Today, I just went out to the countryside with a friend and her family. We started out just after lunch. We took a bus out of town and arrived in a village, called Jingshan, just outside the city limits.

When I say village, it's probably not the kind of village that you would normally imagine. Chinese villages are sort of medium density. There are a lot of two and three-storey buildings in the village, especially in the centre. Just outside the centre of the village, though, you get to the fields pretty quickly.

Jingshan village is built mainly around the brick and cement factory. I could see the hill that they quarried. One part of the hill looked almost like something from Guilin. The hill was tall and narrow. Upon closer examination, though, I could see that the hill had been quarried.

The purpose of today's outing was to see the blooming rapeseeds. The countryside is currently in full bloom with these yellow blossom vegetables. The fields were full of them. Field after field after field, rapeseeds were growing in abundance. The oil from the rapeseed is often used as a cooking oil. It's popular with the locals.

We were fortunate that it did not rain today. The sky was grey and cloudy, but it was pretty dry. Also, we had to go this weekend in order to see the flowers because by next weekend, they may have all withered or harvested. So we were truly blessed today.

It was my first time walking through a Chinese farm. The farmers just don't seem to mind having strangers trekking through the fields. They just sort of ignored us and kept on working. If it was back in Canada, I'm sure we would have gotten an ear-full from the owner.

What's most characteristic about the farms here are the paths. The paths are elevated above the field. When one walks between the crops, one is always about a foot or so above the ground. The paths are made purely of good old- fashioned dirt. It's sort of neat.

People tell me that after the rapeseed harvest is done, the fields will be converted over to use for rice. That's how farming seems to work in China. The farms are always on the go with some sort of crop. It seems rare to find fallow ground in Chinese farms. With over a billion mouths to feed, I'm not surprised.

Another notable plant in the fields were the peach blossom trees. It reminded me of the sakura (cherry blossom) trees that line the streets of Vancouver. They were very beautiful. I noticed, though, that these trees are always separated from the rest of the field with a small moat. I'm not sure why, but I'm sure there is a purpose to it.

We also walked up towards the bank of the Jijiang River. It's a tributary of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River and empties into the larger river right in the heart of Wuhu city. Along the banks are these huge dirt dykes. Anhui is well-known for its annual floods, so these dykes come in handy every year. My friend told me that in the summer, the water level may reach the very top of the dyke. The dyke itself looks to be about 10-20 feet tall. Flooding can be very serious in Anhui.

After about 3 hours wandering and coursing through the fields of rapeseeds, we caught the bus back into town, but we stopped at the Anhui Electrical and Mechanical College. This college has a much smaller campus and less students. It had a nice pond, gazebo, and water tower. I could also see construction of a few new buildings. Onwards and upwards in China.

After that quick stop, we got back on the bus and headed back to my campus. We ate and then parted ways. It was a long tiring day. My legs are still aching a little. As for my friend, she still had a lot of energy. I guess I need to get out more. *Yawn* I better get going and finish tomorrow's lesson before I pass out.