Cinque Amica Amici

before I knew it, it has been almost half a year before I updated the blog....hoo~ I guess I'm much more bo chap now when it comes to blogging....just blog (or more of uploading pics) when I feel like to, though I promise some friends and my bro that I will do it... 随性点 la~

updating the blog is actually not a simple task. must have some interesting random thoughts or something different before writing anything, else really dunno how to start a new entry. my life now is probably too boring to have blog entries, or i have been neglecting or forgetting what went through my mind. and I have serious memory loss....very bad...i need gingko, walnut and more oxygen....or maybe i need to set aside a bit of time to slow down and really observe/care about the people around me.

anyway, some pics from my China trip in Feb =P Not in order though, too lazy to sort them...

This is a totally different trip from the ones I had. My trips are always of 2 extreme...either stay-in-super-nice-hotel-but-dun-enjoy-the-trip-'cos-need-to-work-like-almost-24-hours or stay-in-lousy-tiny-shared-bathroom-hostel-but-enjoy-the-tiring-free&easy-trip. This one is more like a 寻根 trip...follow my mum to her ancestor's hometown in China. It is actually an inaccessible little town which requires 6 hours train ride from Guangzhou followed by 2 hours car ride. A few days away from the bustling citylife and I enjoyed it.

yup, my mum is a Hakka and I can speak Hakka too!

looks like Harry Potter's little town not??? the actual scenery looks much much much nicer than pic.... we dun stay here though. This is one of the tourist attractions in Fujian province.

my brother posing beside a corridor of TOILETS

making 咸菜干. First, sun the 菜s......

washing clothes by the river....can never see that in Singapore k! imagine washing clothes by kallang river...alamak...

the brilliant 土楼. See how they support the roof. And the 3 smaller sticks or pillars or whatever you call them, the residents can push them down if there are enemies below. simple but smart wor... And their windows are all located high up for ventilation and to watch out for enemies from outside.

and their door lock goes into the other side of the wall wor...

then they have markings on the ground to show where the drain filter is so that they can clear the rubbish regularly

and they have 100+ rooms in one 土楼...冬暖夏凉k!! people were so smart, now we rely more on technology....aircon!

part 2 of making 咸菜干. Sun the 菜s somemore in different position....

how a 土楼 looks like from far

sua gu me never see this type of chaocoal before wor!!! they are sunning the charcoal... i oso kenna sun there until my freckles all come out liao

their dustbin...divided into recycable and non-recycable. cute right!

Hakka is famous for their rice wine. this is a place where they make wine... i tasted a bit, nice!

this is really 乡村 leh...i like... but you see all the white white thingy...

the people there are actually planting opiums. yupyup, the white white thingy = opium. More profitable, but very soon their land cannot be reuse for crops le.

see, 乡村 leh! thought i can only see this kinda scenery in 张艺谋 movie

The houses still have a lot of Mao's school of thoughts being painted on the walls... cannot see very clearly from here though

not so 乡村的乡村.... nice Sun la

one of the specialties, basically is 米台目with soup plus their local 招排 minced pork

and the super 地道 soup...dunno what the vege called in Mandarin/English though...hee

And tadah! this is the stall selling this. that was our breakfast after we had a big dinner the day before...

see this....crazy right!!!

their mini visitor lounge

their major visitor lounge a.k.a living room. they always serve us tiny cups of 功夫茶. nice at first... but wait till you are thirsty....

me and my eldest uncle staring at the entrance. think he was trying to explain different spots of the house to me.

front of the living room. not well maintained. left 2 old relatives living there. others have move to nice, more modern houses or move to the cities.

walking from one house to another house. most old relatives are all in that area la... and need to bring many gifts for them.

how the house looks like

modern flats beside the old houses

a shot on the train

snacks from a china relative... lotus roots with sugar for snack wor, special leh.

train station... we are going towards 汕头

we got pretty good seats, or rather beds.... at the bottom and mid level. other people have to climb up the ladder to reach their top levels

or they can sit at the mini chairs along the corridor

timetable at guangzhou train station. pretty organized actually

my crazy bro

at guangzhou hotel. looks real grand right, but so-so only la

Our last dinner in Guangzhou. Crocodile soup!! For my brother only.... I tried a bit bit and the meat is actually very soft, quite nice. Not so sure about the skin though.

Night scenery...

the famous 祖庙 at 佛山. this is the place where Huang Fei Hong came from but can't feel the 武术的热忱 there

In one of the top 4 gardens that area. me and my bro in damn retro pose... *faint*

Their subway station...huge wor...

Bread Talk in China.

one of the meals, don't look appetizing right

This is in Guangzhou, not Beijing

this meal one is better!! the chee cheong fan there is nice...we have it for like everyday!

on our way back to train station. see the white dot thingy at the left of the pic? that's actually a tomb. There are many many tombs on the hill...really is many many scattered around.

abandoned toilet. the toilets in china are better now la.

little meh meh by the road. sometimes can see dogs and cows too. no cats though.

this is the city central....like the city square kinda thing. not bad right. i didn't stay in the old house. we put on at one of the hotels there and the hotel standard is not bad k!

another 土楼 but this one is squarish

see...is square la

the common area of 土楼. think they probably can wash clothes and vegetable there

in my relative's house. see the bed...so retro leh! and the pillow is really the hard rectangular type.

me and my grandniece. she calls me 姑婆 (wat the h*** right...) and she calls my brother dua peh gong (大伯公)! haa!

reminds me of my sec sch motto....好学力行知耻是倡日新月异不息自强! I still remember leh!

preparing a feast for my ancestors

the kitchen. this is the modern one le. there's another one in another house with those super big wok and use wood to start fire type

the village name

another 牌坊

北京路during nightime

a hotel with zoo in it...amazing hor...

白鹤!!!! I thought this is a chinese fairytale animal/bird but i was wrong!! it's real leh...

and the pink cum western version of 白鹤. 先有白鹤 or 先有Flamingo?

went to a China version of Marche where we can walk around and order food from different stalls. One of the stalls 挂猪头! with the tongue sticking out somemore.... More interesting "food" coming up...