Related report in Shantou Special Zone Evening,

http://www.dahuawang.com/localnews/showlocal.asp?no=96401

The village is nestled at the back of a gorge about an hour outside of Meizhou. It is twenty minutes past a well-known tea plantation resort, Yan Nan Fei, Wild Goose Flying South tea plantation. While there are buses that run up that way, your best bet is to simply hire a taxi from the Meizhou bus station (80-100 RMB).

The village itself is full of old houses, many of which still have the faded slogans of the 1960s on the walls. But I was more interested in the natural surroundings. I took a long hike along the creek up into the mountains. A kind of stone trail winds through tea fields, and then into the forest and up the mountain.The nature is simply stunning, and once you are twenty minutes or so down the trail, people disappear.

There are probably six or seven guesthouses in the village, all fairly similar. Small rooms for about 100 RMB a night. Food choices are limited to the animals running around the yard and a bit expensive (25-30 RMB a dish) but good. We stayed at the last guest house on the right, as you walk toward the back of the village and the mountains. A nice place run by a nice family, but I strongly suggest NOT going during one of the major national holidays. At one point I counted 57 people and 19 cars in the driveway of the little guesthouse, which is probably suitable for about 15 people max.

There is a pretty good blog entry (in Chinese) on the village here, with photographs.

Mostly, I was impressed that I could get five or six good-sized plants for about 120 kuai.

Most of these plants were unrecognizable to me, except for one which may be some variety of fern.

The market — Huamu Shichang, I believe, in Chinese — is off to the right of the last roundabout as you drive out toward the airport. It is on a long street that is called (please double check my Pinyin, this is from memory) Hengshan Lu. Actually, I’ve heard there is at least one more such market on this street.

The market itself is a huge outdoor space, the size of a football field at least. A rough, eyeball estimate would put the number of shops there at 30 or so. All selling, more or less, identical plants. This is a feature of business life here I find fascinating and really difficult to understand. You have got the street where people sell indentical-looking, identically-priced mattresses. You have got the street where all the artists are, selling paintings that are more or less the same as the paintings of their neighbor. You have got the plant and flower market. How do these businesses successfully compete against one another?

In any case, if you are not particulary interested in purchasing plants but need a cool respite from the hot weather, I would still recommend the market. Two thumbs up on being a relaxing place, where even shop owners have a mellow approach.

This is a 25m pool, heated (a bit, it’s a good temperature), which costs 20rmb a time.  This makes it more expensive than the outdoor pools (10 rmb a time), but still quite reasonable considering it’s inside and they pretty much have the monopoly. 

You pay on your way out.  On your way in they hand you a lock, men’s lockers at one end, women’s at the other.  There is a small changing room with two cubicles and a lovely hot shower and also a toilet.  There is lots of mould high up on the walls in the changing room but it’s out of reach, which might be why it’s still there.  The walls are really high! 

Yeah and then you can swim – I advise people who can’t swim to wait until there’s courses coz when I went today there were no life guards around.  There were also only 6 people in the pool, all doing lengths, which was nice! 

You can also get a card, 30 times, to be used within 40 days.  I forgot to ask the price.  Address: 18 Changping Lu, Shantou ??????18????????  Telephone number of the instructor I met: 0754 8545855

Opening hours to public: 8am-2.15pm, 7.30-9.30pm.  That’s def Mon-Fri, maybe the weekend too.

Pagoda Garden — – Museum
Pagoda Hill, Tucheng Village
Lianshang Town, Chenghai City

Liaison:
ZHU, Lihao, Cell phone: 13809674928;
DU, Xuping, 13509877152;
Du Liankui, 13068910729

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If you want to see the report, please e-mail me. Just putting out the tourist information…

PS, Are there any other musuems in Shantou? I have never heard of any but would love to know if there were. However small.

I went there yesterday to read for my dissertation. The building was brand new with nice facilities. They have computer rooms, several floors for different functions like reading and loan. I would give 9 out of 10 for it! They don’t charge for borrowing books but you have to pay deposits like 50 yuan for a year or something. But I wanted to use the reading room and it costs me 20 yuan a month (50 for three months).

