So, for spring festival (just over a month ago now) I head to An’Kang, Beryl’s hometown, to meet the family and to see where she grew up. 🙂 It was quite a personal experience, and I rarely took out my camera (I didn’t wanna be the stupid foreigner with the big camera) so I don’t think this blog post tells even half the story, but… read on for a “small” (150+ photo) sampling…


So, this was the first photo of the trip. An’kang is a wall’d city, and this is me at one of the gates. For the first part of my trip, I was inside the city. B’s mum works in the city, so they have a little apartment there, as well as their house out in the countryside.

An’kang is quite a cool city in terms of parks and such. It’s bigger than Weinan, but smaller than say, Xi’an. How big does that make it? Well, as of 2007, it was pushing just over 3,000,000 registered residents in the city alone. In comparison, the entire district of Birmingham, England (the highest populated district in the UK) has only 1,000,000 people. “Small” Chinese cities are BIG.

Me and B in one of said parks.

Next to An’kang’s famed river. Yes, I look retarded.

B’s sister.

Us with some tulips.

The life in the city apartment wasn’t what I was used to. No running hot water, no heating, no internet, etc. Here’s B’s mum washing my hair for me in a bowl. Hahaha. They thought I was such a city slicker. I guess they were right. There’s also video of this hair washing, but that’s staying off the internet. 😛

The city apartment is just one room. Kitchen, bedroom, livingroom – all in one. Here’s some of B’s family who came over on new years day. It’s a big tradition, going and visiting family members, and giving red envelopes (which I only just realised I didn’t photograph…again…I wasn’t trying to come off as a total idiot!) The cute kid is one of B’s (many) cousins!

Then, the day after new years day, it was time to head out into the country. This involved taking a few minibus/taxis and the roads they drove on were to die for! (in both senses of the saying.) I really, really missed driving as we were heading up the mountain passes. I posted this picture before, this is about halfway to B’s grandparent’s house…it shows the hydro-electric dam that her father built back in ’87.

It was coooold out in the sticks! Here’s B looking like an eskimo! 🙂

We had to hang around here a while waiting for the next minibus.

These goats were playing under the bridge.

Including this baby.

This building didn’t look like the safest.

Met this cool dude on arrival at the house. Haha, so cute! Another cousin!

Followed by these two cousins. There’ll be lots of photos of this pair, as they loved having their photo taken, haha.

They warmed to me quickly, and started calling me “older brother.” People don’t really have a concept of foreigners in China…I mean, they do… but it’s skewed. People never encounter foreigners, even adults in Weinan. When I teach children in Weinan, they’re pretty unaware of the concept of non-Chinese people too…so, out in the country, in a village where no foreigner has ever trodden…these girls really couldn’t understand why I couldn’t speak Chinese, or why my eyes were blue…or my hair ‘gold’…but… they were also young enough that they didn’t care. All they knew is that I was their big brother, I liked making funny faces, and I could take their photo; that was enough for them!

This photo shows the freedom enjoyed by Chinese, especially those in the country. Even here in the city (Weinan) a 12 year old kid could walk into a shop and buy some 60% proof alcohol for his father. So, out here in the country, when B’s uncle was smoking a cigarette and spotted me with a camera, he threw it in the baby’s mouth for a photo. Funny: Yes. Harmless: Yes. (It was in his mouth for all of 3 seconds – he spat it out promptly.) I just think in the UK, you couldn’t pull this off without people making accusations of bad parenting, irresponsibility, blah, blah, blah. Nanny state, not here.

The dropped, light cigarette, was replaced with an unlit one, for photo purposes.

Later that night I went to bed, when my country-side experience begun. I had mice in my bedroom. I’m not particularly affraid of mice, but I don’t really want them in my bed either. After a few hours of intermittent sleep, I decided to go on a little mouse hunt. I turned on the light and the squeaking stopped. Great, I thought. Just keep on the light, and the mice wont keep me awake. So, I put my head back down to get some sleep, and a few minutes latter, a couple of chickens came waltzing into my room. (There are no doors, only sheets over doorways.) Argh. Turned off the light, the chickens went away, but a few minutes later, the mice started. This cycle repeated a few times until I decided that infact, the chickens were probably the better option. I then got a good few hours sleep, until…The next morning, my newly acquired little sisters came into my room, asking (in Chinese) if I was awake. Of course, I pretended to be sleeping, and their asking got louder, and louder. I managed to keep my act of sleep up, so then the nudging started. I then opened my tired, sleep-deprived eyes and told them that I was tired. This wasn’t good enough. They were bored, and I was their latest toy to play with. I put them off for a few minutes, but they were persistent. Eventually, I got out of bed, and found out that it had been snowing!

