More from Hunan

Even though my trip to Hunan was a month ago, I still want to share some other stories and pictures from our visit. From the map below, you can see Hunan in the southern part of China, highlighted in orange. Southern China in most Chinese people's eyes = spicy food, the willingness to eat any kind of meat or insect that dares to cross your path, and no indoor heating during the winter. My mom and I experienced 2 out of 3 of these, probably saved from eating too many strange meats because of Tony's constant reminder to his mom about what was acceptable for us. (Although, my mom did eat frog legs which was probably out of her comfort zone...for me, eh, tastes like chicken.) I LOVED the spicy food! Tony's mom makes a smoked bacon dish that can only be described as "a party with your taste buds being the VIP guest." Now, back in Tianjin the food seems somewhat bland...good thing Tony's mom filled his suitcase with beef, bacon, sausage, fish and chicken that we've been enjoying for the past several weeks! :) We also had to get used to life without indoor heating, which included wearing our winter coats at ALL times while inside and even being able to see our breath when it got into the evening hours. We spent a lot of time sitting around a small table with a huge, thick blanket flung over the top, housing underneath some hot coals to keep our toes warm.

Apart from the wedding festivities, there were a few other Spring Festival traditions that we took part in. On the eve of Spring Festival we had a HUGE dinner...a feast enjoyed by the 5 of us and before the dinner we took time to recognize our grandparents. Tony's mom prepared 5 bowls of rice and meat (one for each of his grandparents who have passed on and one bowl to represent my grandparents and their many years to come). His dad lit firecrackers outside and then the "ceremony" was over, almost as quick as it began! That night we played Mah jong, watched the nationwide broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala and amplified our speaking while the fireworks grew louder and louder as midnight approached. It was great fun to watch my mom's reaction to the fireworks...I've blogged about this before and still say that it is not something that can be described, you have to witness it. I believe she would agree.

Another interesting aspect of the trip was our day at Tao Hua Yuan, a famous garden near Tony's hometown. The story is that a gifted poet wanted to find a place which was free from all of the noise and corruption of the city and government. So he searched for miles and miles around southern China before he found a large, secluded piece of land filled with peach blossom trees and created a kind of utopia there for himself. Tony and I took this opportunity to take some very unofficial engagement pictures...those and some other highlights of Tao Hua Yuan are included below!