Laos Books

Yesterday we had the Lantern Festival, marking the official end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Launching a paper lantern into a night sky is actually strangely captivating. It brings an unexpected moment of stillness and childlike wonderment.
Someone explained to me that it is a celebration of family, ancestors and ancient gods. It also, I hope, means no more firecrackers outside my bedroom window at 6am. Dont rent a ground floor flat in Shanghai unless you enjoy firecrackers in the spring, mosquitoes in the summer and icy floors in the winter.

We were given a two-week break from school, which felt like a real bonus coming so soon after the Christmas break. Many of my international classmates took the opportunity to travel a little in Asia Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines seem to be at the top of everyones list.
A friend very kindly invited me and a few others to visit his home town in Jiangsu, which is one of Shanghais neighbouring provinces. He told me he came from a fishing village which had now developed a bit of a hand tool industry.

This was true, but in a Chinese context. The town turned out to have a population of 200,000 (300,000 including migrant workers) and the fishing fleets went as far afield as Fiji. It was a stark combination of rural agriculture and concrete infrastructure.

We arrived the evening before the start of the festival and were immediately thrown into a huge meal with his family, his various uncles and their families and a few close business associates.

The restaurants reception area was basically an aquarium. The table was stacked with the local delicacies, the best of which was probably the blowfish. Then came the huang jiu and the bai jiu.

It was toast after toast, all of which were extremely welcoming and each of which was increasingly warmly felt. It seemed like a game, but if you fell behind someone would tilt an empty glass forwards towards you with a look of disappointment in his eye, on his face, in his shoulders.

Over the next few days we moved from house to house, meal to meal, following a traditional rotation based on the hosts place in the extended family. I made the mistake of politely accepting a cigarette when I dont smoke which meant I was then in on every round and had to stockpile them beside by plate.

It was a great honour to be invited to a friends home and welcomed by his family. I also feel like I received a good glimpse at how the world turns outside the big cities.