the festivities never end
A series of bangs and pops break the midnight silence, awakening me from my slumber. Is mainland China attacking?? Ah no, it's just some person celebrating chinese new year a week late.... i wonder how much they spend on those firecrackers, there seem to be a lot....
on further investigation, i guess this is a big spirit worship night in Yuli, many of our neighbours have candles lit in the entries of their homes, are burning incense and ghost money, and of course, setting off fireworks...
perhaps i shouldn't write in my current groggy (and slightly grumpy) state, i tend to get a little melodramatic.
anyways, it seems like my old comments may be gone forever, leaving a little void in my heart that may never be filled again....
Anyhow... the rest of my trip had its moments but was a lot of travelling, to Taijong where we visited the Taijong Metropolitan park, and rented bikes, to join the throngs of walkers and cyclists out enjoying the holiday. I got a little sunburnt though. Then we went to two different towns that were fairly nearby and met a bunch of people in Jack's family. I also got to see a very traditional community. Some of the houses had parts still standing that are over 100 years old. Many things have been build on and renovated, but you can still see parts of outer walls etc like this one:
Jack told me that this style of housing was very traditional with the family temple in the centre and homes branching off on either side. On both sides of the temple are small connected homes - one for each son in the family, the biggest one being for the oldest, and so on down the line. On the left side are the homes for the sons of the first wife, and on the right side for the sons of the second wife. If a man had more than two wives they'd build a set of houses behind those ones. It was a very fascinating history/culture lesson. To wrap this one up here is a picture of one of the homes I just described. As you can see they've been modernized in many ways, though it is kind of odd to see steel doors on the entrance of an ancient looking brick building.
on further investigation, i guess this is a big spirit worship night in Yuli, many of our neighbours have candles lit in the entries of their homes, are burning incense and ghost money, and of course, setting off fireworks...
perhaps i shouldn't write in my current groggy (and slightly grumpy) state, i tend to get a little melodramatic.
anyways, it seems like my old comments may be gone forever, leaving a little void in my heart that may never be filled again....
Anyhow... the rest of my trip had its moments but was a lot of travelling, to Taijong where we visited the Taijong Metropolitan park, and rented bikes, to join the throngs of walkers and cyclists out enjoying the holiday. I got a little sunburnt though. Then we went to two different towns that were fairly nearby and met a bunch of people in Jack's family. I also got to see a very traditional community. Some of the houses had parts still standing that are over 100 years old. Many things have been build on and renovated, but you can still see parts of outer walls etc like this one:
Jack told me that this style of housing was very traditional with the family temple in the centre and homes branching off on either side. On both sides of the temple are small connected homes - one for each son in the family, the biggest one being for the oldest, and so on down the line. On the left side are the homes for the sons of the first wife, and on the right side for the sons of the second wife. If a man had more than two wives they'd build a set of houses behind those ones. It was a very fascinating history/culture lesson. To wrap this one up here is a picture of one of the homes I just described. As you can see they've been modernized in many ways, though it is kind of odd to see steel doors on the entrance of an ancient looking brick building.
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