The Rural Village Trip
In the morning Yazmin’s dad arrived with his car so that we could all proceed to the village, his wife was already with her mother, and we would see her there, Yazmin, Lee and little Johanna were in their car, Sophia, Kyra and I, were with Yazmin’s dad in his car. We travelled in convoy and were soon on rural roads the trip was about an one and a half hours ending just outside where Yazmin’s uncle lives, we were warmly welcomed first by Yazmin’s mum then the rest of the family, though I was not to meet the grandmother till the following day.
Once inside we enjoyed the first of many cups of Kung Fu Tea, the hospitality flowed endlessly, nothing seemed to much, and it was soon time for lunch, real home cooked Cantonese food.
After lunch the three girls and I went exploring first within the confines of the farm area then into the commercial area of the larger village.
Upon our return it was time for dinner then the short trio to the nearest small town as there was no hotel in the village again we went in two cars and once we were settled the cars returned to the security of the village. By now it was getting dark so we retired to our rooms and on to bed a very hard bed (like most beds in China). Still I had a good sleep waking up at my usual time only 2 hours earlier (I was still on Sydney Time), Knowing that the girls and Lee would not be awake till much later I decided to do a little exploring by myself, walking the length of the main street and finding what I would call a “pop-up market” but it was the normal morning fruit and vegetable market where locals would do their daily shopping.
While I was walking I noticed that the locals as they rode by on 125’s would turn their heads to give me a good look, I gather that I was a bit of an oddity for them.
Eventually the others were up and looking for some breakfast so we found a café where we could sit and eat, then we continued to explore while we waited for the cars to return.
When we returned to the village I was introduced to the grandmother and again we had more tea, soon it was time for lunch, this time we did not have it in the home but with the extended family sans the grand mother in the local café. This was an interesting meal and gathering as it was only the three girls who spoke any decent English, Even Lee’s English is limited the others spoke absolutely no English.
From here we were treated to a little sightseeing to the local water-supply dam this was the first time Yazmin had been there, it was quite a pretty spot and we stayed as long as we could but time was against us as we needed to get back home, Dinner was an impromptu affair once we were home they hit the phones to arrange for some of Lee’s family to come over as this was my farewell dinner tomorrow I was leaving for Xiamen.
Lee’s older sister and her family did speak English much better than lee so conversations were much freer that night and we went to bed a little late but it was a good day.
The whole stay with Yazmin was most enjoyable and I am very much indebted to their hospitality
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Welcome to Herman and Carolann’s Travels to Asia
China 2016