deep moat surrounding it.
Soldier in golden armour patrolling the wall
We had brought our helmets with us, packed with underwear. The bikes had no gears but good shock absorbers for the bumpy paving. We were having a great time when without warning John crossed in front of me and I hit his back wheel. Next minute I was sprawled across the pavement but fortunately had only minor injuries. We are still debating whose fault it was. The same thing happened to another couple so it was easy to do.
Pride before fall
The afternoon was spent walking around Xi’an and getting lost. We finally bought a map and found we had been looking in entirely the wrong area for the Muslim Quarter.
Just before six we stocked up on noodle boxes, red wine (French), bananas, longans, chips and peanut bars before heading off to the train station in a local bus, complete with luggage. At 7.30pm we boarded our train and found we were bunking with Helen and Ian from Sydney. We were rather perplexed as to how we could fit four adults and four big suitcases in such a little space. In the end we had to put two bags under the bottom bunks and some things at the end of the beds.
Information from the Travel China Guide
I was in a top bunk and was quite comfortable. It felt a bit like a school camp with everyone visiting everyone else to see what their cabin was like, card games happening and lots of laughter. We added hot water to our noodles from the supplied kettles and enjoyed the wine and snacks. Wearing our slippers we visited one of three sinks to clean our teeth. The toilet was western style to everyone’s relief.
Our very unhealthy meal on the train to Beijing
The Travel China Guide says this about soft sleepers.
Soft Sleeper, as the name suggests, is softer than hard sleeper. But more importantly, the compartment is more spacious with only four berths inside, two upper and two lower; the berth is wider and longer, about 30 inches (75cm) and 75 inches (190cm) respectively; the compartment has a door, which separates it from the aisle and provides a quiet and private room for the passengers inside.
Soft sleeper ticket price is about 1.5 times of that of hard sleeper, and a lower berth costs more than an upper berth.
The group had varied opinions on the soft sleeper ride. Some didn’t sleep a wink while others found the rocking of the train lulled them to sleep. The train rattled a lot and felt like it had a flat tyre but it was certainly preferable to the eleven hours in the air it took us to fly to China. A loud musical wakeup call started at 6.30am and at 7 o’clock we pulled into Beijing Station.
What!!!! This could not be Beijing. The sun was shining, the sky was blue with only a slight haze above the horizon. Where was the choking pollution? We were truly fortunate to see Beijing at its best.
As you may recall, if you have read the beginning of this A to Z, the plan upon retiring was to regain fitness and good health. That included weight loss so when a friend recommended Weight Watchers I found a local group and turned up to my first meeting.
The group leader was very informative and gave me lots of booklets to get me started. In those days we paid in cash for each visit. There was a little book for recording weight each week and suggestions for meal plans plus another book with the points value of most foods you might eat. For an extra cost there were books to help with eating out, eating fast food and a more extensive food list. I was given the total number of points I could eat in one day and off I went.
At first it seemed impossible to record everything faithfully but I was nothing if not determined and each week I was pleased to see the figures going down. I know family and friends thought I was being fanatical as I refused to deviate from my eating plan even when visiting or eating out. Reaching my goal weight I was able to relax a little but the conditioning had worked. Akin to being under hypnosis, I now avoided anything fried or creamy or in any way weight inducing.
I had been going to Weight Watchers about a year when our group leader asked if I was interested in training to be a Weight Watchers leader. I agreed, thinking that having been a teacher, it would not be all that different. It involved several weekends of study with a senior leader going through the subject matter, discussing and role playing possible scenarios, looking at the history of the organisation and understanding the scientific theory behind the eating plans. I would be supported with factual notes each week, suggestions to make group meetings interesting and a room full of products to sell.
I had my phone interview for WW at 11.00am and was told at any time I could pull out. I kept thinking “do I want to lose my freedom?” Then I thought “I need a new challenge” so I went ahead with the interview. The material is arriving shortly and I will go into training thereafter.
Before my first meeting I accompanied other leaders to their meetings and usually took over part of the proceedings. The first half hour was spent weighing each person and recording their statistics on their cards and in their booklet.
With great relief I can now say I have completed a session of weighing. I was very pleased that a person called L was there to show me what to do. I am going back tomorrow. I probably won’t have any help and there will be a lot more people there so hopefully I can put into practice what I learnt today.
Sometimes people bought cooking books or boxes of snacks and this was usually paid for in cash or with a credit card using a cumbersome imprinter machine which pressed the raised card number onto a multi-copy, carbon slip. How I hated doing that. Teaching had not prepared me for retail.
