17052011 When the sun eludes you

You go wandering around in the rain aimlessly. Which was what I did.

First thing I did this morning was to hike up the hills to pay a visit to the tour guide, Mr Li’s place, because he allowed us to use the internet at his place. Very nice of him to serve me hot chinese tea, but his cat wanted the most attention, but walking all over the keyboard while I was trying to type out my report. Finally it got tired of its own antics and went curling up in its favourite blue chair next to mine while I did my work.

Thanked Mr. Li and his cat gave me a meowing bye before I took the main road back to our hostel. The mist was still enveloping the town, though drawing back a little now as it neared late morning. Since it was Wesak day, I decided to head to the only temple in the sleepy town, but we stopped for tofu fa along the way because the boss, a cheerful man called out to us.

His little shop was made livelier with the presence of fresh dainty white and yellow flowers, which he decorated every table including the counter with it. We asked for a taste of his steaming hot tofu fa and he was more than willing to obliged, even letting us in on a little bit of its secret.

The sweet sugary soup which was served over the tofu fa had ginger added to it, which was just perfect for a cold day like this. He then brought us out the raw ginger, and it was as huge as my head! While in Malaysia we usually have our tofu fa, just the tofu and the sweet broth, he insisted that we try it with peanuts and pearls.

Though a little hesitant at first, I went ahead and it was heavens! The tofu fa was silky smooth, better than any I’ve ever had back in my country. When I told him about that, he was amused and told us that it was produced the same way his grandmother had, using almost a century old technique. The soft boiled peanuts and the chewy pearls added a twist to how I’ve known tofu fa as it was, but he said the locals loved it with sides.

Before moving on to the temple, thanked him for the delicious warm treat, and headed down to the end of the road for the temple. There was no one in sight, so just prayed and went on our way, along the old railroad tracks which then led us to the second hanging bridge.

Apparently this hanging bridge was larger than the other one, called Pan Long. Locals told us that cars could cross over it, as they used to have people living on the other side of the river, until it became too much of a hassle. Now, a proper stone bridge has been built for that purpose, so cars ceased to use the bridge anymore.

Wandered back to the train station, and decided to buy a ticket to the very next station after Neiwan, which was Fugui. This is what boredom does to you. It makes you go in search of some little adventure.

The Fugui station was nothing more than a long stone platform right next to the main road. After the train went chugging off, it was eerily silent, and for the first time I noticed there was an old unmarked grave on the opposite hill. Also, we had no idea what we were doing, so we followed the only road we could see, which went winding uphill.

The road ended at a temple, so I asked a guy who was standing in its compound what god resides in there, and he said it was the 土地公 (Tu di gong), or god of the earth. Went in to pay our respects before going back down the road. There were more graves built among the hills opposite, and struck up a random conversation in Hakka with two ladies whom we passed earlier.

When they found out that I could converse in their mother tongue, they were full of surprised and asked where did we come from. Told them and they started grinning, and told us that once in a while, some lost foreigner would come by. “Just a few minutes ago, a Japanese tourist was lost here,” they cackled in their Hakka, which was a little different from mine, but still, the message got through.

Waved them goodbye and headed back to the station for the next train which would bring us back to Neiwan.

Back in Neiwan, it was almost evening by now, and there was a guy selling chiffon cakes which gave off a nice smell, so we couldn’t resist and bought one, for breakfast we said. With a cake in tow, we went down the same street, but took a different turning this time round and came across a shop which sells Lei cha.

The shopkeepers had almost closed for the day, so we were their very last customers. While the sons went round to prepare the lei cha drink for us, the old man sat down and started conversing with us. Hakka people, love to ask you where you come from, and I told them our family hailed from Longchuan, in the Guangdong province. Over the cold cups of lei cha, he told us stories of this little Hakka village, how they finally settled here, the war which then brought the Japanese rule, and finally, how all the young ones left.

By the time we left the lei cha shop, the sun was almost setting, but since the shopkeeper told us that we could find fireflies, we decided to try our luck, but we only got terrible mosquitoes bites instead. Headed back to our hostel a little dejected, and the lady boss found us. We told her of our luckless tries to spot fireflies but there weren’t any, and she said we were looking in all the wrong places. She then promised to bring us out once it was dark enough.

Almost 9pm, armed with torchlights and our lady boss as a guide, we pattered across the road leading to the opposite bank of the river, and started to hike uphill. I was rather doubtful, to be honest, about the firefiles, but as we climbed higher into the hills, we started seeing them, and their numbers gradually increased! Presently we found ourselves among a sea of little flickering yellow lanterns, and lady boss even cupped a few in her hands for us to see.

Walked along the hill and she showed us where she had once lived with her husband, when they first got married. The buildings were all gone now, she said. She pointed out a few other lands which belonged to her, but it seemed deserted, with no prospect of anyone renting it from her. With a heavy sigh, she led us back across the hanging bridge to our hostel.