by Kim Whitwell
For the first weekend in December, 19 InternChina staff and interns travelled overland to the rural area of Kaiping, China to experience the rural offerings of historic diaolou country.
Setting off from Zhuhai, we all made our introductions and settled into getting to know each other. It was the first group trip the PMSA Kiwi students were involved in since landing a week earlier, so friendships were formed pretty early on.
Tangkou Community Project
Met by our tour guide Peter, and newly opened hostel owner Rocky in Tangkou, the group arrived just in time for a cooked lunch made with local produce from the area. Bellies full, and smiles on our faces for the blue skies and green scenery Kaiping was providing for us, we jumped on our bikes and followed Peter for the first of our diaolou tours.
Diaolous are fortified watchtowers built by the overseas Chinese in order to protect their rural home towns. To ensure their families were safe during mass emigration in the 20th century, overseas Chinese sent money back from afar to build them.
Displayed to the public, the presence of dialous are a marker of Chinese history and heritage. It reflects the rich culture and influences from both immigration (styles of décor in the diaolous show western influence) and emigration.
We wove in and out of rice fields all at the many different stages of cropping. Peter provided the knowledge and the various rural communities provided the photo opportunities. We all soaked in the authentic appearance and operations of the locals who went about their daily business with little more than a “ni hao!” in response to ours. We saw drying bok choy, rice husking, traditional instrument playing and oxen all within an hour.
On return to the hostel, we settled into the night on the roof top area watching the last of the sunlight fade. The hostel kitchen provided another extremely delicious meal, which some interns helped prepare. After, Peter captivated us with more of his extensive and passionate knowledge of diaolou country.
More chat, more beers and more laughter followed well into the night with a great time had by all . The immaculate hostel providing the most comfortable place to lay our heads for the night.
Day Two
Day two arose with breakfast (a personal highlight) of both Chinese and Western cuisine (peanut butter on toast)! Then onto the bus we hopped to travel to some unique UNESCO sites in the local areas.
Bamboo forests and a local wedding greeted us at our first stop. Peter continued his extensive commentary on the history and significance of diaolous, mansions and operations in the local villages. Stop number two provided the Instagram opportunities! Lunch back at the hostel concluded our weekend in Kaiping. Bellies full once more, smiles a plenty and memories made, we filed back onto the bus and travelled a fairly sleepy and quiet journey home.
The Area
Kaiping is an authentic display of Chinese rural life that draws you into a time machine back 30 years. The attractions aren’t crowded or over commercialised so the experiences you have are very much genuine. Peter’s knowledge of the area and history behind it was captivating. He helped bring to life a part of the world not well known or considered in the tourism industry. Rocky has created an accommodation space that also feels genuine and homely. Utilising the infrastructure provided by history within the area the place is quirky and unique. If you are looking for a relaxing, yet interesting, time out from city life, this trip is for you.
Last Thursday, Philippe and me were invited to a 15th anniversary celebration of a fancy spa company in Zhuhai – as VIPs. We had a great time there and enjoyed it a lot.
Here is the hotelroom they offered for free to us, unfortunately we did not have enough time to have a cup of tea and enjoy the beautiful countryside view there, but we did lots of fun things:
After we checked in, they had an opening ceremony. We went there and joined in. After the ceremony, they had lots of fireworks. There were also many local snacks which we could (and did) try. Phil and me tried several kinds of snacks and drunk several bottles of beer (it’s part of doing business in China, not that you think we had any fun there ;)), then we were invited to a decent French restaurant to have some great food, coffee, deserts and lots of wine. They had a wine tasting party there, we tasted some rose wine, white wine and champagne.
After lots of wine, we moved out to the garden, we were drinking some nice wine again and talked to our friends. When drinking with a bosom friend, a thousand cups will still be too little, haha…
We went back to our hotel room around 4:30am, and had a very good rest after the big party, I really didn’t want to get up in the morning, but I didn’t want to miss the Spa, so I got up at 9:30am with super hang over, after taking a shower, I wore my swimsuit and bath robe to have breakfast, I met Phil there. We had some western food and felt much better after. Then we went to the spa. They have over 30 pools there, we almost tried all of them in 1.5hours. I can say that a great spa is the best thing when having a hang over. Especially on a rainy morning.
Come for an internship at one of Zhuhai’s most beautiful Spahotels! Apply now for ‘ZHBS40’ via email or through our website directly – We are looking forward to receiving your application!
