this is gonna be a super long post.. those not interested, dun read!
i'm finally back frim my china trip at 中国, 福建, 厦门, 金古镇, 田头村. long name huh? its actually longer.. haha!! i can only say its a super enriching trip for me. i sincerely learn how 2 appreciate life here in Singapore. really, we are all too blessed and fortunate to have such good living conditions le. we should all be more than happy! anyways, story time -_-
day 1:
early mornign 4am woke up, wash up, get ready to go airport. cab suppose 2 come at 5.45 am, but it came at 5.25am instead -_- in the end, we reach the airport T2 far tooooooo early. 6.10, evey1 reached. checked in, went for breakfast at ya kun toast. 6.50, went in le. flight was supposed to be scheduled at 8am intially, but in the end was delayed for 30 minutes. 4 hours flight to china on silk-air.. we sat on a smaller airplane, so was more croweded la. almost every1 slept on board the plane. haha!! everyone woke up too early le la. haha! breakfast was ok la. i like the egg thou, even though it was a bit cold la.. haha! we reached the Xia Men international air-port at 12.45 instead of 12.15. when we alight from the plane, there was a bus to pick us up. it was only like 10 steps away for us to walk but well, they say passengers cannot walk so wee took the bus, made a u-turn and alighted. took no more than 1 min i think -_- my relatives were there 2 receive us. quite hornoured. got the 3 brothers ad the eldest 2nd sister's husband. they juz refused 2 let me push and take my own luggage. nice of them la. we were told that the temperature there was 34 degrees!! when we were told its cold in the 9th month of the year so we bought all long plants etc. in the end, we realised we misunderstood that it was supposed to be the chinese 9th month la -_-
we board another mini-bus / van to head out towards the house we were going to live in, as well as for lunch. lunch was taken at 2.30 pm, more than an hour trip from the airport, and when the bus was speeding! the food was ok la. but a lot of pork which i dun fancy, so i ended up eating a lot of the green vege and tofu lor. wah! the vege and tofu are damm nice de la! cos its they home-make and grow de. haha! the toilet, well, its horrible. the toilet has cubicles, but the walls will only reach up to at most your waist length, and there are no doors at all! it was really smelly from the outside and you can't even go near the toilet! in the end, we found out that they only was the toilet in the morning de. so many ppl have used it before we arrived in the afternoon! it was juz a drain that runs throu the centre of the toilet and you juz do you business into the shallow and visible drain. so u can see what the previous person has done b4 u la. (tat's y i say i appreciate the toilets in singapore) while we were leaving, the van driver was nice enough to put a luggage next 2 me so that i can have a hand rest to be more comfortable. haha!!!
then we continue our bus ride to 中国茶都, took another 1 hour. it was an adventure to be seated in the van i took. wah! over there they have no traffic light and they dun care about road safety de lor! they juz over take any vehicles they wan to and juz keep pushing the horn lor! omg damm scary de lor. my cousin sis, aunt and mum were all closing their eyes thorough the journey. haha! anyways, on the trip to the 中国茶都, we saw all the farms by the road-side. say many ppl pushing carts selling tofu, cows juz lazing ard by the road side, strings of goats, loats of rice fields, banana trees field, scare crow and mountains.
中国茶都 is juz a place that basically sells a lot a lot of tes, but we din buy any since my relatives produce their own tea! we juz stop for 20 mins at the 茶都 to see how the tea leaves are being processed.
then, back to the van and another 30 minutes to my relatives house. once again, its a closed eye trip for my cousin, aunt and mum. haha! we saw many many longans trees and ppl selling longans along the way. and there was a Singapore petrol station as well! since when did singapore produce petrol?! haha! but i think its cos the family smart la. cos to the people there, products from singapore are really 高高在上! anyways, the kids were happy to arrive at the place, cos wat greeted them were ducks and chickens! haha! they kids have never seen the ducks and chicken so close to them before! but before they could go near the animals, they were freaked out and they started running away le, cos well, they're scared of them too. haha!
through the 3 hours plus journey to the house, every1 slept. there was countless hornning on the roads. and the air quality was not very good. anyways, back to the house.
