Sanming

Sanming, Dave's home away from home. He was glad to be back.

With only three weeks until his return to Little Britain his schedule was packed to bursting point. Mountains, zoos, swinging bridges, caves, nature in all it's glory and several posh meals a day. As always, Jean tried her best to let Dave know what was going to happen at least a 30 seconds in advance, but when she's only known about it for a few days herself it simply wasn't always possible. Dave understood.

Dave had hoped to find time to help out at a local orphanage whilst he was there. He had £400 in his pocket ready to donate to the right cause. It seemed so simple on paper. After a little thought however, Dave quickly realised it was neither simple nor a good idea. His busy schedule meant he would be able to give a day or two at most. Assuming he spoke the language, the first day would be taken up getting in people's way whilst he learnt what he was doing and the second day he may be of some very small use. With his complete lack of basic Chinese skills he would probably just be getting in the way for well over a week. Added to this the fact that any white guy in Sanming is treated like a celeb and he would probably cause quite alot of disruption with alot of the staff caring more about him than they would the children. The £400 would be heading back to England for another year of planning, where it would hopefully grow to a grand before the year was out.

Strange how 3 hours can seem like a lifetime, but 3 weeks can pass in the blink of an eye. So much to do, so little time. It had been good to catch up with all his old friends, Wen Yu, Lin Ying, Kou Kou Shu Shu, The Camel and the lions with their new babies amongst many others. But all too quickly the arrival of Bian signalled the begining of the end, the last few days, several more meals, some kareoke, dice games and a final farewell to the camel and they were on their way back to Beijing.

Zai Jian.