Thursday, February 09, 2006

CNY in China

Had 3 weeks hols..! 1st week went back with my friend to her village in Dali. Stayed for 3 days. The people are friendly and I love the scenery, golden yellow flowers and green crops. Not so keen about the toilet and the roosters that crow at all hours of the night.. yeah. Felt challenged by the facilities, for the first time since coming here. It¡¯s real. Felt my urban roots for the first time. Food for thought.

I drew my first pail of well water too! heh. Actually my first pail was only one tenth full. My second was better, about one third full. Heh.

It was a small village, with walls of mud and straw. It seems the average yearly income for a farmer is about RMB1000+ (~S$250). About 100 houses in the village. Everyone seemed to know each other. My friend exchanged greeting with everyone who walked past.

New year was a simple affair. Unceasing sounds of firecrackers and fireworks. People playing mahjong, visiting each others houses. We had eggs w sugar water in the morning, then tang yuan. Then we watched TV, went to walk around town. It was more crowded there than Orchard Road on a Sunday.

It was very cold in the early morning and late nights, but sunny in the day. We walked among the fields and I fell into one of the plots of green beans plants. Haha. No injuries, just got my jeans muddy on one knee.

I fell sick on the bus ride home. Think it was the biting cold wind in the early morning as my friend sent me to the bus station on motorbike. Fever, cough, tiredness. Within one night it seemed like my cough had spread to all my lungs. One kind of powerful germ.

It is a miserable thing to be sick in a foreign land. But the good thing is my friend came the next day and brought me medicine! Thank God.

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