after being picked up from the airport by tong's uncle and cousin, and having checked into our hotel, we went out to dinner with some of tong's relatives. we were all still a bit nauseous from the flight and the ride, when we were immediatly confronted with the acquired taste of wenzhounese cuisine. we had dried fish, dried meat, duck's tongue, jelly fish, a kind of shrimps i'd never seen before, small cockels with the blood still in it (which tasted like gulp of sea water) and lots of alcohol.
in the following days we visited i think every relative tong still has in wenzhou. and everywhere we were welcomed most kindly and generously. because of the spring festival (chinese new year) every family had to invite all relatives for a meal, a feast i would say, existing of the more expensive delicacies. this meant that every family eventually served the same dishes (most of which i already mentioned above), which we had to eat at least two times a day, almost every day.
most of tongs family members live in two different villages, just across the river from wenzhou. everyone lives fairly close to each other and the doors are always open. neighbours just walk in and out of each other's houses, children play in the streets. much more of life takes part outside, and i found it much more like i had expected china to be before i ever came here.
a few days after the the spring festival tongs grandfather took us to a temple on a mountain just beside the city. on our way there we past many family graves, all somehow broken to some extent. the temple was small, and smelled of incense and candles. after tong and his granddad lit candles and burned incence and gold leaf for the gods we went back down the misty mountain. a few days later there was a festival for a local god. after getting up really early in the morning we went to a temple in the village, where everyone (not many children though) had already gathered, waiting for the rain to stop so that the ceremony could begin. it was a most colorfull assembly. there was a women's brass band, a men's band with wind instruments, a traditional band, an opera assembly, dragon dancers, and many many people with banners and flags. when it finally began, a wooden statue of the local god was lifted out of his alter and was put into a sedan chair, in which he was carried through the entire village, followed by a boisterous crowd and deafening fireworks. the procession took us through every neighbourhood of the village. and every one of these neighberhoods had prepared a large table full of meat, fruit and incense in honour of the passing god. and when the god arrived at these tables all the names of the inhabitants of this particular neighbourhood were read aloud to him. i can say with full conviction that this was the absolute climax of my stay in wenzhou, this was the chinese culture i was looking for but could not find in beijing.
on februari the first we took a plane to shenzhen, a city very close to hong kong were we stayed for one night in a really nice youth hostel before we took a train to hong kong. in shenzhen we finally found the climate we were searching for, it was nice and warm, and i found the city surprisingly tropical, with lots of green (palm trees!) everywhere.
when we arrived in hong kong the next day, we checked into our hostel and immediately after that went to see the big buddha where we would meet up with some more dutch friends. we first took the subway, which was stunningly clean and orderly in comparison to the beijing subway. and after that we took the cable car over beautiful green hills to the buddha. the view in the late afternoon was awesome, and i was glad to see some more green. it was a shame we were all so tired and didn't have much time, else we could have made a day trip out of it and have walked our way to the buddha through the forrest. but we had fun all the same, and it was nice to see so many friends together again.
after our trip to the buddha we went for a taste of the famously delicious hong kong cuisine, which was followed by a trip to victoria peak. here we had a stunning view over the city at night. in the following days we enjoyed the warm weather, great food, of course we went for some shopping, and we went to explore languifang, the centre of the city's night life. on our third day we took a boat to macau, former portugese territory, and now casino heaven. it was as if we had returned to europe, the city centre existed mostly of europian style buildings, and small streets where we ate famous macau egg tarts (yumm). after some sight seeing, we went to one of the larger casinos: the venetian. after some of us had won, but most of us had lost some money we went to have some dinner, the macau cuisine is a pleasant mix between portugese and chinese.
on our last day in hongkong, we went for some more shopping and in the evening our friend ben took us to have some sea food just outside the city. here they had the most bizarre collection of sea food i have ever seen in my life, in all shapes and huges sizes. they were all still well and alive, so you can pick them out yourself and have them dead and delicious on your plate half an hour later. after this we went for desert in a desert restaurant, where we could enjoy that lovely durian smell (even though we were not sitting in the 'durian district') and some special hong kong deserts.
the next day we took our plane back to beijing, and here i am, back at my desk. it's been exactly a month since i got back, and yes, i am slightly embarrassed that it took me so long to write my holiday report.
the weather in beijing is finally getting better (it's about seventeen degrees warmer than when we left). school has started again. my classes are boring, but life is good..
first song of the day: 'living in a tree' by priscilla ahn
oh and today is march 6, i don't know why it says ferbruari 17 at the top..
