China Trip, Summer 2006
Taishan - 08/06/06
In the morning, we took Shanghai's Maglev train to the airport, which is the fastest train the world, reaching 431km/hr. We flew to Shenzheng and then took a 2 hour drive to my parents' hometown, Taishan. We met with my parents' old friends, and I was relieved to be in a quieter and somewhat familiar setting.
Taishan - 08/07/06
We drove to my dad's village to see the house we had built to replace our family's old village house. The land it's on still belongs to my dad's family, and we bought the neighboring land which belonged to my dad's friend. The house is larger and better than I thought it'd be. It's 2 stories with 2 kitchens and 6 bedrooms. One bedroom for my dad and each of his siblings; a kitchen for each of the two eldest sons (my dad and David's dad).
Afterwards, we had some down time before dinner, so Kevin (my brother), David (my cousin), and I searched for a pool hall. A security guard saw us and asked what we were looking for. He pointed us to the right direction, but then he said he was bored with nothing to do, so he just walked us there. We were surprised to learn that it was only 6 yuan/hour ($0.75 US!)
Taishan - 08/08/08
Today was spent doing bai san (paying respects to our ancestors by offering food, money, and by bowing 3 times). We did it in various places around our newly built house and around the village. I'm guessing it's to ask to provide protection and safety to the house. The villagers also helped us prepare by setting up the altars and by cooking the food. I watched, amused, as a lady took a live chicken, slit its throat, and then drained its blood.
After all of that, we went to mom's village nearby to bai san at her house too. Much of her things were still in the house, and it felt like a blast to the past as I dug through her room, taking a few of her old books.
At night, we had a banquet. Basically, we pay for dinner... for like 16 tables. Our table was on a platform, almost as if we were the guests of honor, but really, we were the hosts. The people invited were my parents' old friends and their family.
Zhuhai and Taishan - 08/09/08
Today and tomorrow is basically down time in the trip. In the morning, we took a drive to Zhuhai and walked around the city for a couple hours.
At night, we had dinner with the assistant major who happens to be a close friends with one of my uncles. He named us as honorary guests or something, so he was able to use government money to treat us to dinner. I went shopping for a couple of hours afterwards. I felt like I bought a lot, but it only came out to about $10 US... Ahhh, gotta love China shopping.
Taishan - 08/10/06
I basically spent most of today shopping. While shopping for clothes for my boyfriend, I asked Kevin to try them on, so that I could see the fit. I think the sales girl who helped me get shirts thought he was my boyfriend. When I went to pay, she commented on how Kevin was cute. I just smiled and nodded, not telling her that he's really my brother. Heh, I guess it didn't help when we passed by the store later, and I was walking with my hand in his arm. Oh well, this is actually a common mistake since we don't look alike.
