Happy birthday fierce Zac

Take a long boat ride

This is not a river. It is a canal. A river is natural. A canal is made by people. This is the longest canal in the world. It is called the Grand Canal and it passes through Hangzhou, where I took this picture, nor far from where I am staying.

The Grand Canal was started about 2,500 years ago. It wasn't finished until about 700 years ago. I guess it is never really finished because if they don't keep dredging it, it becomes blocked. So, at one time it was about 1,800 kilometres long. If you can find Beijing and Hangzhou in your atlas, boats could travel from one to the other. At the moment boats can travel along it for 1,100 kilometres.

When it was first built there were no cars and travelling by road was very slow. The canal was the fastest way to travel from one part of China to another. China is a very big country. If you come and visit before I leave, maybe we could take a long boat ride.

love from your Grandpa

Two-headed creature

I'm not sure what this creature is called. It has two heads, one at each end of its body. It's job is to hold the bell up. There must be plenty of these creatures because every bell has one and every temple has a bell. But I never saw one of these creatures without a bell. Sometimes people ring the bell. I hope it likes the noise.

Rock chat

Once upon a time there was a rock that wanted to be friendly but everyone who came near the rock ran away. The rock thought it must be because it was so ugly.

One day Grandpa John was visiting the park near West Lake in Hangzhou. He saw some tears rolling down the cheeks of the rock. 'What is the matter, Rock?'

'Nobody loves me. They all think I'm ugly.'

'Excuse me,' said Grandpa. 'Is this Yushui Pavillion?'

'Yes it is,' said the rock.

'I've heard about you,' said Grandpa John.

'You have?'

'Yes, the dragons told me about you.'

'Dragons? What dragons?'

'Oh, there are many dragons in this park. The dragons told me that children come here to play and it is dangerous because they could fall in the lagoon and the water is deep. Many Chinese children cannot swim.'

'Yes, I know,' said the rock. 'I yell at them "Be careful." But they always run away.'

'The dragons told me that you yell very loudly and frighten the children.'

'Do I? I don't mean to yell loudly. I want them to hear me so they don't drown.'

'Maybe I can teach you to whisper loudly. That wouldn't frighten them so much.'

So Grandpa taught the rock how to say 'Be careful children, it's dangerous to play here,' just loudly enough so that the children could hear but not be frightened. Now the children hear the rock and they play carefully so that they don't fall in the water. They are not frightened of the rock anymore. Some of them even give it a hug. If you ever go to China and visit Hangzhou go and visit the rock in Yushui Pavillion in the park next to the lake. Have a little whisper chat with the rock and tell it that Grandpa John sent you.

The end