Cass emerged chrysalis-like from her extended week at the provincial backwater of Fulong camp ground, where she imparted her worldy knowledge to the naive grade 8 souls whom she chaperoned. Her tasks included, but were not limited to, hiking a 10km mountain trail, cooking BBQs, making breakfast, editing and rendering dozens of videos for a final showing, dragging out her "peer support" skills to replace set activities on a rainy day and generally being on deck for anything 24/7. I, on the other hand, had the onerous task of ministering to the needs of two lazy cats! Doesn't seem fair does it?
I had booked a table at Wendel's for Cassy's return. This has become something of a tradition for the return from camp. Cass describes it as the perfect cleansing, as the atmosphere, food, ambiance of Wendel's are diametrically opposed to the privations of the Longmen Camp Ground. We order the same decadently delicious and expensive items from the menu each time, although I stupidly gravitated from the melt-in-your-mouth steak to a pan full of German sausages: it was OK, but all a bit too much....see picture above!
During the week, I'd taken my annual leave to indulge in some culinary "delights" of which Cass is less enamoured. I managed to eat Japanese pork cutlets in curry sauce (tonkatsu) twice, and also eat at my traditional Taiwanese/Chinese restaurant just around the corner, with its rudimentary tables and lightning fast service. The food isn't gourmet but I love the atmosphere here and the flashing spatula skills of the stir-fry cooks. There is a big, green plastic-handled bottle opener on the table for your self served beer bottle, and a pack of tissues that I'm sure they get for free from the local petrol station: it's homely! I had a beer and a chat with my mate Michael on Thursday night at another local haunt: he is the school psychologist, so he always has some interesting takes on various personalities and approaches.
We had a very quiet weekend as we tend to after the big camp. Cass is more than happy to potter around and just revel in being back in her comfortable home. The girls suddenly become more needy when she appears as well: after a week of blithely ignoring my presence except to stridently remind me to fill up their food bowls, they emerge as rubbing, smooching, needy cuties who insist on sleeping on or beside Cass as she lies on the lounge, even in this heat!
I forced myself up the 1400 stairs and along the forest trail in the midday heat on Sunday: it was a sweat pumping effort, but worth it up the top, as it was serene and cool. Luckily no monkeys crossed my path today, and I took a few shots of the signs, the precarious trees and the trail. Other photos of food seem self explanatory.