loves & hates

Loves & hates in the kitchen.

hate washing dishes • love sparkling water • love my cups

hate doing laundry • hate (too many) options • love freshly boiled water / hate storage water

love occasional cooking • hate oily smell / hate table cloth • love my niece

bring me home

i know i already have more than enough shoes to wear. But what else can i do when it says:

“Bring me home”? Also, i finally bought my yoga mat, my target is to exercise Sun Salutation

every morning during days when i can’t make it to class.

escape

After being sleepless in the village for three consecutive nights, i made a last minute decision

to escape to Shenzhen for city life and hotel stay*. The ride to Shenzhen via coach was about

3 hours. Before that, we had to arrange for a van to take us to town, then changed to another

van arranged by the coach company to take us to the main coach pickup point. It was quite a

hassle but totally worth it.

i was told by my relatives to check out Shenzhen’s must-visit Splendid China (锦绣中华 ).

Turned out, it was so damn boring! Luckily, i managed to do a bit of online reading while

in the hotel and found out about OCT Loft (Overseas Chinese Town Loft) – a community

that houses designers, architects and avant-garde artists. It’s a pity that there wasn’t many

exhibitions going on then and also i didn’t have the chance to see the Street Creative Bazaar

which was held on the first weekend of every month. Nevertheless, it was still a nice area to

spend a leisure afternoon.

Huge types are cool.

Interesting drinking place with a tree in it.

A random installation of dissected duck and tree trunk placed out of nowhere in the middle

of the pavement. Immediately, this artwork in the glass container reminded me of

Damien Hirst’s animal series in formaldehyde.

Furniture made of dried twigs.

Huge typography vase.

Window facade of shops / work rooms.

Stampings on a trolley cart.

Abandoned art.

The only beverage they drank in the village was Chinese tea. After going ‘coffeeless’ for the

past few days, imagine how happy i was to see Starbucks. Sipping ice cold latte in the air-

conditioned cafe made my day :-)

*i can’t stop smiling in the hotel room, bed with mattress in an air-conditioned room,

whatelse can i asked for? Oh, and the hotel breakfast... give me my toast, omelette and

coffee NOW!

walking around (part 2/2)

Many villagers chatted with us along the way, actually mostly with dad since he’s the only

one well-versed in Teochew, some even invited us to have tea in their house. Although i did

suspect a few of them were a little weary of me because i was taking pictures (with my limited

understanding of Teochew, i overheard dad explaining to one of them that i was only taking

pictures for leisure). Photography is not something common in the village and some might

not even have seen a camera before. But they were quick to warm up and none of them stop

me from taking any pictures. i love this warm and friendly village!

This greengrocer was happy to pose for the camera with his cute grandchild.

The entrance nameplate literally translates to Hundred Years Old Community.

Many children were playing outside their house, enjoying their Teachers’ Day holiday.

Such happy faces swimming in the river!

The same river where they fish.

The same river where the women washed their laundry.

And the same river where they dumped their rubbish next to it –.–|||

A common tiny flower found in the village.

The sign reads “Ancestral-passed-on-skill Dental”. Doesn’t it reminds you of period dramas?

Secret antidotes?

Morning glory lookalike. Or are they?

This small area opposite from where we walked looked almost like a water village,

so beautiful.

Checking out on the missing person notice.

Riding and enjoying a piece of watermelon. i could hear their giggles from far :-)

The hair dresser who ran out happily to show dad her relatives address in Singapore.

Leaving her client’s hair half-way done! lol

The shed was flooded! And the hens were free to roam for the evening.

Checking them in the morning to make sure they were alight :-)

Part 1

PengHe Village (蓬和村)

walking around (part 1/2)

The first stop was the area where my then young grandpa used to live with his first and

second wives (my grandma in Singapore was his third) before leaving his hometown and

braved his way to foreign land. The houses there must have been around for more than a

century*. Many of which were already deserted after new ones were built, just like grandpa’s

house. Interestingly, the entrances looked more like temples rather than houses, especially

each had their unique names hanging right on top of the main door. We went to visit the old

house where grandpa used to live, it was small and dark, with some old photos still hanging

on the wall. There was a small water pump at the front porch area. We tried pumping and

surprisingly, there was still water supply (from what i heard, the pumped water comes from

a well).

*i did a quick calculation: grandpa passed away in his eighties and i think that was

almost twenty years ago. i only knew about his other family in China a few years later

after grandma passed away when i was still a kid. My beloved grandma was a jealous

wife, though she allowed her husband to send money to his family in China regularly,

he wasn’t allowed to speak of them. Well, this will be another story... maybe next time.

One of the neighbours proudly showed us his bees and let us sampled the honey.

A tiny provision shop.

More pigsty.

In my sis’s words, this picture showed ‘racial harmony’ :-)

Saw a few banner advertisments along the way on camel food. But i don’t see any camel

around. Strange, isn’t it?

This was in another area. A tile factory. We saw some houses were building extension to the

second/third floor, so i guess these tiles were somewhat in demand.

Might be another deserted place.

Another small provision shop. i like the area’s primitive way of advertising – so

unprofessionally cool.

More shops.

Many of these repeats advertisements around.

Ahh... crowded!

Home and motorbike repairing services 2-in-1.

Everything in the village neighbourhood looks interesting to me. Maybe that’s because it’s

so different from life in the city. More to come!

PengHe Village (蓬和村)