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Published: November 15th 2005
Since our last entry, we returned from Yangshuo to Sanshui. Right now, we have about 2 hours before we board the sleeper train and therefore are able to make a short report, from a cyber cafe.
On Nov 11, in Yangshuo, we bumped into Melissa's friend, Mike Leung. Mike has just finished his 18 month assignment as a tour leader with Intrepid Travel. Imagine there are over 1.3 billion people in China, and we bumped into someone we know !!!
That same night, from Yangshuo, we took the overnight bus back to Sanshui. This time it took 12 hours again, with a 3-hour traffic congestion near a single lane highway, when no one wants to give way.
On Nov 12, we observed a big event that my cousin Ying Foo held. He emptied (harvested) his fish pond. He hired 8 men to trawl the fish from the pond. After the fish were trawled, they were netted, sorted, and weighed. The process took 2 days, and approximately 3000 catties (.5 kg) of fish were harvested. Depending on the type of fish, they got from RMB$1.5 to RMB $3.5 per .5 kg. Some smaller fish were harvested to feed the Kwai Fa Fish.
The hired men were paid RMB $30 to $35 per day to help out. It was pretty hard work.
My cousin Ying Foo's grandson Yik Charm, had so much fun. He jumped into the pond to catch the fish, and also into the mud area to catch the cat fish (dong sud fish).
If we can find a computer to upload pictures, we would love to share them with you.
On Nov 13, we went to the Sanshui Dragon Boat race. It is an event as part of the Asian Arts festival. We travelled to the city centre of SanShui to see the event. The city centre of Sanshui has a population of about 130,000. I believe there were 100,000 people at the event, with many residents coming from nearby villages (like us) to see the event. Unfortunately, because of the crowd, we were not able to get close enough to hear the announcements and therefore unable to really enjoy the event.
On Nov 14, Phyllis installed her dental crown and everything seemed alright.
Today (Nov 15), we are finally able to start our big trip. In about 2 hours, we will board the sleeper train to Nanning, GuangXi.
We are not sure of our itinerary, but our goal is to reach Laos in one week.
Thanks to your emails and comments. We received them all, but did not get a chance to reply to all of you, please accept our apologies.
Tidbits:
In Hong Kong, you will can hardly find a seat in MacDonalds. In Sanshui, we spent two hours napping at MacDonalds.
We ate dog meat almost every day in Sanshui
My cousin's family prefer meat over fish, although he has a fish pond and gets free fish.
We visited a doctor in Yangshuo for Gary's skin condition. He charged RMB$2 for his fee, but wanted to sell us RMB$200 worth of medication. I guess that is how the doctors make money.
The Chinese men in Sanshui (and actually in many places in China) know how to enjoy themselves. We see them at dim sum places (without their wives). They gathered to play chinese chess, chat, drink, smoke, during the day (office hours). We hardly see women gathered around to do any leisurely stuff.
The air in China is generally poor, even in the country side.
Spitting in China is less frequent, especially in the city. However, throwing garbage just anywhere is still common. There are hardly any garbage cans around.
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Y. K. Choy
non-member comment
Fish harvest
Some vivid narration. I have never been able to present myself at such an attactive scene, even though I have been going back to Sanshui for the past five years continuously. I always imagine that the fish, big and small jumping around and workers move them from the net to the baskets. It is simply interesting sight. When I read that Cham Cham jumped into the bottom of the pond which is full of mud, I would dream of the old days that I spent my boyhood in the same Village, and fool around with water and mud quite often. Those were the days!!!!!!.