I did two credit card transactions and most importantly remembered to write on the back of all the stickers to double check who paid what. Putting everything away took ages but at about 1.00pm we finally got outside.
I wondered if I would still be able to go away on holidays and had my mind put at rest.
I spoke to A afterwards about some aspects of the job and it seems that it is possible to take some time off for a holiday for as long as you like as other leaders are happy to take your meetings and earn a bit of extra money.
My first meeting was fortunately with the assistance of my trainer B. Even so I slept fitfully the night before, waking up at one stage dreaming I had left my palm cards at home.
I headed out to D at 9.15am and started unloading the car, talked to the woman at the desk who gave a quick rundown on safety and where to go for evacuation. As a result we had to leave all the doorways out of the room clear of furniture. B arrived soon afterwards and finally came M, the recorder. It was a frantic rush, even with three of us. I managed to break the storage cupboard lock trying to find a Weight Watcher’s Unlimited form (which I didn’t find). There were three new members, all over 100kg. Two of them said their main aim is to get to double figures. Everything went well except I took the money to the bank without the deposit slip. They wrote their own so that problem was solved.
I spent the afternoon checking the WW paperwork and ringing B for advice. I made the “Waterfall” phonecall which was recorded at the other end and consisted of financial and numerical details of the meeting.
Preparing motivational meetings was something that I enjoyed . One suggestion was to show the group a 5 kilogram piece of fat to indicate how much weight they had lost when they reached that milestone. Off I went to the butcher with my unusual request. It was difficult keeping it in pristine condition despite an esky and ice so by the end of the week the last group missed out.
5kg of fat
I learnt a lot as I was preparing my presentations.
I spent the afternoon preparing for WW tomorrow. The topic is plateaus. I have a couple of aids I made on the computer. One is a definition of metabolism – the fire within, written on top of a raging fire. The other is a description of the weight loss cycle and how body first loses lycopone when less food is eaten, and this contains water so a lot of water is lost at first. The lycopone loss is replaced by fat loss and fat has less water in it than lycopone so the weight loss slows down. OK – then we have to look at ways to get the weight loss started again.
Oils aint oils! That was what today’s meeting was about so I took a box of different oils to the meeting. We started with a quiz and then went on to discuss how to eliminate trans fats from our diet in groups. At that stage 3 people got up and left – always a bit off-putting but we had 28 people through and sold over $200 worth of products. We couldn’t get the sales to add up correctly so I had to check all my stock at home to get it right.
Another time we had fun estimating how much wine equals 100 ml and 150 ml. People were amazed at how little wine made up one standard drink.
After each meeting the money had to be banked. It consisted mainly of cash and a few credit card slips.
I left half an hour early for WW and walked up the street to the bank carrying the money. The bank had gone and was now a variety store so I asked at the Commonwealth and they said it was in the Stockland Centre but I only had 3 minutes until closing. I streaked down to Stockland but they were just closing the door when I got there and would not accept my money even though I just wanted to put it down the chute.
Sometimes we just couldn’t accommodate all the different types of cards on our primitive machine.
The only problem was a woman who wanted to pay with a Cirrus card but we told the woman we couldn’t accept it, only Visa and Amex. She volunteered to go to an ATM but decided against buying the Choc Crisps, maybe because she was letting us know she wasn’t happy.
The dreaded supervisor would come to inspect a meeting to make sure everything was running smoothly.
I went to the WW meeting with a little bit of trepidation as T was coming to supervise. I sent a text to M but she didn’t open it so she didn’t know until she got there. Her daughter was with her which added to her stress levels although the child was very helpful and well behaved. Everything went well and T gave some useful advice which I tried to apply to the evening meeting. At night I accidentally went overtime by ten minutes. Finally someone said they had to go home. I worried about a mother and daughter who didn’t look very motivated but I did have a lot of new enrolments (7) which kept us very busy.
All the time the pressure was on to keep the sales of WW products high and the numbers of new enrolments increasing. Keeping track of sales and new memberships was tricky.
I was looking forward to WW today with all the new products. There were 4 new people and $256 worth of sales. After the meeting S had a problem with balancing the books so we spent about 3/4 hours working it out. Then we had to look at the problem of last week having too much. We finally found someone who joined WWU (Weight Watchers Unlimited) but it hadn’t been recorded. I rang the woman and she is bringing in the orange tear off slip next week. I will send the money in then.
