农村 (Village) Hospitality

The flower's real by the way. 

My couchsurfing host decided to host us in her parent's hometown, in the heart of a Chinese village. One I have yet to experience despite my three years residency in China. Shanghai lacks rural grounds.

 

A 3yuan bus ride from ZhongShan Lu (plus a 15 minute walk to the bus terminal) to where ever the village was located.

The trip ended more than an hour later, in what appeared to be an industrial area. A drastic contrast to Gulangyu and mainland Xiamen. Air pollution in this part of Xiamen was beyond hope. Either you breathe in the air with its pollution or just don't breathe. Which of course is not a wise move.

I wasn't as much bothered by the air than I was about my bursting bladder.

Note: If you have no idea how long a journey is gonna be, either visit the washroom before hand or avoid drinking in gallons.


Finding a washroom was a tedious task in itself. There were no motels or supermarkets or even street stalls with a dubious washroom hidden somewhere behind the shop.

Eventually what I thought was a clinic but turned out to be a mini hospital, allowed me to use their services. Travel, or specifically travelling through south asia has taught me to bring my own roll of toilet paper/wet wipes where I go.


So this time I was spared.


A little info about this hospital: If I ever get employed here would mean that half the time will be spent reading papers and painting nails. Least that was what I witnessed.

Just as I exited the hospital, my host arrived and we headed to her village. Her boss had brought his car, so we reached home real quick.

After some let-take-in-the-sights-of-nature and loads of "黑人" Black girl (I'm brown for the umpteenth time!), I decided to borrow a bicycle so that the villagers can also gasp at the weird looking girl riding a rusty bike, with a faulty right pedal and defunc brake.

This wasn't my makeshift "vespa". Almost there though..

Everytime we rode downhill I was expecting to crash into something at some point. Guess what I actually managed to kill 2 hours with that bike around the village roads plus having a conversation with this guy who came on a motorcycle, slowed down just to ask "你那个国家人" which country are you from？

My host was uber nice. So were her parents. They made sure we were well fed and our needs taken care of.


And we won't even speaking the same language!

Host on her bike

They cooked up an awesome meal using only vegetables and rice from their own farm. Ensure we had hot water for shower, breakfast the next day and a comfortable bed to rest our heads. 

Chinese Cabbages I think.

They even insisted on giving us a lift back to the bus terminal.

The dad's face was just a little too far off.

Eventually they did just that.

It is not down in any map; true places never are. - Hermen Melville

I have a fetish for things that are usually ignored.