Anne,
Darla and Ken on the tour bus. We were instructed to wear
the red sticker to identify us a members of the tour.
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One
of our designated three days in Macau was allocated to a one day tour
of The People's Republic of China. This is something that Anne and
I had done on our previous trip and thought that Ken and Darla would
enjoy. You have to be a bit prepared for this as it is definitely
different from your regular travels.
First, crossing the border seems to be a madhouse. There are people
everywhere and chaos seems to reign. On our first trip everyone's
name on the tour was printed on a list and, as you passed through
the border, you had to be in the order that your name appeared on
the list. I'm happy to say this second trip wasn't that rigorous.
However, on the first trip they stamped our passports and on this
one they refused to stamp the passport. Who knows? When you pass through
the border house and exit the building there will be hordes of people
around. Some are unloading goods from cars to take across the border,
others are coming through with you and many are just beggars looking
for a handout. At the border beggars are predominant, more so than
anywhere else.
Once on the other side and back on the bus we were met by our Chinese
tour guide. She was a young woman in her twenties and had just graduated
school. This was her first job and she was very good at it. She was
also dedicated. She informed us that each day she had to ride a bus
for three hours (each way) from her home to work. Our first stop would
be what was explained to us as "a typical and approved farming
village of about two thousand people who are proud, self-supporting
farmers." Unfortunately, the way they explained it, you were
left with the impression that this was a selected village groomed
specifically for tourists and not necessarily a typical village. Whether
that's true or not I do not know, but it is the impression that their
explanation left me with. |
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Little
old woman begging |
Entering
the village we were immediately met by this little old Chinese woman
(picture right). As you passed by she would put her hands in front
of her, as if in prayer, and lower her head somewhat. She then followed
you a short distance with an outstretched hands begging for some money.
This was a bit unusual. On our previous tour we saw many beggars at
the border as we crossed into and out of Mainland China, but there
were no beggars at the places we visited. To see her here at the entrance
to the farming village seemed out of place. |
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| The
streets of the farming village were clean and orderly (picture right)
with many people walking about tending to their daily chores. We felt
it was obvious, however, that this village was prepared for foreign
visitors and not typical of what one might see if they were free to
travel through Mainland China. |
Streets
of the farming village |
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Collecting
garbage |
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| As
we walked through the village we got to see what life was like for
those that lived here. We stumbled across the village garbage collectors
picking up garbage and throwing it onto a trailer attached to a tractor.
While this isn't what we might consider modern, it surely beats garbage
collection in Egypt where it's done with donkey carts. |
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Anyone
for snake? |
OK,
we're all fascinated by the reported eating habits of the Chinese.
As kids growing up we all heard the stories about the local Chinese
restaurants serving cats and dogs. This was pure fiction, of course,
but it was something to think about. In China we would learn that
there isn't much they won't eat. We would learn this by seeing it
firsthand.
Snakes
are common in Chinese markets. We saw them not only at the farming
village we visited in Mainland China but, also, in Hong Kong. The
snakes are kept live in cages (left) and when selected by someone
the seller stepped on the snake's head, slit the skin behind the
head, and then pulled the skin off the snake. The snake, still wiggling,
was then placed in a plastic bag to be taken home and prepared.
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Snakes
awaiting their fate |
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| By
far the most fun we had visiting the farming village was when we encountered
a group of young children. Anne and I were prepared. Anne and I reached
into our bag, pulled out our stash of balloons and handed them out.
As you can see by the expressions on their faces they were delighted.
Carrying several bags of balloons a few thousand miles is certainly
worth the reward you get by watching the children. Perhaps when they
grow up they will remember the friendly Americans who gave them balloons
once upon a time and relations between our countries and the people
of our worlds will be better. |
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The
children enjoying the balloons we brought from home
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Our
visit of the farming village now compete we headed off to lunch at
a beautiful restaurant and an encounter with a water buffalo. Join
us there on the next page ... |
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