The Mel Lang Log: Dragon Boat Holiday

Dear friends, I am alive and kicking in China. The delay in my posting recently comes from either their decision to elect me the new Prime Minster of China or a Chinese holiday called the Red Dragon Festival which made the weekend during the week-- so we traveled. YOU DECIDE.

Jitka and Beth and I got to see each other again Tuesday and Wednesday of this week when we went to the Jinhua area to explore. One trip we go to Jinhua, one weekend we go to Hungzuo, and then the last weekend they come to Yongkang. So, this was the first time we got to travel since coming to our host families and host schools. The places we went for this particular trip were relatively close to Jinhua the city and that is where Beth and Jitka's schools are located. We went to see the Double Dragon Cave, the Underground River, Zhuge Villiage, ate with Jinhua officials, and stayed in Lanxi.

I should first say that through this trip, I don't think I learned so much about caves or seeing sights, but about the Chinese's incredible quality of imagination and creativity. They can turn two rocks into an elaborate story about dragons and the fight of good and evil. Allow me to take you through our trip...

This is our cute little guide. He began his introduction to us by saying he knew no English (uh oh), but he knew who Obama was (uh, cool?), and he was a descendant of the Han family which is one of the oldest families in China. So, thank you Disney's Mulan, because I already knew that. I also knew that crickets in cages are good luck, women are lower than men in Chinese society, and you have to get down to business to defeat the Huns. (Admit it, you just sang re-read the end of that sentence and sang the song in your head. If you didn't, go to this site OR SHAME ON YOU. And shame is a BIG DEAL in China.)

This is the map of the inside of the grounds of Double Dragon Cave. I am sure by now you are wondering why it is named that, but don't worry, I'll tell you soon. The crummy part about this day was that it rained, rained, rained... Oh! Except for when we went into a cave. But then, we were in a cave... which meant a constant drip. I felt like I was walking through a sprinkler for 8 hours this day.

Besties. This is before I taught Betty how to do an American smile, which means you use your teeth. Because here, you see her Chinese smile which means no teeth. I tried to do it, and she laughed for five minutes straight. Guess I'm just a toothy person.

Before heading into the cave with Jitka and Beth.

They had a bunch of famous old Chinese men from ancient times on stone slabes on the way out. I liked this guy. I told him to smile for the pic, but *sigh* no teeth for him.

Here I am standing in front of a waterfall which was outside the Cave Entrance. Apparently, Chairman Mao visited the Double Dragon Cave in the year prior to his death, but due to his 1) obesity and 2) declining health, he couldn't go in... Interesting to be somewhere he once was. Obviously, as a person who was also trained to teach Social Studies, I felt THE MAGNITUDE OF HISTORY, the good and the bad, in that moment.

This is the story of the Double Dragon Cave written in calligraphy on the stone outside.

It wasn't ugly! No shortage of beautiful things to look at in spite of the rain.

Jitka looks so jolly here. Even the rain can't make her look the tiniest bit unkempt.

Ahh, the two wells which represent two brothers. They looked like two... Holes in the ground with brick. But I think if I got the water out, it would have been the perfect campfire spot.

Oh, this was cool. On the way up to the Daoist Temple they had at the site, there was a threshhold where if you walked over it, you got good luck. But as we were crossing and taking pictures, this couple walked through and stepped right on it. Whomp whomp. I tried to tell them, but they didn't know English so...

Me outside of the Dao Temple.

This is the Bagua, which is a symbol for Taoism, and it represents the pursuit of Dao. I only recognized the yinyang in the middle from my days in the 90s as a sign of balance. Of course, I was like 10, so vaguely recognized...

Me: Betty, will you take a picture of me outside of the entrance to Double Dragon Cave?

Betty: Sure. Oh, there are bombers!

Me: WHAT?!

Betty: Isn't that what you say? Photobombers?

Me: OH. I thought I was going to be a news headline.

Me and one of the dragons at the mouth of the cave. It looked like Mushu. You have no imagination if you can't see it.. Still can't? I obviously saw it RIGHT away (*erg...*). Let me help you...

See? Mushu. Now scroll up and find it. Full disclosure: the first time they tried to show it to me from the front, I was like, the globby thing? I could've used the help of my nieces Jaylee or Taliah to find it, they are 7 and 5 and would've been on board faster than I was. See? The Chinese have no shortage of creativity and imaaaaaagination.

