Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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…

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Me and B in one of said parks.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Next to An’kang’s famed river. Yes, I look retarded.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
B’s sister.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Us with some tulips.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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. 😛

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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!

An'Kang
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.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
It was coooold out in the sticks! Here’s B looking like an eskimo! 🙂

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
We had to hang around here a while waiting for the next minibus.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
These goats were playing under the bridge.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Including this baby.

An'Kang Blog Size
This building didn’t look like the safest.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Met this cool dude on arrival at the house. Haha, so cute! Another cousin!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Followed by these two cousins. There’ll be lots of photos of this pair, as they loved having their photo taken, haha.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.

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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!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Eating breakfast outside in the snow!

Cute Baby in An'Kang 2010 安康
The baby got even cuter in the snow with the white ground acting as a big diffuse reflector. 🙂

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
nom nom nom!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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! 🙂 )

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
B eating outside the mud-wall’d house.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
I think this was one of my previous night’s intruders!

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Cutest thing ever.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
It was damn good fried rice.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Country life.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
The older one’s name translates as “Kiss kiss”, the smaller one’s is “Jewel.”

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
There were two rooms with fires. Here’s B staying warm in one of them.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
“Want chicken with your rice?”

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
They were both, ALWAYS eating! Hahaha. Especially Jewel.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Another animal.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Me enjoying my food out in the snow.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Photos of fire are cool.

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…well, I mean “Hot.”

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.”

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
One of the “roads” in the village. You’re soft-roader need not apply. 4×4 only.

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

Wintery Forrest in An'Kang 2010 安康
One of my favourite photos of the trip. Quite atmospheric, I think.

An'Kang Blog Size
Looking down the hill. The white roof is the house I was staying at; B’s grandparents’.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
So cute! ^_^

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Me and him chilling. He was a cool dude. His name translates as “Friend.” and he is!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Another of my favourite eskimo!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Looking down at the house.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
B and her cousin.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
ANOTHER of my favourite eskimo!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
He likes to climb trees…who doesn’t?!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Walking through the woods.

Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS in the Snow
B taking a photo of…

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
…Me taking a photo of her.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
I like to keep my camera safe under my coat…unfortunately it makes me look pregnant.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Some sort of berries!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Me, posing.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
The snow was very cinematic.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
As was the bamboo!

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Bamboooooooo.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Me doing my panda impression.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
We returned back home to find the little girls had fireworks.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Future arsonist / pyromaniac.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
It all looks very safe.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Cute hair clips.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Cute face!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
This cat was apparently about 14 years old. It liked to lie by the fire.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Cute puppy!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Cute girl!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Cute pig!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Cute cow!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Kiss Kiss posing.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
🙂

An'Kang Blog Size
Some mushrooms at the base of a tree stump.

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

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
The sleep deprivation starting to get to me.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Another of the pig.

An'Kang Blog Size
more fire!

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
and more.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Another cute baby.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
B doing some washing.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Not a bad view when you’re doing the laundry, eh?

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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. 😛

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
This had been my bedroom. (pictured minus bed…and mice…and chickens.)

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
And the toilet / pig’s house. No. Really. Two-in-one.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
The house.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Working out the layout for the next house. No fancy blueprints. No planning permission. Just pieces of string and wood.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
Me, the girls, and one of B’s other aunties.

Spring Festival in An'Kang 2010 安康
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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4 Comments to “Spring Festival in An’Kang”  

  1. 1 Joe
  2. 2 amy

    wow, i’m really impressed, both with the pictures and the fact that you managed to stay there. without interenet. well done! xx

  3. 3 Dan

    Looks awesome – some of the coolest people I’ve seen. Makes me sad I’m not out there!

    Lol, no medal for you – you still had a camera to keep you entertained 😛

  4. 4 Kathy

    Something i’ve never expected…

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