February 16, 2013 -
Saturday
Our host’s
wife (Mrs. Jeong) prepared a wonderful breakfast for us:
rice porridge with a little pork in it, egg/vegetable wraps to eat with the porridge, a meat-filled roll (called
mundo) that we were able to dip in
condensed milk, and a fruit salad of apples and bananas coated with a dressing
like Thousand Island Dressing. No
beverages.
When we look
out the window of our bedroom we see palm trees (outlaying the major city of Guanzhou - which would have similar weather to Savannah, Georgia)! We also saw lots of them when we were in the
city. Interesting, we also see fake palm
trees in train stations in the north and west.
Randy and I laughed when we were leaving San men xia because the train
station was uncomfortably cold, yet filled with fake palm trees! Go figure…
We left rather suddenly to
go on an unannounced field trip. This
ended up being a highlight of this trip.
Mr. and Mrs. Jeong have a habit of going out for a ride and just
stopping to make friends with local people.
They took us to the outskirts of their village to visit a farmer friend
(we never learned their names). Upon our
arrival, we met the couple and they gave a us a quick tour of their humble
dwellings and property. They had a batch
of young pups that the girls enjoyed playing with. We were told that they were being raised to
be guard dogs, but we later discovered that they were more likely to be
considered a future food source.
No
doors. Window on left is kitchen. Upstairs bedroom accessed by a ladder.
They immediately set out snacks: sunflower seeds, star fruit and pomegranates (right off the tree).
He also made tea for us!
After a
short visit, we walked out the road a bit.
We later noticed large tour buses driving down this country road and
were told that an illegal casino operates at the end of the road. Sentries were evident along the road and at
times a rock barrier was built across the road to dissuade traffic from passing
into the area. Later, we saw the buses
leaving.
The farmers along this road – like our new friends – live in humble, open dwellings and their dining room is outside their front door!
This woman was busy
sweeping her home!
The Jeong’s stopped to speak to this woman.
Up the mountain are the
burial sites of their ancestors.
The government now insists that everyone be cremated.
A close-up view of one of
the grave sites.
Fruit trees abound in this
area: pomegranate, mango, star fruit,
and banana trees. At this time of year, the farmers had much of the fruit wrapped in plastic in case of a rare frost!
Mr. Jeong picking a large
papaya.
Bananas.
Then, we took a hike up
the mountain! It got pretty steep
eventually, so Debbie and I rested and then came back down on our own.
The rest of the group
climbed to the summit and then took an adventurous route back down to the farm
where our guests provided a wonderful lunch.
They killed one of their chickens, cleaned it, chopped it up into small
pieces (including head, feet, and innards), cooked it and served it (we've had this before and have nicknamed it "chain-saw chicken")! They added two green dishes straight from
their garden – one included pieces of pork!
The woman cleaned a large round table and set it on their smaller
table to accommodate us all. We also had
rice grown by a nearby farmer.
These dear people served
up the best they had and served it to a group of complete strangers! We find this kind of generosity everywhere we
go!
The man began the meal with a toast
using our cups of tea!
Randy,
Jessica, Debbie and I wanted to walk back to the apartment just to have some
time to unwind and relax together.
However, after taking his wife and the girls home, he returned to pick
us up! J
We spent the afternoon playing Monopoly Cards and another game. In the late afternoon, Mrs. Jeong came out
and - against our wishes – prepared an evening meal for us. We ate then played some more games before
ending our day.
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