to me, the house is HUGE! it has 2 buildings merged as one, and they have another house further down the road. when we arrived, i wasnted 2 go to the back of the van to collet my luggage. BUT! 8 guys were already standing there to ensure that we do not need 2 do anything at all -_- so i couldn't even touch my luggage cos they simply refuse 2 let me hold it -_- i decided to stay outside the house 2 take some pictures. but before i can do anything, a LOUD LOUD LOUD until cannot LOUD de BANG! went off behind me! they acutally put a long long row of fire crackers! but there was no time for me to take down the process so i only took photos of the remians lor. haha! but they say its a grand honour 2 have us there cos we're ppl from the city and we are smart and educated and better-off ppl. its proud for them to know people like us, and that we're willing to bare with their living standards to be living with them. the fire-works were only used during grand events, so see how grand it is for us to be there. ALL THE NEIGHBOURS WERE OUT TO SEE US! so shy :P haha! but the kids were all crying -_-
when we finally went into the house, we were shocked! they juz renovate the stairs half-way, so its all still rocks and cement and there in no railings at all! so you can fall down on your right anytime and there goes your head. cos the floor is really very bumpy and hard, its difficult to climb up and down. (i eventually got use to the stairs on the 3rd day) that is the eldest brother's building. i stayed at the house that belong to the 3rd brother. him and his wife were very very nice ppl. they moved out of their room so that we can sleep in their room, where there is air-con. we have the habit of taking off our shoes when we enter a house in singapore and so we did that in china too. thou the wife and grandma keep telling us not to remove, but we still eventually did that and they said nothing. thou the husband asked his wife to mop the floor. we say its alright de la! haha!
dinner was next and erm, we mainly ate porridge la. cos we're not really used to the vege. its juz simple rice and porridge and for us, they added extra dishes of duck soup and another green vege. for them, their dinner was always juz porrisge and 1 dish, no more.
so when the brothers was with us for lunch, u can say they were happy, cos its not very often that they leave the house and go buy food. they basically grow everything on their own. after dinner, we sat outside the house to have a chit-shat session with the family members. then it was bath time! the water that they have are stored in a tank found on the top of every house. this water is flowed from the 泉水 near their house, so its really clean and cooling. but there is a limit in which the amount of water the tank can hold. the house t hat i live in can only hold 10 litres of water. so, my cousin, who was the last one to bath, was stuck in the toilet for 15 minutes! cos have to wait for the water to reach the tank again. after tta, sleep time. but my small aunt, cousin sis and my mum chatted till 12 plus then sleep, thou we were all really really tired. haha! i think all of us except the kids slept well that night, cos being adults, well, it takes mroe time 2 adapt la.
day 2:
stupid cocks started crowing at 3.30am!!!! i could not get back to sleep lor. so loud!!! by 5.30, the sky was bright le! i was so shock!!! my aunt and cousin woke at 6.30 and ask wat time, i told them 6 only and they were all ' wow! its more like 9am le la!' so yea, everyone including the kids woke up. cos its simply too bright and noisy! but well, we haf 2 wake up anyways, cos we were having prayer for my great grandfather. but in the morning we had to pray to the 天公 1st. it was held at the 3rd level of the house. since it took time, i went down to the 1st level for breakfast first. breakfast was soya milk + 油条 and some very hard buns. i juz had one bun cos my stomach needs time to adapt to new foods and it was only like 6.45, i din really had the appetite. anyways, back to the 3rd level and they were still chanting. so i decided to walk ard. i realise that they actually uses solar system to run their electricity.
but cos we were there, they decided to use normal electricity, for fear that we cannot adapt. i realised they really did many thigns for us. liek the couple move out of their room of that we can sleep more comfotably in their room, where there is a toilet and air-con. its really sweet of them.
anyways, i saw that they were getting ready to put off the fire crackers. it was a big roll!
then the 3rd son de son saw that they were going to put off the fire cracker le was very cute. he made sure that his hands were covering his ears all the while be it walking or sitting down or being carried by his dad. both hands did not leave his ears for the whole time before they set off the fire crackers. it was damm cute of him. haha! anyways, the finally put off the fire cracker and it was LOUD! haha! but i could not cover my ears cos i was taking a video -_- haha! it was as nice la.
next, we walk to a temple to pray. it was a 15 mins walk and i tell u, crossing the road was a hurdle man! scary la! those with weak hearts should not try. haha! we went to the temple to pray to huat zu gong (法主公). the 3rd brother ride a bike to fetch the 2nd brother who was carrying the statue of the god. it was big!
then there was even more fire crackers there. really a lot. i really 敬佩 the ah ma who was so pro at setting off the fire cracker. after tat walk back home lor.
rested a while, we went mountain climbing lo! haha, no la, actually to pray to my great grandfather la. it was a difficult cilmb man! the road is like no road! its all man-made paths. i setp out of place down u go, tumbling down the mountain liao.
