Family Cai ancient village

One of the ladies had found out about a traditional housing complex of sorts that was (is?) inhabited by a family clan named Cai. We are not sure if these are the current dwellers or not, but the place was available for self-guided tours once we paid the 15 kuai (about $2.15) entrance fee. We were not sure what to expect...the first point of interest, right inside the walls, was a stone picnic table. As we had just finished our hot, three mile bridge hike, we were ready for some snacks. This is my friend, Amy, who had brought along a chopped salad to share with the group. We sat at the very low table and ate our various crackers and salad and chugged water before venturing further. The one story buildings, all nestled together, were surrounded by a brick wall. There were narrow alleys between some buildings that formed a maze of sorts. I was glad to be here in the daylight!
Down the lane we found a taller picnic set. The big, stone pavers look a lot like the surface of the bridge we just visited!
Inside courtyard of one of the homes. We didn't know if we should go right inside these areas, but there was no one to ask and we had paid our fee so we had a look. Each section seemed to be set up in the same manner with a main gate, courtyard in the middle, temple area to the back and rooms all around the outside. One of the ladies, Katy, is from Taiwan and said her grandparents lived in a place similar to this and that she never liked visiting as a child! It seemed so old-fashioned and rural, I think.
One of the alleys where we saw livestock milling around (if a duck is considered livestock). I guess when a door no longer has a purpose, it is just closed off with brick and mortar.
Time to head back to school after lunch break. I wonder how they felt about us wandering around their home? Perhaps it is now more of a neighborhood than a big, family dwelling but it did seem a little strange to be lurking around.
There were several open wells throughout the area. The big sink/trough in back might be for laundry. Notice the plastic buckets--they must have used wooden barrel buckets at one point.
Fred Flintstone-style barbell found in an alley. Need to have strong muscles to fetch water from the open well.
Random doors that looked cool to me. I peeked in the far window but it was very dark in there. Then I heard a sort of groan like someone was sleeping in there and I didn't peek in any more windows after that!
We climbed some stone stairs to get a better view. Had to duck under the drooping power lines, but the site of the roofs was worth it. It was pretty hot up here so I didn't stay for long.
The alleyways toward the back of the complex had dirt paths and a bit of overgrowth. We just kept walking around, seeing what there was to see. Got lost a few times.
One last hall way, leading out to a wooded area. This village was interesting to see but was a bit lacking since we had no tour guide or map or information of any kind! I'm sure there was much more to learn beyond what we took in with our eyes and cameras, but it was still a worthwhile visit just to see how different some people live.

Anping Bridge

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures and notes about my first field trip with a group of wonderful expat ladies. At the end of August we took two van loads of ladies (many thanks to those who shared their drivers!) out to Anping Bridge. The history you are about to read has been lifted from Apple Travel's website (with some revision by me): This bridge was first built in the eighth year of the Shaoxing in the Song Dynasty (that's 1139 A.D. to you and me) and took 13 years to build. It is made of granite and was once the longest bridge in ancient China at one and a half miles. It is supported by 361 piers and is 3 to 3.8 meters wide. The length of the stone "bricks" vary from 5 to 11 meters long, the heaviest weigh in at 25 tons! The notes say it has "handrails on both sides" but unless you are only three feet tall, I'd say they are more like shin-guards!
The first picture is of some of the piers, I really liked their boat shapes. Some of the piers further down the bridge were less artistic--I think maybe the stone cutters got tired of all that carving and just went for function over form after a while (or, since it took 13 years to complete, times and workers changed). We all thought it was pretty funny that this historic bridge had no markings from the road at all. We could have easily passed right by without seeing it. There was new construction (no surprise there!) in front of the opening gate and was very unassuming from the roadway. Luckily the drivers had sharp eyes and good directions.
So we all piled out of the vans and commented on the beautiful day and nice breeze. Because of this good fortune, I left my sun-umbrella and water bottle in the car...I would come to regret this decision. We set off to walk the length of the bridge, chatting along the way. We represented the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Philippines, Taiwan and Norway. This was the first time I had met many of these ladies and was glad to get to know them along the walk.
Oops, my photos are a bit out of order (it's hard for me to remember which to download first since they must be done in reverse order and I don't know how to switch them around. I'm sure there's a quick and simple way to do this, I just don't know it!). This is actually the opposite end of the bridge, approaching a village street. The gate at the end opened up onto a dusty alley where a little boy and two women were wandering about. They were surprised to see a bunch of foreign women emerge from the bridge, cameras at the ready!
The views along the bridge were quite nice, especially when I was able to sort of block out the high rise buildings in the background. Apparently the span runs between Anhai Town of Jinjiang and Shuitou Town of Nan'an...but I don't really know what that means! I do know that it is in Fujian province, about a 45 minute drive from Xiamen. The sides of the river were lined with small farms that reminded me of our time in Korea in the early '80s. There were several little pavillions along the route that were meant for resting but they were quite small and didn't have too much to offer.
This temple was roughly in the middle of the bridge. Notice the group of men sitting toward the back. We don't know what their story is or why they were just sitting around on a weekday morning, but they sure got a kick out of our group. Wish I could've understood their comments (or, actually, maybe I don't want to know!). We saw burning incense and stone ovens meant for burning pretend money offerings by the temple but didn't linger too long as it seemed a bit rude to gawk and also it was dark inside there so we couldn't see much.
Along the way there were numerous stone carvings that have really begun to show their age (not surprising, given the time lapse!). I think this was meant to be a lion of some sort but most of its face has eroded away. Now it just looks like a blob.
In front of the little temple we saw twin statues dressed curiously in red sequined capes and halter tops! It's been too long since my World Religions class to even attempt to identify these guys (or maybe they are just guards of the temple) but I certainly would not have expected to see them draped in dance costume fabric regardless of their origin.
So, after we walked the length of the bridge and lamented not asking the drivers to meet us on the other side (had they been able to find it) we turned around for the second mile and a half. By now the wind had died down and we were getting pretty hot. This is where a little shade and some cold water would've come in handy, though it was refreshing in retrospect that this historic place did not have an ounce of commercialism, no trinket shops or little plastic bridge replicas for sale. A three mile walk on somewhat uneven pavers in the bright sun was fun and interesting, but I was grateful to enter the air conditioned van and enjoyed the cool ride to our second destination, the family Cai ancient village (to be described in the next post or whenever I finished the pile of laundry and studying my Chinese lessons!).

