Spring Festival

Took about 3 hours to get to Daijie and that’s normal.  Her household was going to have a few extra guests, present company excluded:  the sister Charlie and JohnBo (the guy who helped recruit me here, he is friends with her family, his family is in Beijing and Chicago, and Charlie was last years translator).

After we dropped our stuff off, we headed back to town for some groceries.  The streets were so crowded and sales were going on.  I was finally, told that Spring Festival is to them as Christmas is to me.  Once I heard that things clicked in my mind and I wholeheartedly agreed.

We went to the meat market and got some pork ribs, carrots, some green bulb type lettuce (my fav), and I think some type of green bean.   It was kind of fun in the market.  Critiqued the ribs available and realizing that you can’t just buy the part you want, you must also buy the fat and the extra stuff around it.

That part was a little frustrating but at least by looking around we were able to gauge expensive versus good price for meat.  At least once I found an acceptable piece, we got a good price and they cut it into pieces for us.  Next up we got a stalk of sugar cane cut and peeled for us.  Now that is a fun thing to eat.  Taking a bite out of the fibrous stalk, chew until it isn’t sweet anymore, spit  and repeat until your 8 inch piece is a mound of curd.

Followed by getting a variety of juice, milk (they have walnut, peanut, and a mixture of different fruits in the mentioned nuts), and beer at the grocery store.

I got my fa-biao AKA receipts so I can reduce my taxes too.

Her dad picked us up with all our goodies and away we went to cook.  Who am I kidding, the ladies cooked and cleaned too.  Yup, it’s still like that here.  We pretty much ate the same meal for 2 straight days, and that is fine because it was delicious each time.

The 30th and the 31st was so LOUD.  Before you eat dinner on the 30th you pop as many firecrackers as you want.  Some people pop one 6 foot strand others go all out and pop 3x that much.  And you do it right outside your door.

When you are in a village and the houses practically share a wall and the streets are just wide enough for a car… you can get a Ton of ECHOES.  People then pop them nearly all night long  and in the morning etc.  When you wake up on the 31st and walk to the bathroom, it’s like walking on red scrap paper.  Because the firecrackers are wrapped in red paper and the paper was blown to bits and left where they were popped.

Another tradition I finally figured out occurred on the 31st.  Just about every house has these red vertical signs on either side of the door and a horizontal one over the door and a picture of like a warrior on the center of the door.

Today is the day you tear off last years and put a new one on.  You can get free ones from different businesses that have their logo on it or for just a handful of RMB you can just go buy your own and pick what phrases  and picture you want on it.

A lot of them say or at least have the meaning of:  bring good luck, keep you safe, and wealth.

It was interesting to watch her dad make a glue paste and slather it on the wall and then place the paper on it.  Definitely done with care, pride and the hope that it is all aesthetic.

Next phase is you buy these 5 or 6 foot poles that are wrapped with a slow burning plant and it is also wrapped in a red paper.  You stick these on both sides of your door and they burn for about two days.  A great experience to be a part of.

JohnBo told us about a place in Kunming called the Dianchi Spring Spa.  He, I, Ling and Charlie all went.  The place was nice and only $25 and you can sleep there all night in relaxing recliners with personal tv’s .  E

ntranceway was grand and had lots of statues and a waterfall fountain in the center of the arched staircase.   Off to the side of the main lobby was a bunch of locked boxes that you exchange your shoes for a pair of relaxing slippers.

Then guys and girls go to their appropriate changing area and that’s when 3/4 of us realized uhoh we need to buy a bathing suit.  If you want to see what a european/snug/short suit looks like on me…just ask. Lol  At least I bought one with a swooping design and piping with a logo to hopefully detract you from my stuff.  The robes as you can see were plush.

In the guys locker room there are a few saunas, a private male only pool with a gigantic phallus statue ( I did ask if there was a gigantic labia in female pool, no), showers of course, a machine that blows hot air to dry off, and of course a salon and an area to get the robe and the two piece lounging outfit.

They had an all you can eat buffet with a rule of only one trip to the dining hall included in the price.  There were sets of different types of saunas.

Some were just straight up spring water heated to really hot temps, a couple had some herbs  in the water (not sure what kind), there was a normal pool but it was to cold to get in, a heated beach sand pit (some areas were so hot you had to push some sand over to tolerate putting your feet on it), another shallow pool that in the back had a few rocks that created a mini waterfall and an enclave to be romantic with you partner, an Olympic size pool for labs, and my favorite a mini pool that was knee deep with fish in it.

Now I spent a little time in each but by far the longest place Ling and I choose to chill was the fish pond.  These little fish nibble on you feet.  At first it is so ticklish  and an odd feeling because they are biting you and its just that they are so small (2-3 inches) that you don’t actually hurt.  At one point I literally had about 20 fish on each foot: toes, ankle, sole.   I felt like whale with all those fish eating my dead flesh.  After 5-10 minutes you get used to it and you don’t get a knee jerk kick reaction, which scares the fish and then they have to warm back up to your buffet.

The first recliner I sat in was uncomfortable. After sitting in a few I realized it was the type of back pillow in that particular chair that made it bother me.  My TV also didn’t work right and when trying to nap there was the sound of a fire alarm/smoke detector beep every 30 seconds to change the battery (my opinion of the cause).  Super annoying.

By the time we were ready to sleep, we picked an area that was reserved for my guess a bigger gathering because there was only a big screen on the way instead of at each chair.

Nice thing was, we could dim the lights to the whole room, no beep, and the temperature was not so warm (which made it more comfortable).  After checking email and we chat, Ling asked for blankets and off to bed we went.

Next morning we woke up and traveled back to Yuanjiang.  Later than the boss would have liked, but we said No we are staying in Kunming not Yuxi (a solid hour closer to YJ) and we will be in Yuxi around 11:30 -12.

Traffic was CRAZY so we should have gotten there a bit earlier but ended up being a few late.  Lee had his nephew pick us up and drive us home, instead of a bus.  Traffic was so bad that they closed the interstate and so we took the old way back.  At one point we were able to get back on the interstate and were in traffic for a while and as soon as you could see it break open… he decided to get off and take another back way to YJ.

Honestly I didn’t care because I got to see new areas and village sides and we were being driven so it wasn’t a bus situation.  (Did take nearly 5-6 hours for a 3.5 hour trip).

The End!