Sometimes there was some positive reinforcement which made it all worthwhile.
Today is Australia Day. We had a few flags up at Weight Watchers. 27 people passed through, although only 12 stayed for the meeting. One woman said she was inspired by last week’s meeting and lost 2kg. She had moved from another meeting but found our’s much more to her liking. Another was excited about going swimming for the first time in years after our talk about exercise last week.
The two meetings went well except I got to D and found I had left the booklets at home. I rang John who brought them out and he didn’t even grumble. The group enjoyed “Dem Bones” as an introduction. In the evening a new member was so pleased about the meeting she couldn’t stop saying “Thank you.”
The weather didn’t always co-operate but people still turned up regardless.
What a day!!! M rang in the morning to say she was flooded in and couldn’t make it to the meeting. I assumed very few others would as well but 17 turned up!!! Fortunately I arrived early to deliver stock and had the room just about set up when people arrived. However, I was faced with people buying huge quantities of food, credit card transactions, people buying ten week packages, new members. A woman offered to do the weighing but I forgot to give her the cards to write down the weights and she put the other cards away so I had to guess the weight loss. To make matters worse I had new members and had to be out of the room by 12.00. Why does it all happen at once? I had to literally throw everything on the trolley and sort it out in the storeroom. I spent most of the afternoon doing the paperwork and was $9 out which wasn’t too bad. Probably it was stock sold which I hadn’t recorded or maybe magazines.
Sometimes people got tired of waiting and were very vocal about it.
A woman complained about waiting, saying she had a houseful of guests at home. I asked the woman in the front of the line if she minded letting her in but she had a houseful of guests too. The penny dropped that she wanted two to work on the weighing so I did a few but had to go and start the meeting.
Numbers fluctuated from too many to not enough.
The C meeting had only one person stay which was a bit embarrassing for both of us. I showed her some of the exercise video to use up the last ten minutes as she seemed determined to stay the full hour. She wanted to avoid the grandchild at home!
Although most people were lovely a very few were critical.
One had joined up online to WWU so I sent her to M who weighed her and sent her back to me to fill in the paperwork. I was a bit confused about recent changes in membership rules. She was quite arrogant, saying that I didn’t inspire confidence. For some reason that rankled and I have not been able to get it out of my mind.
There were some interesting personalities at some of my meetings.
This morning there were no new people at WW but a woman from C’s class came. I had been warned about her – she has some issues, and is very talkative. It was difficult to keep her quiet in the meeting and then she eagerly asked questions afterwards.
Weight Watchers went well. There were 24 people with one new member. My lady with the issues almost became teary but I managed to cheer her up before the floodgates burst. She stayed around after the meeting, even looking in the windows as we were packing up.
Sometimes I had to fill in for someone who was away. This could be quite daunting in an unfamiliar environment.
I arrived at the Salvation Army hall about 20 minutes early. I hung around until 5.15 when finally someone turned up. This was not the person with the keys but they managed to let me in. We were however all set up by 6.00 and were then busy recording and weighing. I weighed people too and was so busy I didn’t realise there was a new person waiting to join. The recorder said she told me but I didn’t hear her. It was noisy in there. The meeting went OK although I could do it better tomorrow. One woman queried me on using exercise points for extra food as she said that was not what their usual leader said. I’m not sure now how well I answered that but I should have said if that’s the way her leader wants it, its fine by me.
My husband received some bad news. He was diagnosed with a serious condition requiring surgery. Immediately everything else became unimportant. I felt I couldn’t continue with WW which was consuming a lot of my time.
I talked to J from WW and told her I was thinking of resigning. She supported me and my last meeting will be 15th November, four day before John goes into hospital. I sent my resignation letter to T so it is done.
Although I found being a WW Leader was stressful, time consuming and underpaid, I still enjoyed it. For the first time I was teaching adults, not children. They were there of their own free will and left if they wanted to. I especially enjoyed the meetings at AP. The people there were so responsive. I devised a competition where people wrote their names on a nametag to be drawn out of a hat at the end of four weeks (my last day). I planned to give out a cookbook or something similar.
