我的虹桥的休假

After looking at some possible tour groups and the airfare to fly to and from 哈尔滨 it's become quite clear that a trip that far north just isn't in the cards this vacation. It's probably for the best, I feel cold as it is, and without a person from the area as a guide I don't think I would be able to really enjoy the experience.

So instead I went for another adventure a little closer to home:

Several weeks ago I got to go to 文成 to see Jada's hometown, go hiking and just get away from the city for a while and see something new.

(虹桥)

These last few days I got to have another experience in a non-urban setting.
Though more than an hour away by long-distance bus it's still (surprisingly) considered a part of 温州.

Hong Qiao (虹桥), which if translated directly equates to "Rainbow Bridge", is the hometown of my friend (薛菲菲) Fay's grandparents (they actually live in a smaller village a ways away). So I stopped by for a few days, met the 薛 family, learned how to play 麻将 (majiang - really popular game that uses tiles), traipsed around, watched some movies and met several people.
Good times.

Their house (indeed their whole village) was up against several beautiful hills, so within a few hours of arrival I expressed interest in hiking. The following morning, Fay's grandfather (爷爷) arranged for a van to take us (him, Fay, Fay's cousin and myself) up behind the hills to 白龙山 (White Dragon Mountain) where we could walk around and visit the many temples that dotted the mountain face.

I learned an expression in the course of the hike:
上山容易，下山难
Meaning "up the mountain is easy, down the mountain is hard". I may have disagreed with that statement if I had had to climb all the way up the mountain to begin with, but since we only had to reascend after going through a couple, small valleys I found it very apropos.

One thing that was quite remarkable was whichever temple or shrine we stopped at, Fay's grandfather was immediately able to strike up a buddy-buddy conversation with the tenants. I wonder how many times he's been up this way.































Aside from hiking mountains and visiting temples I also got to go to have a celebratory lunch in Fay's mom's home village.

We were served a local wine and lots of food, and as family rule dictated, Fay had to go to each person at the table we sat at and propose a full, personal toast.
Apart from us there were about 10 people eating our table, and those guys went through hard liquor like you wouldn't believe.
(I was a little concerned about Fay's dad getting sloshed since he was the one driving all of us home later).

I couldn't understand a word being said. The dialect here is incredibly strong... so's the wine for that matter... but it was a good party, and afterward I went walking through the streets and played ping pong with a random guy in his garage.

Fay's great-grandmother (grandmother's mother - 奶奶的妈妈) turned 95 on the 2nd of February, and she had a party with many grandchildren, but it was strictly family only, so I left that day and took the bus home - overall it was a grand trip.