Next was 长命村 also a Hakka Village. It got it's name because the life of the people living there are all above 85 years old. The World's oldest human was from this village at age 124, but she passed away a few months back, just one month after she received the title. And so it was believed that it's due to their drinking water which comes from a well. Xiao Deng told us that many people decide to move there after retirment is not only because of the beautiful environment but because the hope to live a longer life. Labels: archery, hakka, horse riding, Lao yao, Mr Kam, Mr Wong, Ms Ng, Singapore, strawberries, Sun Yat Sen, tea, toilet, Xiao Deng, Zhongshan, ZhuhaiDay 9
It's slowly counting down the days to home. But today we got to be tourist again!! Haha since we do not have too many companines to visit. Our first place was to some place where lives the Hakka clan. I'm a Hakka too but i'm guilty of not being able to speak it. haha
The environment up there is really superb. It's really a moutain, hilly kind of place. 
See? I mean where can you see this in Singapore? The only hill not even moutain we have is Bukit Timah Hill. Haha
Overlooking the tea field. Looks a bit small though but the products being produced are really of quality. The reason is?
Thata!! It's being 炒 by hand and by a very experienced gentleman. My first thought was that it must be really hot to put your hand into the huge metal wok and fry the tea. We also learnt that tea is NOT made from the leaves but a certain part of it, something like a bud. But we got a chance to try it!! I did and when it wasn't hot but warm and when i'm done, my hand is warm and smells really nice. 
Got the chance to see this expensive item above being grown. It's similiar to a piece of wood and we actually got to taste it. After it was cooked, it was entirely black and really looked like a charred piece of wood. Haha it was passed around but nobody bought it back to cook soup. Cause it really taste very bitter. We love sweets!! Even Mr Kam couldn't take it after ONE mouth. 
Our tea tasting room. 
The tea after it has been 炒. It was right in front of me and it was smelled really nice. 
This is the tools to just make tea. Reminded me of Lao Yao's purchase of a tea set the night before and he didn't manage to bargain to his desired price. Haha 
How can i leave without even taking a photo with the serene scenery? Ever since we step into China, all our meals consist of TEA. Only one restuarant serves coke and beer. But the rest are always tea. But still we didn't complain and even got used to it.
This dragon head has water coming out of it. We were told to wash our hands and then touch ourselves from head to toe before finally putting them in our pockets. This signifies bringing wealth back with us. Well, being typical Singaporeans we all did it. Who will mind extra wealth? Haha
We were told that to bring bottles down to contain the water, some of us even carried two. The poor guy of course is the one who helped us to fill the bottles. Xiao Deng rocks...he had to filled like 30 over bottles since there was 38 of us and many empty bottles. Haha well it's because we are not allowed to simply dipped the water in to fill it and if we dirtied it the villages will come after us. So yea Xiao Deng is the man for the job. He said, "我带一天的团都没这么累!" Haha
But he is never too tired to take a photo. 
After that, we went to have a go at either riding a horse or archery. Of course we had to pay for both activities. But converting it back to Sing dollars it was worth it. 
Me on my small horse. It was really scary cause it was my second time on a horse. Off we go to a wishing stone and to get a view of the entire village. 
Wish wish wish...
The village
Archery is a must try!! And the following people agrees with me. =) Andrea and i took turns playing. I closed my eyes for the first one but still managed to hit the target. 
Glenda
Yi Ling
Zhe Ying
Xiao Deng teaching Benson how to hold and shoot. Guess he must have brought a lot of tour to this place. 
Off he goes on his own, Benson that is.
Lao Yao and Mr Wong giving it a go.
George
Wen Song
Vanessa 
Yi Ling looks sad because the bow is almost as tall as herself. 
After all that hard work of filling up our bottles, Xiao Deng takes a break. And some of us took turns taking photos with him. 
Next is a personal favourite place of mine. Strawberry Farm!!! I can smell those yummy, juicy, delicious strawberries calling out to us. Strawberry heaven here we come!! 