the 山路 is very small and very 陡峭! we had to eventually go down on all 4 to get uphill. thou the people living there make the climb look sooooo easy!
the 3 year old kid was leading the way to a 3rd group of people coming!
can u imgaine! but well, its a fruitful climb la. my aunts and uncles and parents keep asking me 2 take photos. once you're up there, u completely 4get abt the pain-staking journey up, and the yet-to-come even more pain-staking journey down... the scenery up there is supereb!!!
its really a wow!
so we prayed, and off went even more fire crackers! the 3rd brother rolled up one end of the crackers and thus there was juz one EXTREMELY SUPER LOUD BANG! but it was fun la, cos there was echo. haha! so down-hill we went. it was an up-hill task for me to get down-hill la -_- i oways have this weakness that its always easy for me to go up, but always very difficult for me to get down. apllies to all ladders or no hand-rail stairs. haha! so my speed down was damm slow but i got down safe and sound. i eventaully follow the ah ma's foot-steps and i realise it was easier to walk following her.
lunch was next, even more food! but i find the braised pork nice for once, since i normally dun eat pork. haha! after lunch, rested a while, and off to shopping! but being smart us, we choose the safest car! haha! ok, we sat without knowing, but praying that the car was safe la. the previous day de danger van was a no no to us le.
the shopping mall we went to is very different from singapore. its like a combination of best denki, NTUC, dorothy perkins, bata, world of sports, cerisi, kiddy place, courts etc etc! and they only have one counter at the enterance. so u have to get all you want then go pay de. we wanted drinks, so we chose and went to pay 1st. you MUST keep the receipt cos they will take and keep the recipet b4 u leave. if u do not haf the receipt you are considered stealing le. then after that we went to the street side market where we saw very cute and old type of weighing scale
and baby prams
. it was a quike walk la, never really buy anything. then went to the eldest sister's house for a sit lor. who noes the sit turn out to be a napping session for many!
we walked quite some distance and on the way, a few moto-bikes juz brushed by me la! scary de lor! like they can knock me down anytime de!and we saw one whole row of shop-houses selling bee hoon!
wow! and the taxi-bike there got umbrella de!
so cute! haha
once we sat down at the house, the 3rd brother started to make tea instantly.
(he followed us to the house 1st while the big brother was shopping with 3 of my aunts) the big sister was selling rice and flour and some peanuts too. the kids were sleepy so off they went to a room above the warehouse. after a while, my cousin-in-law and my cousin sis both heard rats and saw the rats' tail! eek! but the kids were sleepingn a bed so still ok la. anyways, when we were chatting, we heard someone calling out to the cocks and hens downstairs. it was aldy and oh my, she sounded like one of the chicken herself! its so alike, the voice! and the chickens, upon hearing her call, all queue up and returned to the coop!
it rained at 4.15pm and it made the atmosphere so good to sleep that everyone dozed. the rain was a bit different from singapore to us. its like, more gentle? haha! ya, so everyone slept and when we woke up, it was dinner time! oh, did i mention, by 6.30pm, the sky was totally dark le? and its really dark!
dinner was at a restaurant. the food was the nicest! the toilet was the cleanest that i've been in China! BUT! the toilet cubicles has no doors -_-
so i was always the one called to stand guard outside the toilet to prevent ppl from going in. anyways, we had a total of 24 ppl so we were splited into 3 tables. 2 mixed gender,
1 table all the guys only
. quite commical la. haha!
after dinner, we took the van to go buy some slippers and went home le. on the way, it was total darkness!!! no street lights nothing!
it was kind of scary la. once home, my uncle started sawing some sticks used to carry lanterns. we bought some singapore lanterns over for the kids there to play, they have not seen singapore type lanterns b4. so the kids were happy to play with the lantern thou they burn a few. haha! then once everyone had lanterns in their hand,
we had a walk to the 2nd brother's house, using the kids lantern to light up the path cos there was no lights from house to house. but the 3rd brother eventually on his bike de head lights to light up pur path la. haha! cos the darkenss its really u put you 5 fingers out and u canot see them de!
at the 2nd brother's house, once again, TEA TIME! haha! they very auto de la. haha! even the kids drank tea this time cos the tea they served is the best tea de. so everyone liked the tea. haha! after a while or so, we went home, this time totally by the light of the bike. bath, chatted a while, bed time lo! once again, a sleepless night for me.
ok, 2days content 1st. its taking me along time.. tut tut