Here is the entrance to the cave. Larry told us he didn't go, jokingly because he didn't fit, but holy cow it is NARROW! You get into this boat, and then you lie back and it goes under this rock to the other side. Before we got in, they told us it would be two minutes, but it was only like 15 seconds. Also, Beth is claustrophobic, and she was WICKED brave going. I'm not kidding, it was like being shoved into a tube, and for even a non-claustrophobic person, I thought it was really tight.

There's Beth and Melinda (Beth's co-worker and friend) and then Jitka, Susan (her co-worker from her school) and our guide Small Han coming out the other side; Betty and I had already come through.

Ohhhh cave pictures. Remember imagination? On the left, those two pillars are the general holding up the cave so the two dragon's bodies, one of whom's heads you already saw, do not get crushed. On the right side of the picture is a fairy curtain. I got the legs, buuuuut the curtain was a stretch for me.

Turtle that fought with snakes in the cave and lost, so now it's upside down.

A view up from one of the spots in the cave said to be most beautiful.

Then we saw baby waterfall and momma waterfall... No, I'm not being funny, those were their actual names. Beth, Jitka and I got our picture taken professionally here, like how you get them on roller coasters in America. Except our pictures cost like 3 bucks and were better. Sorry, I don't have it digital yet.

Me and Big Momma Waterfall.

Big momma from the top of the 132,403 stairs we climbed to get out of the cave.

You know, I will do that China. I solemnly swear to cherish the bamboo from now on. In fact, I swear to use the word cherish in all kinds of places. Like how I cherish Hap's cokes. Or how I cherish sleep.

This was the epic fight of two animals, but at this point in the tour (which had many more pictures, they just weren't all that different from Mammoth Cave) I was checking out all the bats. I can only assume from the high number that this is also an entrance to the Batcave.

Ahhhh, this is the point in the tour at the very very end where I tried my own creativity. On the left is the Great Freeze Gun, which has frozen The Yellow Sun over the watching The First Seal so that it cannot swim to its untimely demise.

Don't worry, I did.

Click here to see a short two minute version of the highlights of our tour.

Then we went to the village of Zhuge. It is in Lanxi, which also belongs to Jinhua. The town is famous for two three reasons: 1) all the villagers are the descendants of Zhuge Liang who came up with the 36 Stratagems which are the basis for a lot of modern military strategies 2) it was built in the shape of the bagua with a lake where every hole is and 3) it is absolutely adorable and quaint, meaning is is more like the version of China you have in your head instead of contemporary China that I've shown you.

See. Isn't this what you actually pictured China to look like? Me too. But, on the other hand, it could be a village in Italy too.

We saw some statues of people who were memorialized for giving a lot of money. I could fit right in. I look strong, skeptical and like it's really stinkin' hot.

There he is. A statue of the man himself, with his son who died in battle on one side and his other son, a successful military hero on the other side.

I like this picture. It looks really Chinese.

When I saw these I immediately thought of my husband and how much he would love the intricate details of the trip like the beams of this building. It also reminded me of his best friend, Bryce.

This is a map of the village, but also the bagua. This village was built in this shape, with each of the black pieces being a small body of water. It was like a maze.

It. Was. Old. And awesome.

Now, this will break your heart. This is a stray dog. You know how there are a lot of stray cats in America? Well, there are here too, but there are also many many stray dogs. It's heartbreaking. You have to avoid them because you don't know if they'll come after you, but they usually don't, they're just hungry so they wander around trying to find food.

Another temple in honor of the military strategist.

On the other side was this courtyard. In ancient China, young women who were eligible bachelorettes weren't allowed to leave the house. So, to allow them outside, they had courtyards outside of their house; however, this one, the owners of the house built the wall at such a height that Chinese knights on their white horses would be able to see in, and hopefully fall in love with them. That way they were marrying off their girls while still TECHNICALLY following the rules. Basically, if this family played monopoly, they'd play banker and slip themselves beige $100 bills.

Skinny, skinny walls. Think thin!

A view of the village. Gorgeous, living history.

Heyyyyy! She's a cutie. A chunk in China, but a cutie no less. :)

Betty, me, Melinda, Beth, Jitka, and Susan in front of one of the lakes. *Sigh* We've gotta work on Chinese smiles. Good girl, Melinda! You got it!

Ahhh, then we left and headed to dinner. At this restaurant, like the one I went to in Wuyi, you have to pick out your food from looking at all your options instead of from a menu. It's like when you go to some Chinese restaurants and they have pictures of the meals you can order. Well, meet this guy. We'll name him Ray from Finding Nemo. Sorry Ray, your time is coming.

