Yesterday we went to Yahongqiao by bus to visit various other of Miao’s mother’s relatives. This included visiting: Miao’s Grandmother’s Sister’s Husband, Miao’s Grandmother’s two Brother’s Wives, a shop (selling farming chemicals and seeds) which was owned by Miao’s Grandmother’s 3rd Brother, and then to Miao’s Grandmother’s little sister’s home to eat lunch with their family. After all the family visitations, we went to a Buddhist temple before getting a lift home with one of Miao’s relatives.

After getting up at 6:30 AM and all the prerequisite morning cleaning and dressing, we waited around for a little minibus to arrive. I used this time to continue to read a book I’d bought in and brought from England. A few chug-chug-chugs and a puff of smoke announced the arrival of the vehicle that would ferry us about, so we set off. I had my big Novatech laptop packed for showing budding relatives pictures from the UK, and the small EEEPC for moving photos off the small camera onto my 120GB USB powered external hard disk drive.

40 Minutes, a traffic jam, lots of from-car photos and a few kilometers later we arrived at our first stop. Presents of moon cakes (yue bing [you-eh be-ung]) and Dalian purchased fish produce were given to this in-law-relative (the grand-mothers sister having passed away). His home was similar to most others we’d seen, simply a place to sleep, eat and take shelter away from the elements. We stopped to chat for a short while (my queue to take some photos) and went on.

The next family we visited was a similar venture, and very close by to the first home. We gave presents, stopped to chat for a while and moved on. The third place we went was a farmer’s seeds and chemicals shop, the family there had a little daughter who was feeding the family chickens in the back yard. She didn’t seem terribly phased or pleased to see me, and I think she teased me in Chinese, correctly guessing that I couldn’t speak much mandarin. I took a video of the Chickens being fed, and having transferred it to the EEEPC, I let Miao’s relatives see it, and they were highly amused.

Onto the Grandmother’s little sister’s family’s house. This was by far the biggest and most rich house. Located near a newly developed wholesale market, the family’s wealth comes from marketing (read selling) lots and lots of blenders. The house covered two floors, with kitchens and internal plumbing on both floors. However an internal plumbed toilet wasn’t in evidence, so a visit outside to what looked like a mini-extension showed another literal hole-in-the ground affairs. The internal furnishings were nice, lots of couches and chairs, and the family even owned a computer with a huge monitor and, this being a city like environment, even had internet. I felt the ground floor provided a more utilitarian style environment, as it was less painted up, and this is where they cooked, ate, kept their motor-bikes etc.

The mother (and cook) of the family happens to be an English teacher, but we didn’t have a chance to speak as she spent most of her time cooking and keeping people happy. Lots of the family gathered here for lunch, and as Miao was getting asked a lot of questions about our trip to England, the big Novatech laptop came out for the presentation of photos. I entertained 2 of the family’s young children for a while, and took some photos of/from their house.

Lunch was a big affair with lots of people. Some of the food included: shrimps, chicken Legs, chicken feet, a chopped whole duck (not tasty as had lots of fat on it), whole crabs, chopped beef, chopped tomatoes with sugar on top, grated apple with sugar on top, peanut salad, whole fish, tomato and egg soup. Most men had a small can (330 ml) of beer, with others drinking baijiu (Chinese rice spirits pronounced buy-joe). Women and children drank either hot water or a can of (unidentified by me) Chinese fizzy drink.

After the meal I felt tired and had the chance to lie down on one of their bed. As we had been waking early with the light and had been drinking daily with the family, the afternoon nap had been a fairly regular activity for me. It seems that I’ve slept in most of Miao’s relatives houses, due to some mixture of alcohol and sleep deprivation by jet-lag or unusual/uncomfortable beds. After I waked Miao alerted me to the availability of internet for me to check my email, in which I saw lots of emails to delete and not much by way of new info.

The intention then was to go to visit a temple, so I returned to collect my bag (which I’d packed before sleeping) to find Miao’s mother trying to pack into it more things than which it was capable of carrying, and thusly squashing both my laptop displays and books.