Trip Two - Shaoguan Part 1

In June 2010 I went back to China.  There were so many unanswered questions for me.  I mean after all I had only spent 10 days with Xin Jiao and we did talk on webcam everyday, sometimes twice.  But I wondered if we really were as compatible as it seamed we were.  So back to China and this time for 28 days.


This time I flew Delta and let me tell you I don't have much respect for them anymore.  They may have low prices but I wouldn't put it past them to begin charging you for toilet paper.  I can tell you that they will offer high fly mileage but they will steal it back from you.  I've had over 40,000 miles taken away from me.


I took the boat to Shekou again and then we scurried by bus to Shaoguan.  Xin Jiao had moved back there to live.  It is much cheaper to live there than Shenzhen.

Sisia, Xin Jiao's granddaughter was a lot more friendly this trip than on the previous one.  Of course it helped that I bought her a red pair of sandals and took her to an amusement park in town.  Who says you can't buy love.


She is adorable as you can see in the picture but she is also a little stinker.  I asked Xin Jiao if she was like her grandmother when she was a small child and she blushed and said yes.


The three of us had great fun that day.  It rained off and on and Sisia loved to hold both of our hands as we walked so she could splash in the water.  I guess that is universal way to have fun with children around the world.  At the end of the day Sisia was very tired and I carried her home as she slept on my shoulder.  Awe...

The next day Xin Jiao was taking me through the market where she used to work years earlier.  Now she didn't tell me what I am about to say but her sister who already lives in the U.S. did.


It seems that Xin Jiao is well respected among the vendors in the market on the street.  That much was apparent when she introduced me to friends of hers.  But the story goes that when her children were small Xin Jiao would wake up about 4am and go to the market to buy food to make breakfast for the business men on the run in the morning.  She would bring the stuff she bought home and prepare it.   Then she would take it to the market, lay out a blanket on the street and sell her food.


About 8:00am she would go back home, wake up her children and husband, prepare breakfast for them and take the children to school.  Then she would go back to the market to sell her food.  The amazing thing is this.  When a person leaves they generally lose their spot on the street, but not Xin Jiao, the ladies there had so much respect for her that they would sell her goods and protect her spot until she returned.  It was apparent to me that they liked and respected her every time we went there.  It was kind of funny in that they were like little school girls around me.  Laughing and joking.  They would speak what little English the knew from movies then end up calling me uncle. Everyone called me uncle.

While we were there in the market a store owner walked up to me and asked me if I were an America to which I replied yes.  He said good that I would be his new friend there in Shaoguan.  Every time we passed his store he wanted me to stop, drink tea and talk in English with him.  It was a good thing because I wouldn't have been able to speak Chinese with him.  He and his family were delightful and he continued to stop Xin Jiao and ask about me after I left China.


I still think back on how friendly the people in Shaoguan are.  It is absolutely amazing to me.  I look forward to seeing him again.  Guess I'll call him uncle.