Day 8 - The Modern Day Boonies
Apr. 15th, 2008 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoJiande, Zhejiang, CN
Today is the first day of our travel to where my (maternal) grandfather grew up, in 浙江省,建徳市. Supposedly we're in the boonies, though you wouldn't think it looking at all the modernization in progress in the city. Heck, the place we're staying at (how our hosts are related to us is a little too complicated for me to figure out at the moment; all I could tell is that the eldest male in the house is a brother of my grandfather) is more "modern" than the place my grandparents have in Nanjing. (Of course, that's also partly cuz my grandparents haven't bothered to modernize a lot of their stuff). They've got a TV per bedroom for 3 bedrooms, internet connection (but which can't reach IJ), and hot water.
We arrived here by car. Let me backtrack... Last night, my aunt and uncle (my mom's sister & her husband) drove over to Nanjing from Wuxi. They have have 2 cars, but apparently swapped with a friend's car as it was more comfortable for the trip. This morning at 6 AM, we departed for Zhejiang: my uncle, aunt, grandfather, mom, and myself.
First we spent over an hour trying to figure out how to get onto the freeway from Nanjing. Chinese highways unfortunately lack both prominent road signs and more abundant number of on/off ramps to the highway. Midway, we also spent maybe an hour at a rest stop trying to fill up gas. The problem isnt' that there was a lot of automobiles competing - the problem was that there were also a lot of huge trucks waiting in line for nearby nozzles, thus blocking the way for small cars to get in and out of the single station when trying to fill up gas.
WE passed Hangzhou around noonish, then stopped a little past there at a rest stop for lunch. We ate stuff that we brought with us, though it appears that Chinese rest stops also come equipped with cafeterias, which I'm told actually has decent food as well. The place was certainly clean enough - even the bathrooms, which I daresay is cleaner than the US counterparts (except maybe for the lack of toilet paper).
At any rate, we got to 建德 (Jiande) around early afternoon. Took a small tour of the area, including the banks of the 新安江 (Xinan River) nearby. I took a few photos/videos (which I'll put up after I get back to the US and have a better connection to imageshack).
We had dinner at our host's house. All of it is indigenous foods. I like the various bamboo dishes the most (the bamboo is directly plucked from the wild and grown in the fields, not processed/canned).
Today is the first day of our travel to where my (maternal) grandfather grew up, in 浙江省,建徳市. Supposedly we're in the boonies, though you wouldn't think it looking at all the modernization in progress in the city. Heck, the place we're staying at (how our hosts are related to us is a little too complicated for me to figure out at the moment; all I could tell is that the eldest male in the house is a brother of my grandfather) is more "modern" than the place my grandparents have in Nanjing. (Of course, that's also partly cuz my grandparents haven't bothered to modernize a lot of their stuff). They've got a TV per bedroom for 3 bedrooms, internet connection (but which can't reach IJ), and hot water.
We arrived here by car. Let me backtrack... Last night, my aunt and uncle (my mom's sister & her husband) drove over to Nanjing from Wuxi. They have have 2 cars, but apparently swapped with a friend's car as it was more comfortable for the trip. This morning at 6 AM, we departed for Zhejiang: my uncle, aunt, grandfather, mom, and myself.
First we spent over an hour trying to figure out how to get onto the freeway from Nanjing. Chinese highways unfortunately lack both prominent road signs and more abundant number of on/off ramps to the highway. Midway, we also spent maybe an hour at a rest stop trying to fill up gas. The problem isnt' that there was a lot of automobiles competing - the problem was that there were also a lot of huge trucks waiting in line for nearby nozzles, thus blocking the way for small cars to get in and out of the single station when trying to fill up gas.
WE passed Hangzhou around noonish, then stopped a little past there at a rest stop for lunch. We ate stuff that we brought with us, though it appears that Chinese rest stops also come equipped with cafeterias, which I'm told actually has decent food as well. The place was certainly clean enough - even the bathrooms, which I daresay is cleaner than the US counterparts (except maybe for the lack of toilet paper).
At any rate, we got to 建德 (Jiande) around early afternoon. Took a small tour of the area, including the banks of the 新安江 (Xinan River) nearby. I took a few photos/videos (which I'll put up after I get back to the US and have a better connection to imageshack).
We had dinner at our host's house. All of it is indigenous foods. I like the various bamboo dishes the most (the bamboo is directly plucked from the wild and grown in the fields, not processed/canned).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-18 12:48 pm (UTC)T_T
Good to hear you're enjoying the food.