Zhongshan Park--Xiamen's oldest park

We had a week and half off school early in October...tried to plan a trip and, after several misfires and much disappointment, decided to stay in Xiamen and see some of the local sites. The girls are in school all day and Gene works fairly late so they haven't had much chance to see this place. After consulting our handy city guide, we decided to ride the bus to Zhongshan Park. According to the book, most Chinese cities have a park with this name, named after Sun Zhongshan who sought to free China. It is right off a main road and centrally located, but was not too noisy and not too crowded. We were glad to see that it looked quite well maintained as maintenance doesn't always seem to be a priority here. The girls were dwarfed by the giant dragon topiary!
After trying out some of the playgroung equipment and swearing off the rickety-looking carnival rides (and getting many curious looks--I guess not many laowai venture into this park), we noticed a winding canal of sorts. We decided to give it a try and enlisted Liz to attempt to ascertain the price of paddle boat rental. She did a good job with "duo shoa jian si ren?" We think this means, "how much four people?" It was close enough and we paid our $7 for an hour rental.
The four-seated, canopied boat had us facing each other and taking turns at the pedals. There was some learning as to the stearing device, but we figured it out without any major collisions!
Isn't this serene? I doubt that the water is terribly clean, but it wasn't too stinky. Look closely toward the bridge to see a man standing in a long boat...
Here's a closer look. There were several of these guys, spread out along the meandering "stream" who were on clean-up duty. The long pole extending toward the back of his boat is not his oar, it's actually a net support. As he paddled along, the net made a sweep of leaves and other debris and he periodically scooped them into the basket at the other end of the boat. These guys were mostly friendly but one gave us some scowls when we had to attempt a 3-piont turn at an intersection. Oh, well, no one was hurt or got wet! By the way, have I mentioned the unreal balance everyone here seems to have? I see examples of this so often and am constantly amazed. I attribute this skill to the very early exposure to fast-moving vehicles without the benefit of carseats and the like. We daily see ladies riding side-saddle on the backs of bikes and motor-bikes, they are almost never holding onto anything. The ladies also seem to prefer high heels, no matter what the activity. Even a day trip to a mountain in which hundreds of stairs will be climbed is occasion for high heels! Now for the early exposure: it is very common to see said ladies holding very young children on their laps, riding side-saddle, speeding down the road, not holding on. Yikes! Once the kid is old enough, he or she usually gets sandwiched between the driver and passenger. Never in a million years would I do this! Keep your eyes open during the next Olympics for the Chinese gymnasts, divers and any other sport requiring great balance, it's just uncanny!
After all that exertion the girls wanted a treat. Check out the fluffy cotton candy! If I remember correctly, it was less than a dollar each. Of course, cotton candy isn't worth more than one dollar, but it usually costs far more at home. We don't usually see the white variety, but I much prefered it to the color- and flavor-enhanced kind. So artificial. It was also wound around a wooden chopstick of sorts instead of the paper cone.
There was a small display of bonsai trees, by now the girls didn't want to be near each other any more, so they used separate rocks! We have lots of these bougainvillea bushes around here, but they are less spectacular than in Hawaii. Still nice to see colorful plants, though.
Last stop before trekking back to the bus stop was this cute pagoda thing. It was very simple, just used as a resting spot. We climbed up to the second story to see the nice view. There I saw some people eating a large pomelo. This is the largest of the citrus fruits and is native to this area. Local people are very good about eating what's fresh and in seaon (a good lesson for those of us who have grown accustomed to having whatever we want, whenever we want it, thanks to importation. Get it while it's fresh and you'll get the best taste!). So it is pomelo season and friends have told me how great they are but that there is a certain way to eat them. Hmmm. Not sure what to do about that, so I tried to watch what these Chinese college-aged people were doing. Guess I stared too long because they offered me some of their snack! I declined, but it was nice of them to offer. [We eventually tried a pomelo that I bought at the market and then another with our friend, Wendy. More about the day with Wendy later...]

