Old Village Tour

Today is Thursday and EG seems to be a little draggy. Do not know if it is from the shots or just the adjustment. We had breakfast again here in the hotel and it is a Chinese and American Breakfast Buffet. There is everything from salad stuff to fresh grilled eel(on the sushi bar)to actually real cereal, eggs and breakfast stuff. We had to be downstairs and in the lobby at 9:00am to do the old village tour. There was a bus load of us that went today. It is the group A that most of them will be leaving Friday or Saturday and then our Group B. Today the weather is kind of cool and very drizzly.

Just some background information here in China if you own land and you are a farmer developers approaches you and asks to buy the land. Because here they think that the more developed and commercialized the more money it will bring it to the country. So most of the time the farmers sell and they can live off the money they make for the rest of their lives and pretty comfortably at that. So with this village the government has ordered them that they can not sell the land they live on because this preserves some of the Chinese history and lifestyles. So we first saw this huge tree that was 170 yrs old and we all had our picture made in front of it. Then we went in and Rebecca told us that at every house by the door there is a block where the family burns insence(sp?) and prays everyday. There is a small river that flows thru the town and at this time it is very low and even though it is low they use their boats and just push through the water and mud to get to parts of the town and to wash clothes in. In the town most houses have a gate and with the gate they open the first door and leave the gate closed to that the air can pass through the house. Because here in this village they do not have heaters. Some families are lucky enough to have coal to heat with and the rest have wood when needed. Also they think that gas heat costs too much so they choose not to have gas heat at all. Then also in the summer it gets very hot here so the kitchen is outside and they have the wood to use to cook with.

We did see a house here that the whole side of the house is made out of oyster shell...I guess that is their form of siding. LOL Then at this point there are several houses and places that have the red signs on the doors and the orange trees outside their house...this is getting ready for the Chinese New Year which is in a week or so. The orange tree is for good luck and they decorate them with red pouches or envelopes with small amounts of money in them. For the Chinese new year they also buy gifts for people...we asked Rebecca and she said for Christmas here they celebrate for the Americanized people but actually the Chinese celebrate Chinese New year like we do for Christmas. They go all out with decorations and gifts!!!! We saw a lady that was 100 yrs old and she did not look to be a day over 70 maybe. Rebecca also said that with the orange trees everyone buys one at the time of the Chinese New Year--it supposedly is good luck and yes it really does have oranges on it and you can eat them.

Also with some of the houses they try to renovate and update and when they do some leave the old exterior and build new inside that...not sure why but I thought it was kind of interesting. We also saw another lady who was washing something in well water and the well was just behind her in the ground--the water looked as if it was just muddy water to us.

Then the last step was the family temple. This to my understanding is not for one specific family like we would think it is like for the community. You can come to this temple and light incense and pray to their gods for health,wealth,prosperity or whatever you may need. At the top of the buildings there are things along the top that they usually pray for. Also I noticed that everywhere we go in the buildings is a small ledge that you have to step over. Well, this is Chinese culture also which is that having the step over like that it wards off the evil spirits and bad vibe. I guess that is great but it is horribgle if you are pushing a stroller!!

On the way back EG fell asleep and felt a little warm..so when we came back to the room she ate and went down for her nap. Chris went to get us supper at a small place called the Golden Noodle--real chinese food. We got 4 plates of food and some kind of broth to put over something and it was not even $10. AMAZING!!!! The food was really good and Rebecca recommended it. We started to get EG ready for bed and she was feeling a little warm--we took her temp and it was 100.5 so we gave her tylenol. Then put her to bed. So we did not have time to post till today Friday. I was a little worried--first time mom thing. I know that it is probably the shot thing, but I was not sure since she did have a slight congested cough. But we will see.

Thanks for reading our story!!!!

Please keep us in your prayers,
Burbank's