Eating breakfast outside in the snow!

The baby got even cuter in the snow with the white ground acting as a big diffuse reflector. 🙂


nom nom nom!

B’s sister decided she’d had enough of the country life, and was feeling sick and cold, so she went home. I was offered to join her, but I couldn’t be seen as a quitter (and, I was kinda enjoying it! 🙂 )

B eating outside the mud-wall’d house.

I think this was one of my previous night’s intruders!

Cutest thing ever.

It was damn good fried rice.

Country life.

The older one’s name translates as “Kiss kiss”, the smaller one’s is “Jewel.”

There were two rooms with fires. Here’s B staying warm in one of them.

“Want chicken with your rice?”

They were both, ALWAYS eating! Hahaha. Especially Jewel.

Another animal.

Me enjoying my food out in the snow.

B reading up on the tea while waiting for the pot to boil. This one kettle took about 30-40 minutes to heat up. Crazy!

Photos of fire are cool.

…well, I mean “Hot.”

We went for a walk in the afternoon and here is the girls’ older brother, another of B’s cousins, writing my Chinese name for me in the snow. If you’re wondering, there’s no one-child policy in the country side like there is in the city.

The finished product. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my Chinese name on here. It’s 乔建国。If that shows up as a bunch of squares for you, then you don’t have Chinese installed…but, just look above. Pinyin is “Qiao Jian Guo” … spelt phonetically, I’d say “Chaow Jen Gwor.”

One of the “roads” in the village. You’re soft-roader need not apply. 4×4 only.

And here’s ‘my name’ loves ‘beryls name’. Awh.

One of my favourite photos of the trip. Quite atmospheric, I think.

Looking down the hill. The white roof is the house I was staying at; B’s grandparents’.

So cute! ^_^

Me and him chilling. He was a cool dude. His name translates as “Friend.” and he is!

Another of my favourite eskimo!

Looking down at the house.

B and her cousin.

ANOTHER of my favourite eskimo!

He likes to climb trees…who doesn’t?!

Walking through the woods.

B taking a photo of…

…Me taking a photo of her.

I like to keep my camera safe under my coat…unfortunately it makes me look pregnant.

Some sort of berries!

Me, posing.

The snow was very cinematic.

As was the bamboo!

Bamboooooooo.

Me doing my panda impression.

We returned back home to find the little girls had fireworks.

Future arsonist / pyromaniac.

It all looks very safe.

Cute hair clips.

Cute face!

This cat was apparently about 14 years old. It liked to lie by the fire.

Cute puppy!

Cute girl!

Cute pig!

Cute cow!

Kiss Kiss posing.

🙂

Some mushrooms at the base of a tree stump.

I like cold beer as much as the next guy, but beer by the fire was pretty good when it was that cold!

The sleep deprivation starting to get to me.

Another of the pig.

more fire!

and more.

Another cute baby.

B doing some washing.

Not a bad view when you’re doing the laundry, eh?

Not cute all the time. She got upset, and went in a strop. Not even my best funny faces and impressions could pull her out of it, so I just took photos instead. 😛

So, our third day there would also be the family’s last day there. They were pulling the house down to build a new one, out of bricks. I took some photos inside with my fisheye.

Good thing about a house of mud; easy to take down. It was kinda sad. This house was older than B. She grew up in this house. Although, amongst the Chinese, there didn’t seem to be the same kind of sentiment that there’d have been in a western family.

This had been my bedroom. (pictured minus bed…and mice…and chickens.)

And the toilet / pig’s house. No. Really. Two-in-one.

The house.

Working out the layout for the next house. No fancy blueprints. No planning permission. Just pieces of string and wood.

Me, the girls, and one of B’s other aunties.

This auntie and uncle were kind enough to put us up in their swanky apartment on our return to the city. It was a godsend. I had a nice, hot shower, which felt sooooo good. Slept in a comfy bed (without mice) and was generally happy to return to the city.

All in all, it was a great experience, and B has a wonderful family. Of note; it was my longest time without the internet since 1996. I went a whole week offline! That should get me a medal or something.

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