Hanging Garden in Uncle's house

EP
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One of my uncle lives in the next building of my gardparent's home .
His apartment located in 3 floor with a very big terrace ... he like planting
so much and therefore he decorated the terrace into his own " secret gardent ".

What you can see in this garden is a very big pool with lots of gold fish
/ Brocaded carp , a pavilion , a bridge , lots of plant etc , just like you've enter
a park but mini-size .
I can only say we spent a long time in his " gardent " that afternoon , even
have light lunch there ...

Tricycle ...

EP
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Besides mini-bus , motorcycle , bike, private car , taxi ,
Another common transportation tool you can take in Shantou
is this kinda " tricycle " . Some even carried by motorcycle .
Usually can seat 3 people on one . You can even bargain on
the price with the rickshaw puller base on how far your destination
is .
Convenience & cheap , the quantity even more than taxi on the road ...
just a wave of your hand and more than one of the trike will come to you ,
asking " where you wanna go ?! "
For a 20 minutes ride , way back home from a big supermarket where
need almost 45 mintues if by walk ... i only spent $3 RMB ...
Just like taking a tram , it is no denied that you can take a closer look at
around because the slowly speed of the trike .
HOWEVER you will also inhale lots of dust / vehicle emissions /
smell of diesel fuel from the other cars ...
IN fact the air pullution problem is relatively more serious in mainland China
compared to Hong Kong .

Art of Tea ..

EP
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Shantou is a small city in ChaoZhou ( Chiu Chau ) , GuangDong district ,
well known by its " ChaoZhou Opera " / " GangFu tea " / Cuisine and music etc .

It is common to find at least one set of " Gongfu teaware "
in a ChauZhou household , no matter made in ceramic or purple porours pottery ,
people in ChaoZhou just addicted to tea same as portuguese addicted to " Bica " .
" GangFu Tea " is the 'espresso' of Chinese teas , not everyone accept its very bitter
taste , some even think that it is a formidable task , but it
is still flourishing and remains an important part of social etiquette in Chaozhou.
If you visit a family, you can be sure of at least one round of Ganghu tea.
Though it tastes bitter when it first reaches your mouth, it is the lingering
aftertaste that makes Ganghu tea probably the most charming tea culture in China.
" Ganghu tea " is in fact a process of aesthetics rather than a solution to thirst

A set of teaware in my grandparent's home .
MY chubby hand in the picture , making tea and taking pictures
at the same time .

A set of teaware in my uncle's home , usually a set of teaware
wil have 6 small cups , but normally we only use 4 of them .

ON the way ..

EP
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There are NO direct flights or shuttle bus from Hong Kong to
Shantou , so we must go through ShenZhen and take the bus there ,
a one way ticket cost $ 170 - 250 . Price of the ticket may changed
during public holidays / peak time .
This is the bus i took , we have a mini TV as well as a small toilet for
passengers



Some pictures showing the view from highway .
A truck of PIGS ... smell very bad even our car got the well equipped
air conditioner system .



These are the only views i can see for the whole journey on
the shuttle bus , for more than 4 hours .....
farms --> rivers --> house , repeat and repeat ....




Crossing a bridge , the weather is fine but a bit cloudy / windy ,
actually the temperature is a big lower than Hong Kong with 9'C - 12'C .
The picture on right side showing a house near the sea , even have a fosse
surround the house .

Different from Hong Kong & Taiwan , Mainland China use simplified
(Chinese) character , i can only read 70% of them because some of the
words are totally different when written in simplified style .

Hide & Seek

EP
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Finally , the 9 days Chinese New Year holiday were overed ,
Being in mainland China a small city named Shantou in GuangDong
district to celebrate my holiday and spend time visiting all my relatives .
” Shantou “ is my mum’s hometown , a place where she grown up before
she move to work and live in Hong Kong . All my grandparents / aunties /
uncles still lives in Shantou .
The most wonderful time to me during this holiday despite eating and “ gambling “ ,
is playing “ hide & seek “ every morning at 9:30AM ( ON TIME ! ) with my
little cousins .
This little evil pal woke me up using his screaming , running around
the house with his little feet for an hour without panting ...
I guess I became more healthier on both mentally and physically after this
" training " .

He's hiding and peeking me behind the wooden chair , see if i can find him .

Hugging himself very small like a ball .
He think that NO one find/ see him with this " pose " .

He has very long eye lash .

And gave me this evil smile when i asked him
" Stop and give me back the spoon !! " .