Things you don't see everyday (but we do!)

Want to keep strangers from scaling your wall? Short on cash for barbed wire? Into repurposing stuff? Why not cement your old, broken beer bottles to the top of your wall? I don't think I'd try to climb over this one! We actually saw this type of home-defense in Mexico too, but are still in awe of it...just how did they mount all that broken glass without chopping off a few fingers? Or maybe they did and it was worth it!
One Sunday Gene, Amanda and I went for a walk (in search of food) in the neighborhood of our church while Liz was in her youth group meeting. After finding a local grocery store and purchasing some packaged snacks, we took a self-guided tour of a traditional residential area and took in the sites. We didn't have time to play a round (match? game?) of pool, but were interested in this outdoor pool hall. Notice the after-thought of wooden steps in the front. Wonder what this building was originally intended for, showing plays, perhaps?
We have taken to riding the bus to church (and many other locations, actually) as this is easier than trying to communicate with taxi drivers, is much cheaper (more cash for buying trinkets to take home to our friends and family!), allows us to see the city sites for future reference, provides entertainment for the other bus riders and offers interesting conversation starters. Take, for instance, this lady driver's unique way of extending her reach for the gas pedal...that green thing is a chunk of sidewalk. She rested her high-heel clad feet on it when it was time to accelerate. No wonder the sidewalks around here can be treacherous, we have lots of busses on the roads!
Another installment of local vehicles...above are two handy delivery/collection bikes. The olive drab color always makes me think of old war relics but I think these are actually fairly new. Might be handy for my trips to the farmer's market back home...
Local street cleaner. We have been pleased to find that Xiamen is quite a clean city as far as sidewalks and streets go. I see these little street-sweeping carts often on the side roads and the main sidewalks and parks are always full of people dressed in yellow long-sleeved jackets and long blue pants sweeping the stray leaves with big brooms made from tree branches. They are followed closely by guys driving carts like the one below, so he can collect the debris. (Now if we could only get the locals to quit spitting great gobs of gunk all over the place and teach the little children to go potty in less public spaces, we'd be even better off!)
Garbage and recycling collection...this guy lost half his load in the street. Can't imagine why, perhaps because it was so overloaded?! There are large garbage trucks too, but these small collection bikes seem to be more common. In fact, we don't have dumpsters at our apartment complex, just small garbage barrels (less than half the size of our weekly pick-up container at home, and we have the smallest that is available) around our courtyard for everyone to use. There are a few ladies who empty them constantly and also sift through the stuff for recyclables
that they take to the corner hole-in-the-wall. This system seems to work pretty well and we don't have to look at piles of garbage around our place. Hope you like these interesting sites, we have become immune to them already, but are trying to keep fresh eyes so we can share them all with you!

