A busy day

Last night we ate at a quite upmarket restaurant, over the road from the hotel, and it was, ironically, probably the most expensive meal we've had since we've been in China. We ate some beef which was quite fatty and unfortunately Gra was quite sick during the night. The girls and I have been fine thank goodness, but poor Gra woke up feeling pretty washed out and a bit achey. I tried to persuade him to stay in bed, but he dosed himself up and did brilliantly on what was a busy but really fun day.
Today was another scorcher...about 34 degrees! After breakfast, we went to a Buddhist Monastery and Temple in the centre of Chengdu. It was in a lovely part of town, with lots of old Ming-style buildings and a street market. The girls bought a few bits and had a horse made for them out of melted sugar.(Subsequently eaten by Esther!)
We had explained to the girls that religion in China is quite strictly controlled, but that a lot of people follow the Buddhist faith. Janet is a Buddhist and so it was excellent when we got to the temple, because the girls were able to watch her carrying out her incense burning and bowing to Buddha rituals. Martha is going to give the photos and film we took to Mrs Coombes(her RE teacher at school) and show her how people bow to Buddha. We also saw some Buddhist monks and where they eat and study. A lot of Chinese people go to the temple to give thanks to their ancestors and so while I was there I just stood quietly for a moment to say my thank yous to Martha's and Esther's ancestors.


After the temple, we took a taxi to a children's adventure park on the other side of the city. It was the middle of the day when we got there and Martha was already wilting fast. I sat next to her in the taxi and she had her head on my arm - I couldn't believe the heat coming off her head!! So, we sat in the shade in a tea garden for an hour, had some popcorn and a cold drink and cooled off a bit. When we got to the park area with the rides, it was deserted because of the heat and also all the local children were in school. So we pretty much had the place to ourselves and enjoyed ride after ride without any queuing. It was brilliant fun, although as we trundled along rollercoaster tracks that had obviously seen better days, I didn't dare think about health and safety!!!!
Eventually, we got the hot, sweaty and tired girls in the taxi and took them back to the hotel for a most welcome swim.
We also played it safe with food tonight and ate at Pizza Hut! Graham is starting to feel a bit better luckily!
Tomorrow we are back to Beijing for a last bit of shopping and then it's home! Two more sleeps in China. Can't believe it's gone so quickly, although when I think of all we've done and the ground that we've covered, it seems that we've been here ages. Graham and I were playing cards last night and were talking about how mind blowing the trip has been. It's been both physically and emotionally tiring and it is hard to find words for some of our experiences. It has been sobering to see the girls back in the land of their birth and we can but hope that we can help them find a real sense of belonging both with us and within their heritage. At dinner the other night, Marthie said to us, "It's funny really because I'm English and Chinese". We said to her, "You're the best of both".

Message from Martha, "At the pandas I saw some red pandas. They are very rare and they are the same as Mr Shufu in Kung Fu Panda"
Message from Esther (to Becca as usual!)," I went on some rides but I didn't like the big splash on that boat slide....it went in my shoes. I love you very muchxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
Message from us all "Have a wonderful visit Mrs Coppin!"

Random question to the Southside girls..."What time does the village fete start?"

With lots of love from us all.