There was a little story while I was there yesterday actually. I went to the second floor at first. It is the loan section and I am not supposed to bring my own books in. But when I walked in the staffs there were having a nap on the desk so nobody asked me to deposit my books. Then after ten minutes, a few other mid age women went in and they started chatting about the weather, their son was late for school this morning, the lunch wasn’t that great etc. This is quite common in most public services, but consider that was in the library and people were reading, it was not acceptable. I couldn’t concentrate, after 20 minutes bearing, I went to them and tried to make a complaint. But I started by asking whether it’s business hour or lunch break, they said it was business hours. Then I asked was there the reading area, they told me it was loan section, not for reading. Fair enough, I didn’t go any further but asked them about where is quiet for reading. They pointed me to the fifth floor so I went. Still, I wasn’t totally happy about library staffs talking their own business loudly in business hours.

As it was buffet style, 25rmb, I ate a lot, and it did for my dinner too.

The residents’ bar/lounge is possibly one of the nicest bits of the Meritus, and you don’t need to be a resident to go in it. 

Went up to Dansuao Hotspring again last night.  This is just a little update to say that they’ve added a bbq hut/area, and it’s delicious.  I think it was mainly delicious because I wasn’t worried about getting ill – which I am when I eat bbq at most random roadside stalls.  I swear it’s not the food, it’s the sauces and spices they put on.  (Dansuao bbq has Excellent bbq sauce.)

While we’re on the subject, bbqs.  Many of my foreign friends really enjoy bbqs, unless they’ve been here a really long time and got ill one too many times.  My Chinese friends say they’re the most unhygenic crappiest places to eat in Shantou – but they still eat there sometimes.  It’s like getting a kebab on the way home from a night out (Brits), or you can spend an evening chilling in a park or beer garden and drink beer while eating. 

Everything’s laid out on sticks and you choose what you want then they bbq it for you and bring it over to where you’re sitting.  It’s possible to find just about anything – a wide variety of veg, meat/animal insides, seafood.  I personally recommend sweet potato anywhere, and mussels (are they mussels?  dan4cai4, I can read it but not type it) if you’re convinced you won’t get ill.  Beef balls are a local speciality.  The sweetcorn is never sweet, it’s a different variety.  Things usually cost 1 or 2rmb a stick.

Actually you don’t have to hire your own boat, there’s a bigger one that leaves 9/9.30pm and does the same loop (up to one bridge, down to the other and back to port). I’ve been on it before, it gives a nice nighttime view of the city waterfront. I think it’s about 50rmb? Richard’ll know, he went on it last year.

Don’t take your own snacks though, they’ll get annoyed!

Leaves from Lundu(??), next to the ferry to Queshi, opposite the swimming pool. On Haibin Road (???) All drivers know it.

The ferry is 1rmb/person, or 2rmb for a motorbike. They leave about every 20min from the port, it’s called the ?? (ma3 tou2) or ?? (lun2 du4). It’s on Haibin Road (???), opposite the outdoor pool and diving centre. Every driver knows it.

Anyway Queshi is lovely, once you get past the mad frenzy to get you on a vehicle it’s slow and quiet and pleasant and green. Straight ahead is the old British embassy, now a government building. If you turn left at the embassy you’ll find a school and a navy hospital. The navy hospital has a specialist burns unit which treated my friend when his back was badly burnt and the treatment was excellent. They have this special medicine. Anyway.

Turn right and go up the hill and eventually you’ll get to the best middle school in Shantou, where all the brainy/rich kids go, and also the opportunity to climb up the surrounding hills. You have to pay about 10rmb to get in. The first one has the most stuff, caves, aerial runway, tobaggan run, golden Buddha, pagoda on top. If you don’t like too many people, which I don’t, keep walking up the road and go up some other hills.

I went up one of the other hills with two friends from the hospital late in the afternoon. We found some army ruins – the man having a walk at the top said it was army, he didn’t know whose. Then he walked down with us through the winding winding paths, there are caves there too. It’s a good thing he came with us otherwise we would’ve got very lost and we didn’t have that much time. The man had a season ticket (whopping 60rmb/yr) and came up here about twice a week to chill out. He was cool. We climbed many steep upwards and downwards paths. It was a nice afternoon.

Oh and an interesting thing: The character ‘que’ in Queshi(??) is only found in Shantou. It won’t be in any of your dictionaries, so I can’t write it. How about that.