Notes

A Place I Have Been To
Nowadays, with the advance in technology, travelling is no longer difficult. We can easily arrive on the other side of the world in just a few hours. But have you ever went to a place which you were deeply impressed that the experience you would hardly forget? Luckily, I had once.
It was a small village called Qishui, which means “near the water” according to the native language. To be honest, I was not very pleased with this place when I first stepped on it. What I saw was a small, undeveloped village which was far away from town. The sun was setting, the street lamp should had been switched on if there was one. However, I could just do nothing but following the steps of the villager in front of me on the dirty, muddy road. I was regretting that I didn’t bring a torch with me. This place would really get people lost at night.
After walking for nearly an hour on the poor boggy road, eventually I reached a flatland with a few small thatched cottages which seemed to collapse easily in windy days and an old woman who I recognized standing in front of one of them. That’s my grandmother. Yes, this was my hometown, a place where my grandparents and cousins lived.
Grandma took me into the house with other cousins and relatives. They showed their warmest welcome to me with all the kind words and I could feel their fervor because there was an electric fan next to the bed I would lie onto, and I even saw a plain chicken as one of the dishes for dinner, which would be too luxurious to them. Although the environment wasn’t the best, they treated me with their best hospitality.
After I had settled down, a few cousins of mine came to me with excitement, saying they had prepared a special experience for me.
I was taken to the wharf with a boat anchored. It was a small, old boat which was about ten persons in capacity, so-called “fishing raft”. The motor at the back end of the raft was coated with red-brown rust. There was a narrow gangplank between the wharf and the boat with a layer of green, slippery moss painted. I had to step down gingerly to the ship as it would be a tragedy when a man who could not swim falling into the sea.
As we were travelling to the middle of the sea in the noise of the motor, I was told that all the villagers in Qishui were fishermen, and my cousins would like me to have an experience of their daily life.
The hand on my watch had already run several quarters until we arrived at the scheduled destination. A bundle of net was thrown into the water with a corner fastened on a balloon in orange.
The net was taken up after half an hour, I eventually realize why the fishermen are so strong – the net seemed contain tones of rocks! All of us were sweating like a pig and the clothes were all wet. I could not imagine how hard it would be to have this process repeatedly in a day!
The world of ocean was an amazing place as there were far more species than the land had. The seafood being caught up were rich in variety. They were of different sizes, colours, and shapes. The largest one was a three-meter silvery swordfish, it was a weapon in sea as its sword-liked mouth could easily pierce through others’ body. There were also a few starfishes, some of them were brick red in colour, and some of them were in deep blue.
Finally we returned to the village with a full cabin of seafood under the groan of the motor, and the time taken was double of the trip earlier. I was afraid the engine would break down and trapped us in the middle of the sea.
In the evening, all of us had barbecue on a piece of grassland. We ate the seafood caught earlier before, it was amazing to have the whole village dinning together. The cooked swordfish was hanged on a wooden frame and was divided by ten people. This was the most delicious dinner I had ever had – the self-made food were always more delicious than those in restaurants. We also had fun in playing firecrackers and lion dance.
Clearly this trip was the most special one among those I had before, there were no 5-star-hotel room nor world famous tourist spots. What I came across was a crowd of relatives that would treat me with sincerity. It was really a memorable journey to have a taste of some unsophisticated life.