Everyone grabbed a basket and started plucking them. Yi Ling's one was pretty empty so Xiao Deng chipped in to pluck for her. Zhe Ying helped us as well since they were wearing dark coloured shoes and the place was pretty muddy. Thanks you guys. 
Unglam Queen Rong Xing actually even pull the entire plant out.
Bargain King (Zhi Wen) +Unglam Queen 2 (Elizabeth) who actually pulled out the plant that Rong Xing tried to plant back.
Want a bite? 
Look at all the contented faces. We were queing to paid for our strawberries and it was really cheap. Paid about 15 bucks for a few kg of it cause i combinded mine with Yi Ling's. We were on our way to Zhuhai from Zhongshan when we had to stop for military checks. 
But we got cleared after our guides explained to them that we are of no threat. Moving on to Zhuhai, we headed to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park. At the entrance, we were sliently begging for Xiao Deng to speed up his purchase for our tickets because almost all of us were desperate to use the washroom. Some of the guys were checking out the map outside of the entrance to locate the toilet. Finally the gates were opened to us, Zhe Ying and Yong Wei started leading the way to the toilet. At first, we were trying to keep our image by walking quickly but in the end we just ended up running. Guan Hong who was one of those at the back told me that the ticket guards was commenting why are we in such a rush? It's not as if there's gold inside the park. Haha. 
In the end, the toilet is our first visit. It's by far the best toilet in Mainland China. Though there is no sign of a toilet bowl. I guess we all have gotten use to the standard procedures of rolling up our pants before using the toilets. We then went on to tour the park itself. First place was the house of Sun Yat Sen.
We were not supposed to take photos inside due to reasons linked to respect. 
But still someone got a shot of the bedroom. It was similar to something that comes out of televison drama. 
Books of Sun Yat Sen. 
Sun Yat Sen in his younger days. 
Sun Yat Sen in his much younger days. 
Towards the end, i was glad to have the chance to get to know the people better. From left: Dickson, Guan Hong, Zhi Wen, Bao Yi, Me, Stephanie, Rong Xing, Elizabeth, Jasmine, Joyce, Denise and Tzi Khee.
Finally before we left the place, we took a group photo under this sign and Xiao Deng took the liberty to explain the words to us. But i doubt we remeber any of it at all. After dinner, we went maket researching and Bao Yi, Stephanie, Yi Ling and i were the last to alight from the bus. Ms Ng stopped us and asked if we would like to buy vcds and that the guides are gonna bring us there. We agreed and followed Xiao Deng to a "black" shop which from the outside looks innocently like they are operating those toy shops. But a hidden door reveals more treasure or should i say the "real" stuffs. On our way there, we went into alleys and pass by shops. At that point of time, i felt as though i'm really entering the China life and not simply seeing only the tourist side of China. Lao Yao bought 700+ worth of dvds and some of them are "yellow" ones. He managed to push it down to 600 i think. For the rest of us, we benefitted from this big buyer. He simply asked if there's water to drink and very soon one of the employee appeared with cold green tea bottles. But she missed out one for Bao Yi and she went a second time to buy. I felt important but of course conditions is that we buy more. Haha...Ms Ng bargained for us. She was really sweet, really like a mother to us during the trip. No wonder she's all the guys' "Ah Bu". She took really good care of us during the nights of market research. Bringing us across the road, going for "Gui Ling Gao" and Ginger sauce with Buffalo milk. All those sweet memories. Back at hotel, we had a strawberry party in Ms Ng's room. We threw almost 3/4 of our entire loot because they were too ripe. We washed them with mineral water before heading off to Ms Ng's room. In the lift, we met Mr Kam and i offered strawberries to two strangers in the life. Before we got out, they wanted to take some more but Mr Kam told them no more. Haha Mr Kam "saved" us man. In Ms Ng's room we met more of the girls and we started eating. Whenever we are almost finished, a new group appears with more strawberries. At that point i swore i'm staying off strawberries for awhile and i did. Haha but more because it's expensive in Singapore.
iblog; 5:16 PM