So the second day, Monday 04/13/2009, we left for mainland China, my parent’s ancestral home.
The day began with my mom waking me up at 6:30 in the morning to prepare for the journey. She was pretty nervous because that was the first time I
- Hong Kong
traveled alone with her. After much fussing, I finaally woke-up at around 7 and took a quick shower, before I went down to the streets for breakfast. [Chinese buns] We checked out at around 8, the busboy was nice enough to call a taxi for us. [It's not easy trying to catch a taxi with 2 luggages, 1 big bookbag on]. It took us about 20 min to get to Kowloon Bus Station, where we’ll be taking an express bus to China. [You know, like Greyhound] 100 Guan bai for taxi fares, [damn] he gets no tips. xD So, It turns out that we were early enough to catch the 8:30 bus instead the 9:00 one. -.- WTH with rushing me outta bed.
So we boarded the bus then got out about an hr later to go through immigration at “Sa To Guo”. We boarded again, got of in another 15 min to go through immigration on the Chinese borders. [WTH] This time I got somewhat pissed because it took so long, not because the line was long, we were on the “visitor line”, which was literally empty, it was because the the immigration officer was soo slow. (I bet he didnt know how to read my passport) Haha. He kept starring at me then back to my passport then back at me again. I guess you can’t really blame him because I took my passport photo 9 years ago.
So we boarded the bus for a 3rd time and arrived at my mom’s home village at around 10:20 ish. (Pretty fast, I remember it taking close to 3hrs last time I traveled). There was a lot to see on the way.
- Street in China
We got off the bus at my mother’s village (Not the type of farming village, pretty well developed) and waited for my mom’s relative to come pick us up. I think we call her “grand aunt” in English. My mom asked her to call a taxi, but she’s too frugal… so it ended up that “I” had to pull two pieces of luggage all the way to my house. [I have a 3- story modern house which has almost minus the internet] Pretty dangerous walking with her, because she had didn’t follow the traffic lights when we’re crossing the highway. She kept telling me to cross when the lights were red, I was like “I don’t want to die here.”
Finally reached my house 25 min later, after pulling the luggage half-way across town. Pulling the luggages up the second-floor wasn’t easy. First thing was to open up all windows and turn on the ceiling fan so the air can circulate.
![Grandma, Grandma & Grandpa [Paintings]](http://jl691.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/china-2009-0653.jpg?w=300&h=225 "Grandma, Grandma & Grandpa [Paintings]")
- Grandma, Grandma & Grandpa [Paintings]
After resting a bit, we went over to my maternal grandparent’s house, which is also my mom’s house (right next to my dad’s house) to burn some inscent as a sign of respect. Mom got a little emotional, always does when she’s in that house.
After much tears and much persuasion, we finally returned to my house.. I took a little nap before going back to my”great aunt’s” place for lunch. (While I was napping, by mom was going through the luggages, for the gifts and present, raincoats o.O, dried mushroom, Chinese tea…just to name a few). Two big bags, more carrying.
I was surprised to see how many new buildings were built since our last trip
- Relative’s Front Yard
there (4 years ago). They have no planning skills in China, so all the building were built at an angle. Haha.
We got to my “great aunt’s (basically my dad’s distance aunt) place, surprised that the dog wasn’t there (Bet they ate it, jk). Lunch, sucks, They gave me a full bowl of rice, which took me about 20 min to finish, they the took my bowl when they saw that it was empty (probably under the impression that I was hungry) and filled it up again to it’s original size. It seems rude not to finish it. I was so full afterward……………. man 
two bowl of rice, I don’t eat that much rice in one meal. The dishes were okay, they tried to make some Chinese-American dishes for me (like pork-chop) but it doesn’t taste the same (should be more grateful). lol
After lunch, we chatted for a while whiling sipping a cup of Chinese tea o.O. I was my mom that did the talking so I just walked around in the front and back garden.
When it was around 3:30, my grand aunt took us to the bank to withdraw some money for us to spend there. Interesting name, China Agricultural Bank. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the village. Went back to my relative’s place for dinner (another two bowls of rice 
). After dinner it’s tea and chat..
Went home to sleep and unpack at around 10. It’s scary at night. LOL Quick stop at a local deli for some drinks before arriving home, pretty cheap a 2-L bottle of Coke is only around 8 yuan. [But you gotta read the expiration date before drinking anything.]
- Mom’s Room
- Personal Gaming System from 6 years ago [It Broke]
- Interesting Building o.O Spanish
Clarification: When I say house, it’s really a 3-story building, divided into 6 apartments (2 on each floor). We save one of the apartment on the 2nd floor for ourself when we go back and rent the rest out. Each apartment consists of a living room, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a modern bathroom and a front patio on the 2nd and 3rd floor. The building was built in in 2001 and cost about $30, 000. It was built after the old house collasped.
![Grandma, Grandma & Grandpa [Paintings]](http://jl691.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/china-2009-0653.jpg "Grandma, Grandma & Grandpa [Paintings]")
50), meeting up with friends, shopping for food and arriving at the West side around 17:00. We found a nice spot (front row view) and set-up our little picnic. The evening was marked by a lot of eating, (junk food mostly), gaming, more notably our “munchkins poker games”, more eating and spectacular fireworks that lasted for around 30 min on the West side of NYC.
