In the early morning, my mother and aunt went to the supermarket to buy a variety of snacks and candies so that we can put together goody bags. We brought along a box of Ferrero rocher in which we tossed a couple in each bag. We would be giving these out to relatives and friends in the village and at the restaurant. One bag per family.
One bag per family. Look at how large the family network.
Another trip back to the "Yu" village to burn some more incense. While my mother and grandmother went to give out goodie bags and red envelopes to relatives, my sister and I went exploring again. A relative of ours showed us something neat about this village. There was a "diaolou" (watch tower) hidden behind the village, though this one was used as a residential home, mostly. We couldn't go up since it was chained up. Apparently, the family moved
away to America or something a long time ago. This was the first diaolou we saw in
Kaiping, later on we saw many more. There are some "diaolous" in Kaiping that are designated UNESCO heritage sites including those in the Jinjiangli Village, Sanmenli Village and the Zilicun Village. Though the diaolou we saw here isn't as flamboyant and extravagant as the others, it was never the less, a neat little piece of history.
There was no paved path to walk through the walls to the diaolou, so you have to semi-climb up the bricks and jump down. Later on we went inside my grandma's brother's son's (deceased) house, his wife lives here. Her life story is so sad. Lost her husband due to a disease and the son died in a house fire (and with in-laws who treat her like crap). It feels like she doesn't have the will to live, and is just living everyday aimlessly and with no purpose, only to die. The villagers said that they have to help keep an eye on her to make sure she eats and take care of herself.
The balcony view from my grandma's brother's son's wife's house.
A chicken given to my grandmother by one of her relatives. A very sad life this chicken will have.
For dinner, my grandmother invited her side of the family to eat. The restaurant we went to was, apparently, the same restaurant that prepared the banquet from the day before. It felt a bit awkward since the bride and groom was also here and our dishes were, in both quantity and quality, better than theirs. And then there was more gift giving and red envelopes given. How come me and my sister don't get any from our relatives...? We're in our early twenties... and not married... My grandmother gave my aunt the task of giving red envelopes to the singles.. but she ended up giving more than necessary to the married couples and their children...instead of the single people. So when I say thousands of Canadian dollars were given to relatives in the form of red envelopes, I was not joking.
The dinner that we had, there's more dishes but there was no room on the table so we placed it aside. This time there was orange juice and more beer! YAY! MORE MEAT TOO. And that tofu thing taste quite good! There was rice and soup here too. The dinner for, I believe, 5-7 tables only cost around $400 CND. This is extremely cheap for the amount of dishes you get if you compare it to Vancouver, but in Hong Kong, our 1 dinner cost us more than $400 CND, ridiculous, but more on that another time.
After the dinner, a crowd of people escorted my grandmother down to the van, once we got inside a van, everybody crowded towards the van and waved at my grandmother while saying their goodbyes.It's like she has some kind of celebrity status.
What happened to that sweet little chicken later that night.Killed at night, at home.
And I opened a box of Pretz sticks I bought from the supermarket in Kaiping. I believe this was around 4-5 RMB. It's not really that cheap for something made in China, but I wanted to try the flavour. Honestly, it doesn't taste like anything, definitely not strawberry shortcake. It was like eating Pretz sticks that's not sweet nor salty, will not repurchase.
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