Tuesday 02 October - B

Xin Qao Jie shopping centre

The fire hose - do not use

As I wrote yesterday, I was going to the Confucius Temple, but was distracted on the way by Fushan (Blue Mountain) Park.

I had almost arrived at the temple by a circuitous route when I happened on what appeared to be a small run-down shopping centre on Xin Qao Jie (Xinqao St). Everything was decrepit, including the fire hose – I hope there isn’t a fire!

Furniture shop

Whilst taking a photo I was attracted by a shop that appeared to have wooden carved furniture. Although not my taste, there was no denying the quality of the work.

Rock shop

Looking further in, there was an assortment of shops selling antiques, jade jewelry, jade carvings  and river rocks. Not any river rocks, but interestingly weathered, and some were housed in glass cases with purpose-made stands. There is obviously a market for them and they didn’t look cheap.

In the centre was a small temple – and I mean small – approximately 3x5m with a tent-like annex. Next to it was what looked like an entrance to underground toilets, so I thought I’d investigate.

Amazingly, at the bottom of the stairs was an enormous fully air-conditioned shopping centre. It was filled with immaculate small specialist shops, including one where I bought some Chinese-English posters.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, especially given what it looked like at street level.

Entrance to the underground
shopping mall

The mall entrance and small temple
from above

Inside the underground
shopping mall

A Chinese-English
poster of animals

I found out later that, further along the street, was the main, more modern, entrance. I had gone in the back way. There must be an amazing history about how this whole complex grew and developed.

In the next post, I arrive at the Confucius Temple, really.

Saturday 08 September

Large balloons to
welcome new students

Arrival of new students

Well, the weekends are now taking on a new meaning. No work for 2 days and I now have some time to explore a little.

Weekend breakfast. No SMH or Good Weekend (maybe not for anyone soon if Gina Reinhart has her way!), but time for an Aussie breakfast – orange juice, bacon & eggs on bread (haven’t got anything to toast bread on the gas ring yet), Vegemite on bread & butter, and Lavazza coffee (UHT milk) with black cherry jam….on bread. Doesn’t taste quite like home, but it’s the principle.

Part of the ancient stone
perimeter wall of the city

Beautiful melon
display by street vendor

Orientation has started for the this year’s new new first-year intake, and the college has been tarted up a bit with balloons, banners and posters.

In the afternoon Ben and I went into town to do some shopping and have a better look at Quzhou.

I wanted to buy turpentine and a paint scraper to remove tape adhesive from the tiled floor in my apartment.

Our interaction with shopkeepers was always amusing as Ben explained what I wanted, and they were wondering what the heck I was doing there. In almost 2 weeks I have only seen one other ‘la wai’ (foreigner), so I’m a bit of a curiosity.

Dredging the moat

Drawbridge over the moat

We continued on, heading south, over the drawbridge, built in two separate sections, that spans the former moat that surrounded the city outside the city walls. It was very well fortified against attack.

The moat is currently being dredged to promote water flow.

We continued on, walking through some of the outer local shopping quarters and markets.

Digital city

Small Christian church in a side street

These markets would be another experience in themselves, you could spend a whole day there exploring the food, clothes, household and personal goods on sale.

These markets are near the flower, fruit and vegetable markets which will have to wait for another opportunity to visit.

We walked some further distance to the southern end of the city where Ben wanted to visit a ‘digital city’ to buy some computer stuff. Compared to the outside, the air conditioning maded it so cold inside, that we almost froze . The outside temperature was in the low 30s, and HUMID.

Electric scooter showrooms

The top model Luyuan electric scooter

We also visited a showroom selling electric scooters as I was interested in possibly purchasing one to bring to Australia.

They run on 4 lead-acid batteries which last about two years and can travel about 50kms in a recharge. They cost between $300-$500 AUS but shipping costs would be almost double that!

A hot-looking electric scooter
being recharged through the window

Electric scooters in a fashionable
shopping mall

The top model Luyuan electric scooter. The biggest problem turned out to be that they only have a top speed of around 40 kph. In Sydney you’d get run over within the first week, travelling that slowly – and they probably couldn’t be ridden on cycleways, so the short-lived idea of importing one was sadly rejected.

The all-weather electric scooter

They also have electric bicycles, but these were mainly short-haul bicycles designed for trips to the shops with small children and not really suited to commuting.

The Dutch ones are much better suited to our conditions.

Here are some photos of other scooters that I found interesting.
These vehicles seem to be the main form of personal transport, outweighing bicycles and petrol-engined scooters or motorcycles by a huge margin.