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Because the weather is playing such a large part in our programme you can get an idea of what it's like out here from the main Shanghai page << click here. The typhoon arrived last night although we disovered that it had now been downgraded to a tropical storm. This morning the rain was lashing down and the wind was really blowing very hard. Our hosts had planned to take us to an ancient garden but decided this would not  be appropriate due to the weather. However, Team GB, that is the kayakists and the sailors jointly agreed that we would take a walk into the nearby town (all transport is grounded!) and treat the athletes to a KFC. Naturally, we have to be accompanied by volunteers in case we get lost etc. I think those that came with us must have lost the toss-up. Being British of course the tropical storm was only a mild discomfort. For the volunteers, however, they were not very well prepared and  their umbrellas soon became in-adequate. At the same time we discovered that our GB rain jackets were about as useful as a chocolate teapot! Nevertheless, with the water running down our necks we linked arms, leaned into the wind and off we went. The principle feature of the old town is the bridge. Crossing the bridge we experienced the full force of the wind; sufficient to convince Nick, from the Sailing team, that he could fly. Fortunately, he decided again trying. We wandered round the market virtually on our own and chatted to the stall holders. Perhaps chatted is a slight exaggeration since the conversations were, "Lookey, lookey, very cheap", from the Chinese, and, "Hello - no thank you", from the British. Anyway, we were communicating of sorts I guess.  A feature of the market is the number of stalls where the owners are actually making items on the stall itself. This is a picture of a man who was carving your name into an ink stamp. No doubt some of you will see these on our return. When we got to the KFC the hand driers went into overtime as hand, hair and clothes driers. Having eaten we moved out for the walk home. By now the volunteers, although still cheerful, were looking very drowned; I guess that what comes of volunteering to help the watersports teams.  Back at the hotel, and after a warm shower the group relaxed and waited for dinner.  Food is quite important as you might guess. The diet is mainly Chinese food with the inclusion of some western food from time to time. Decisions about what to eat from the Chinese food on offer can sometime be quite difficult. What looked like chicken nuggets on one occasion turned out to be lotus root in batter. The hotel staff do put labels on the food which can help sometime - but not always. To illustrate the difficulty here is a photo of a label on one of the dishes this morning at breakfast. Surprisingly, no-one tried this so we still don't know what is was. LATE NEWS We have just heard that due to the weather the competition has been abandoned for tomorrow. We know no more at this time but just keep watching the website. |
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