Saturday, 15th November, 2008
The last WW meeting is over. Before I left home I made up three presents, two for S and K with the Maggie Beer sauce in a Xmas bag. I also wrote a note of appreciation to both of them. The gift for the meeting was four little cook books in a white carry bag. The meeting went well with everyone talking happily. I told my news at the end and was surprised at how emotional they were. P, who never speaks, nominated J to get up and make a speech of appreciation which she did very well. She has no inhibitions so she waxed lyrical about how much I had inspired the group. I must admit there were tears in my eyes which I did not expect. I left the keys with K, dropped S off at her home but felt sad rather than liberated as I drove home.
This morning after aqua jogging and breakfast John helped me carry all the stock down to the Prado to return it. I hope that is the last of it and I never have to balance another product sheet. On the way home I posted the last WW letter with great ceremony at FM Post Office and banked the money in Wollongong.
It was a great relief to be able to concentrate on one thing only, helping my husband recover after his operation. That was fifteen years ago and he has had no recurrence of his condition. Apart from some voluntary work here and there I have not been in the workforce since.
As for Weight Watchers (now WW) I used to go to meetings now and again just to keep on track. Of course face to face meetings stopped during Covid so I joined online to access recipes and to track my points and weight. I find this is not as effective as the group meetings as I lack the motivation that I had in those early years. I love food but its quality and usefulness as fuel for my body is always at the back of my mind, thanks to my conditioning at WW.
Of all the places I have visited the Cinque Terre stands out for its multiple attractions. Five villages, all exquisitely beautiful and yet different. Three ways of seeing the villages without a car: walking, catching a train, catching a ferry. Plenty of places to eat delicious locally produced food. In May, 2011 it wasn’t too crowded. This was before massive floods in October of that year washed away many houses in Vernazza. Three residents were killed and the town was buried under four metres of mud and debris. There was over one hundred million euro worth of damage. Below are extracts from the diary I kept on the five days we spent in this beautiful area.
We are in the train to Torino following the coast up as far as La Spezia. It is 1.15pm and we were one and a half hours late leaving Roma as the train didn’t arrive on time. There are people in all the seats so its rather squeezy. We also have a rabbit in the compartment and a dog in the corridor. The scenery is interesting with coastal views and productive farmland. One of our stops was Civitavecchia where we will travel in a week’s time to board the ship. The train gets close to the water’s edge in some places and then veers inland again.
I’m going to read my information on things to do in Cinque Terre. We still have about one and a half hours to go and of course no internet. John has reported that the toilet is blocked so I plan to hang on until I get to the destination.
We arrived eventually after some confusion at La Spezia. There was no sign to say where to catch the train and people were wandering around looking confused. Eventually we were on what we hoped was the right train and after waiting for a while it eventually moved. The eight-minute trip, mainly through tunnels, stopped at Riomaggiore to let us off. We walked up a steep hill for 300 metres and rang the doorbell but no-one appeared. A passing woman stopped to help and rang someone on her mobile. Then Emiliano turned up with two other guests who must have arrived when we did. He showed us to our room which is small but pleasantly airy with blue and white curtains and white walls. The bathroom is new looking and clean although it had one of those annoying semicircular showers where the door is hard to shut. There is a brand-new TV which should keep John happy. The balcony looks across at the village and the grape vine covered hillside but at one end it gets larger and you can see the sea.
The view from our balcony
We had had lunch on the train but decided to buy some food and wine for happy hour. Emiliano suggested we walk along the Via dell’Amore to Manarola and have dinner at one of three restaurants he recommended. After a shower and a drink on the balcony we walked along the Via dell’Amore, translated to “The Way of Love.” which follows the edge of the ocean, through tunnels, finally emerging at Manarola.
The Via dell’Amore
Then it was a steep climb up a series of steps and roads to Billy’s, a restaurant recommended by both Emiliano and Trip Adviser. We had to wait twenty minutes to get a table but they gave us some Prosecco to keep us going and we sat on the steps looking out to sea. Our table was beside the kitchen on the outside, with a view of the setting sun over the ocean. The food was good. I had mussels in garlic and tomato followed by a grilled fish and John had butterflied raw anchovies soaked in lemon juice followed by stuffed mussels. We shared two half bottles of white and red and were given complimentary glasses of lemoncino and a purplish liqueur that tasted like cough medicine. It must have had some kick because I walked home, fell into bed and was asleep within minutes.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I felt below par today. I don’t know if it was jet lag, the limoncino or what but I felt decidedly queasy as we walked to the harbour this morning. We had a latte and John had a croissant but, in the end, decided to have an easy day and do the boat trip tomorrow.