Bo Bing take 2, birthday-style

At the very end of September we were invited to attend a BoBing party hosted by Gene's company. This was a celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival and National Day. It was on a Saturday afternoon (changed at the last minute from Friday evening, planning ahead is apparently unheard of here) at a large restaurant. Most larger restaurants, and even some smaller ones, have private rooms of varying sizes to accommodate parties or groups. I had let slip at an earlier party (when we were very new to the country and culture and I just didn't know any better!) that my birthday would coincide with National Day, so when we got to the party we were ushered to the head table where this giant birthday cake awaited me. It was as big as my wedding cake, I think! Once everyone had settled in, the general manager made a speech and announced our presence (as if anyone had missed the American family!) and told everyone that we were also celebrating my birthday. I think he probably told them that it was my 40th, but I don't know for sure. So then the karoke screen came on and I had to stand up while I was serenaded first in Mandarin, then in English! I was mortified. The mood was lightened, though, when a coworker's little boy took over the mic and sang to me. Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was so grateful to have the attention directed toward him and it also gave me someone to look at instead of all the tables full of strangers who probably resent us!
Then I got to cut the cake. The top layer was chocolate with white icing and chocolate shavings, and a little white chocolate plackard with "Happy Birthday Laura" written in red. That pink flower-shaped thing is a multi-candle holder that sings a little tune! Middle layer was green tea with fruit garnish and the large bottom layer was taro with grape garnish and lady fingers around the outside. I cut a slab and took it to Sammy, the boss, and thanked him. Glad that was over, I got to sit back down and the feast began. Piles and piles of food were delivered to each table. Notice the cake is resting on a darker glass circle. This is the lazy susan that facilitates sharing the many dishes that were served. They were mostly seafood but also some vegetables and fruit and flat bread. As usual, there was an absolute ton of food left over, but we had eaten our fill.
On with the Bo Bing part of the party. Each table of ten people had a stack of boxes containing the prizes for the dice game to unload. These prizes were of greater value than the kind we had at our little party, that means no little packs of tissues! Our table had the four in our family, the big boss and three other people. We had 50% of the table and ridiculous odds of cleaning up! As is tradition, we took turns tossing 6 dice into a bowl and winning prizes accordingly. Around and around we went.
Here I am, giving the gift card I won to another guy who out-rolled me! When we ran out of the smaller prizes, we got little cards to spend at Walmart. We're not sure how to use them but we think they're like vouchers worth different amounts of money. Don't know how we'll use those!
We were each given plastic bags to haul our winnings home...the smallest prize (for rolling one 4) was a three-pack of toothbrushes. When all the prizes had been won, ours totalled: 36 toothbrushes, 8 tubes of toothpaste, 9 sets of shampoo and coconut-scented bar soap, 3 large bottles of body wash, 2 big jugs of cooking oil (Amanda won those!) and 700 Yuan to spend at Rainbow mall (that's a little over $100 US!). Not a bad day...and will really cut back on the shopping for household goods for the year! {We made gift packs for Amanda's teacher and teacher's aide from some of our winnings and will surely have some left to pass along as our time here draws to an end} It was a fun day!

Hairwashing

One day after school Liz's friend Justine told us she was heading across the street to the Marco Polo Hotel with her ayi (nanny/housekeeper) to have her hair washed. Since Amanda had an after school program and wouldn't be home for another hour, we asked if we could tag along. Luckily there were two hair-washing stations so Liz and her friend could both be pampered at the same time with no waiting. Justine translated for me that the price is usually 45 Yuan, but they would give us a discount because they know her there. That brought it down to 35 Yuan, about $5. I think it's cheaper other places, but we'll cover that later! The ayi and salon staff got a good laugh at my picture-taking but I'm accustomed to that by now. After the girls we settled onto the beds, the washing ladies sat on tiny little stools behind them and got to work.
Liz enjoyed a nice head massage that lasted at least 20 minutes and included a bit of a neck-rub as well.
The shampoo was nice and sudsy but I didn't notice any conditioner so I was really hoping there wouldn't be too many tangles to deal with after all the massaging!
After the wash and rinse, James, the resident hairdresser, dried Liz's hair with the help of a round brush. This was the first blow-dry her hair has had since the first week of August since we didn't bring any driers with us! Good thing the a/c was working...still too hot to use a blow drier if you ask me. James speaks some English and I told him that we didn't have time today, but that next time I would have my turn with the head massage. He encouraged us to return to his salon since we are assured to have nice, clean towels that come from the hotel laundry, unlike other places that may have questionable cleansing practices. I realize that it is to his advantage to have return customers, but that bit about the towels really got me thinking! Before we left he said that I should come back soon and he could color my hair...another example of something that should not be said right to my face by a perfect stranger! Yes, my "silver" roots are growing longer by the day but I don't really need to be reminded of it. I asked him if he's sure he knows how to color my type of hair (read: not Asian) and he said that yes, he's familiar with naturally wavy hair. Hmmm, I'm still not entirely convinced and have read about extremely toxic, known carcinogenic chemicals showing up in Chinese-made hair color. Some one please tell me why I didn't know to bring store-bought color kits with me...I don't indulge in lots of luxuries (by American standards, anyway) but I do get my hair done professionally. This has actually caused a great deal of angst (one of the many nightmare-inducing circumstances of my life here...) and if you think that's trivial, you must be blessed with younger genes than I am!
The finished products! Both girls seemed happy with their clean, smooth locks (hence, the moms are happy too since there are too many hard days in China, we have to hold onto the fun and relaxing moments!)