NANPUTUO TEMPLE & HULI SHAN FORTRESS

These were the two places visited today, this was after sorting out our next hotel and booking a flight to GUILIN - Suri's idea, so far so good on this - but as I write I am still awaiting the tickets for the flight tomorrow - promised to arrive 2 hours ago.

The temple was really quite impressive - as it was Saturday - it was pretty busy with many locals lighting incense and saying a few words to each of the Buddhas and other heavenly kings.

This is a working temple so there were many monks wandering around - there was supposed to be some chanting - but we must have missed that.

As we went through the temple we were climbing higher and higher up the hill, I eventually arrived at the top - Suri waited for me half way down - it was hot and pretty steep. Once up at the top there was a pretty good view of the coast around XIAMEN.

Returning to the bottom we saw some terrapins and loads of cat fish in this large lake, and in the next lake there were many water lilies and loads of Lotus leaves - unfortunately the flowers have finished now - but they must have been amazing, with thousands of fish swimming about - this was truly a marvelous sight.

One of the things we have noticed is there is very little wildlife - including bird and fish - I think it's 'cos the Chinese eat everything and anything - yesterday I saw a bucket full of frogs or they could have been toads ( they were pretty big) waiting outside of this restaurant.

After a quick bite to eat we set off for the fort - we found the correct bus which was good, and got off at the right stop - that is not as easy as you might think - so a bit of a success there.

The fort was pretty much rebuilt and had been landscaped into gardens with a lot of old cannons scattered about, but there was also - so they claimed the largest ever in the world cannon - which did look pretty big and there were photos of it being used against the Japanese, all in all well worth the visit - oh and there were thousands of these enormous dragonflies - I took a picture but it was difficult to focus - but they were everywhere.

We then wandered down to the beach and lounged about a bit - lovely beach and the sea was pretty clean - though I did not go for a swim..........

For our evening meal we decided to check out the Huang Zehe Peanut Soup Shop - which describes the place exactly - as recommended by the Lonely Planet. The peanut soup was sweet and better than expected - the cafe / shop was amazingly busy and somehow you had to buy a ticket for each buffet item - very difficult - believe me - luckily for us the teller took pity on us and instructed one of the waitresses / helpers / cleaners to help us out.

A good meal for two - all for 14 Yuan ( less than 1 pound sterling) - though no drink - but the soup was a sort of a drink.

Ah .... the tickets have just arrived we can sleep better now knowing that tomorrows travel arrangements are sorted - we just have to find the airport........