We bought some tasty food to keep us going and had lunch on our balcony overlooking the town and the sea. We had fresh bread, delicious tomatoes, olives, cheese, salad mix and the remains of some Balsamic vinegar and olive oil. No wine but healthy juice with orange, carrot and apple. I wrote six postcards. The PO was closed when we walked past so will have to try and post them tomorrow.
We booked dinner at La Laterna for 8 but decided to have the first course at home on the balcony. Ricotta cheese, olives, tomatoes, bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and the local dry white wine. What a way to start the evening! At La Laterna we had a main each and a glass of house red. I had spaghetti with seafood in foil and John had a fried fritto misto. We shared a tiramasu.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
First day of winter at home and here didn’t look much better. It was cloudy and windy and rained through the night. We wondered if the ferries would still be running. I felt much better than yesterday and think I am finally recovering from jet lag. We had breakfast in the room before heading off down to the jetty. At nine o’clock the ticket office was still shut but it opened just before the ferry arrived. I bought two E20 all day tickets even though the ticket seller gloomily forecast the ferries might not run because of the swell. We saw what she meant as the ferry came in. The landing spot was just a piece of rock and people had to run along a gangplank over the bow that swung around in the waves.
The boat set off in the swell and we filmed and photographed the scenic villages under a cloudy sky. First we passed Manarola, the most spectacular from the sea I think.
Manarola
The next town is Corniglia which has no jetty and is perched on a hilltop.
Corniglia
Vernazza was next but our ferry went straight to Monterosso al Mare. Here we were able to get off fairly easily as it was a large jetty. The town seems much bigger than Riomaggiore and has an interesting medieval centre. We stopped for capucchino and cake in a bar which was very busy. We were astonished at pictures on the wall of the bar of huge waves roaring up Monterosso’s main street.
Monterosso al Mare
As we passed a Post Office I thought I would go in and buy some stamps for the post cards. The man behind the counter waved me away and said “Go to the shop at the back” or so I thought. I went outside and looked around but could see no shop at the back. I went in and this time he said, “Go to the tobacco shop”. We walked down the road and into the tobacco shop but they said they don’t sell stamps anymore and to go to the Post Office. One more try at the PO and I were sent angrily away, I suppose because there was a huge queue waiting and only one man serving. I don’t know when I’ll be able to send those post cards.
At 11.30 we caught a ferry to Vernazza. It was smaller than Riomaggiore and seemed more touristy if that is possible. We only had 40 minutes there but wandered around the streets. It has a stream running through the middle of the town. Small bridges cross the river from the road to the houses. There were lots of people waiting for the train. Maybe they were tired after doing the first 90 minute walk from Monterosso.
Vernazza
The next ferry at 12.20pm was supposed to stop at Manarola but they must have decided it was too rough and kept on going. It did stop at Riomaggiore but we stayed on because we were going to Portovenere. We kept saying we could see a patch of blue or the sky was getting lighter and I think that was actually the case. There were a few clusters of houses on impossibly steep hillsides but from Riomaggiore to Portovenere was mainly unpopulated. As we approached Portovenere we saw a pointed rock with a cross on it, a massive castle on the left hand side of the entrance to the harbour and a church on top of a rock, also at the entrance. Once inside the heads it was calm and peaceful so getting ashore was no chore this time. We walked off the ship on the side, not over the bow.
Portovenere was such a pretty town with its castle and row of pastel houses along the waterfront. We spotted Tri Torri right away at the back of a square near the marina. John was hungry so we headed there first. The ferry captain told us the 3.00pm ferry would be the last one as the last two were cancelled. The restaurant was lovely. It was all beige and white with a view of the water and the castle. We both ordered a E25 main course of mixed grilled seafood plus a salad and two small carafes of house white and red plus a bottle of water. The food was delicious. We had scampi, prawns (huge), calamari (tender, grilled on charcoal) and fish. The waiter cleaned up the fish for us, removing bones and fins and opening it up to make it easier to eat.
Portovenere
We had time to buy a gelato each and eat it before our ferry came in. The trip home was rough but the sun had come out and everything looked bright and clean. I filmed the arrival of our boat at the landing spot in Riomaggiore and people getting off and on. It was quite scary at times as the boat swung around.