Jitka and the giant fish.

She's the manager. I can only assume she is also perhaps a judge on the Chinese version of Toddlers and Tiaras?

Wait, SMILEY FRIES?! I didn't order them, but I wanted to. ;)

Ohhhh, Ray. I'm so sorry. But you were delicious, and you didn't help find Nemo anyway.

Then we went to our hotel. Hotels in China outside of big, important cities like Shanghai are very basic compared to American hotels. We were fine, of course, and we enjoyed our time together. This hallway reminded me of the hallway in the Tower of Terror ride at Disney World. Am I right?

It also appears that Jay Gatsby might live here. Oooooo!

The next day we were headed to another cave, but this one was called the Underground River. They put us in a boat and the man up front is steering it. There was a woman in back yelling Chinese into a microphone that only 50% of the boat could understand.

Here's something else FASCINATING about China. Everyone knows how to speak Mandarin Chinese, and in American schools, that's what our students learn. However most of the time, Chinese people speak in the dialect of their region and the regional dialects are totally different. For example, Hungzuo and Jinhua are only 2 hours apart, but their dialects are so different that if you are Hungzuo-ian, you speak a totally different, unintelligible language from someone who speaks Yongkongese, where I am from. In America, if I go to Alabama, they have a different dialect, but it's still English. Here, it's a TOTALLY different language.

This sign was soon inside once we got out of the boat. I have a couple of thoughts:

1) Ok, fair.

2) Stop my steps... into the river? In general? In certain places?

3) I brought my full paint set, but I put it away...

4) What is it to be limp, really?

5) Oh, this makes me real excited to go on.

6) We're walking, friends.

I tease about the translation error, but I was thankful to see it in English! Yeah!

That's the route. And that lady on the right caused some of us to say: wait, WHAT?

Down into another cave.

This cave had a skull on the top.

Uhm. I am hesitant to move forward.

Beautiful.

The way out!

Outside the Underground River.
Betty, Beth, Melinda, Me, Jitka, and Susan.

Then, our final destination during our time together was a nice dinner with the Jinhua Office of Foreign Affairs Director and a few other guests, such as Beth's vice principal, a reporter, a tv host, and some education bureau officials.

The view from our private room. (A lot of these restaurants have private rooms where you go to eat.)

Beth has mastered the selfie and looked super cute!! Good job, friend! :)

Then, they served Jitka, Beth and I "zongzi" (pronounced "tson-sa"). We could choose salty or sweet. Beth and I went sweet, while Jitka went salty. All were delicious. :) These are the traditional food you make and eat on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, which was that day. The festival is like an American holiday-- everyone gets the day off of work, you shop, spend time with family, make special holiday related foods.

The story of The Duanwu Festival, or Dragon Boat Festival is a little different depending on who you talk to, but the version I heard from three different people before we celebrated:

The festival commemorates the death of the poet Qu Yuan of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. He served in high offices, however, when the king decided to side with a powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance and accused of treason. During his exile, he wrote poetry. 28 years later, the Qin state captured the capital, and in despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The local people admired him, so they dropped sticky rice triangles, the zongzi, into the river hoping the fish would eat them instead of the body of Qu Yuan. They then paddled on boats to retrieve the body, hence the origin of the Dragon Boat Race. (I paraphrased this information from Wikipedia, it is not originally mine.)

This is the one dish I will share from the lovely luncheon. I loved it, spicy but yummy. So I asked Betty what it is: jellyfish. Chalk that up on my list... (But seriously, I need to go back through this blog and remember all the weird stuff I've eaten.)

Then, I went out to see the festival! People EVERYWHERE! It was the most crowds I have been in since I have been in China. This is my bff Pom Pom. He is hysterical and adorable. He's two years younger than me. He's built like a football player, but more athletic, and another of my partners in crime. He took Betty and I to Jinhua from Yongkang (an hour trip) and picked us up, so I got to know him really well then. He heard me saying I wanted to go shoe shopping so he got his mom to come with us because she knows all about shoes: we went CRAZY! And he wouldn't let me carry my own shoes.I told him he was a gentleman! His mom was proud of him. He's studying to be a policeman in university. Pom and his mom, Betty's sister-in-law (her brother is much older than her) were SO kind to take me around to see the festival and shop.

SO HERE ARE MY NEW SHOES!