We bought some food for dinner, bread, tomatoes, cheese, salad, onion, prosciutto and a cake. John made coffee when we got back to our room and now we are resting on the bed with the windows open, the cool breeze blowing in and the sound of birds and children’s voices coming from outside.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
We have completed all we could do of the Cinque Terre walks as the track from Corniglia to Manarola is closed. When we arrived at the station this morning we saw that we had a 40 minute wait for a train so we purchased our train/walk pass and started the walk to Manarola. Once there we had cappucchinos and waited for the train. Funnily enough the train we would have caught at Riomaggiore went straight past but there was another one soon after. Today is a public holiday so there were plenty of people out and about. We took the train all the way to Monterosso al Mare and felt as if we were in a different town to yesterday. The sun was shining, the umbrellas were up and people sunbaked or swam in the sea. What confused us most was where the train station is situated is in a part of town we hadn’t seen yesterday when we got off the boat. It was very impressive and had a lovely resort feel about it. I was tempted to pay for a little change room and sunbed on the beach with its own umbrella. The umbrellas all looked brand new for the new season.
After buying a gelato we started the walk. It was only three kilometers but took an hour and a half. There were a lot of steep steps going up out of the town and the sun was shining hotly. We were very pleased to reach Vernazza and sat down in a pleasant little café called Trattoria del Sandro. I had vegetable pie, a local specialty while John had octopus and potato salad. He said it was very tender. We had a can of lemon squash and a salad. It came to E35.50 so John says no eating out tonight.
Vernazza
We were amazed at the throngs of people flowing through the village, from trains, ferries and walking tracks.
We headed off again on the Vernazza to Corniglia track. This was supposed to be longer at 4 kilometres but the time was the same – one and a half hours. It started to rain at one stage but was a welcome relief from the heat. We sheltered under a tree until the big drops stopped. Corniglia had cars, motorbikes and buses parked in a square when we arrived. The square led to a narrow street where we bought a lemon gelato with honey drizzled over it. The narrow street wound its way to another square where a number of cafes had large umbrellas covering most of the area. At the back was an ancient church with a paved area beside it where children played a noisy soccer game. The road continued to a look out over the sea where telescopes could be used to view the other villages in the distance. This wasn’t the way to the train station so we walked back all the way to the square with cars and bikes and continued to a set of 378 steps which wound all the way down to the train station. We were glad we were going downhill and that this was almost the end of the journey. We had a 20 minute wait for our train, eating our rather squashed nectarine, our juice and a mandarin. We chatted to two Americans from New Jersey until the train arrived. Back at Riomaggiore we walked up our 300 metre hill and decided it wasn’t so bad. We have both had showers and are resting our extremely weary bones. Our clothes were saturated with sweat so we washed them and hung them out. A heavy downpour of rain has just wet them all again but no matter as they weren’t dry anyway.
I will have to take this laptop down to the main street to send my emails when we go to get some dinner. I think we’ll take the long road past the church as the steep way (down the steps) would be too slippery.
Later: I couldn’t get the internet to work tonight so will have to send it in Roma. Tonight we ate at Le Grotto. Our main course was spaghetti with fresh anchovies and herbs (delicious). For dessert we had strawberries, something like homemade icecream and cranberry sauce (with a bit of chocolate). A bottle of red and some sparkling aqua and the bill E50 with tip. On the way back we passed a brass band warming up outside a church (or was it an oratory?) We didn’t stop to hear them play but as we lay in bed later we could faintly hear it. People talked loudly until late in the night and as our room was right beside the footpath it felt like they were in the room with us.
Our apartment in Riomaggiore
Friday, June 3, 2010
We are on the train to Roma so this is a good time to write. I have just started a spreadsheet of expenditure so I can keep track of the cost of this holiday.
We were awake early and by the time the 7.00am bell started pealing we had packed and eaten our remaining yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. We said goodbye to La Baia del Rio, leaving the key on the table. After checking our train times and remembering this time to date stamp our tickets from the yellow machine we had coffee at the little shop near the station. The train left Riomaggiore at 8.37am which would get us to La Spezia early but we intended to buy some lunch for the journey. All went according to plan and we arrived at La Spezia with our next train departing at 10.06 am. This gave us time to walk down to the main square, check out a market and buy some rolls with ham and salad. We also bought some little cakes for dessert. Back to Platform 3 and we had a 20 minute wait for the train. We are now stationary at Pisa Station but can’t see any Leaning Tower from here. I’d be frustrated if I hadn’t seen it before.
Later: We arrived in Roma and carried our backpacks to the Welrome Hotel where we were taken to our new room by Mary. It is called Colosseo and is larger than the Trevi and has a small balcony at the back on which we hung some clothes to dry.
The Curry Apple Orchard 