Hi guys and girls, Well trip number four was fantastic, The flight was the usual turbulent ride but with no sleep as i was a little excited to be seeing my wife once again
, The plane touched down in Beijing and it seemed forever to get through customs and in to the reception area, The airport was absolutely jam packed with tiny people with black hair and smiles on their faces, I quickly scanned the crowd and then I saw the most beautiful smile that I had ever seen, I could not get to her quick enough, It was the happiest reunion we have had so far and I must say she has become soooo much more affectionate.
We took a taxi straight to Beijing train station and boarded our train to Handan, We arrived a little before midnight and checked in to our usual hotel and again the staff remembered us and greeted us with the warmest welcome, MinYing got another good deal on the room, Around 320 RMB which was cheaper than the usual going rate.
We woke late the following day as for the late night previous,
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The next day was the wedding, The bride (Liu Li), Who is one of MinYings best friends called us and asked us to meet her at the salon where she was getting her hair and make up done, We greeted the bride and she demanded that we join her in the bridal car that she was in, And she wanted us to sit in the back and her in the front
, Any way, We made our way to the family home which took about 45 minutes with driving down the wrong side of a duel carriage way and on to a muddy road, ( Did wonders for the black Audi A6 and the Black Honda accord), We arrived and there must have been around 200 people there waiting to see the bride, The back door of the car opened and out climbed this 189cm Westerner, Half of them gazed at me with open mouths and nearly dropped their noodles back in to their bowls as they were eating
, We walked to the home and the people just stared in amazement, I do not think half of them had seen a foreigner before, The bride sat on the bed and was fussed over by the other women and i just sat on a stool and was handed a bowl of noodles by someone and was offered cigarettes and drinks by these amazed people.
A little while later the cameras came out and pictures were taken of the bride with some of her friends and i noticed that several cameras were trained on me,
, I was happy to smile for the pictures so half a dozen or so were taken, The groom entered the room and put the ring on the brides finger and put her shoes on her feet and then they left the house for some pictures and then got in the car and we all left .
We arrived at the new home of the bride and groom and went inside where there was around 50 or so guests and again they all stared in awe at the westerner who was hand in hand with a Chinese woman, (we get so many stares when we hold hands together), About 30 people made their way up the stair well and the groom stayed down stairs with his friends, Dinner was served and the rest of the men left the room to join the groom and i was the only man in the room to eat dinner with about twenty women,
, About 30 minutes passed and an older Chinese man came up with a bottle of bai jio, (here we go again), He asked if i would like a cup
, I accepted and he filled my cup to the top and poured himself a small glass
, I drank it and he quickly filled it to the brim again, This time i made him pour himself the same amount so reluctantly he did , Someone got his attention and MinYing replaced the cup of bai jio with a cup of sprite, she did this for the next three cups when he was not looking
, I must say he was quite drunk when he left the room, ha ha, (Thank you my love).
The rest of the evening was uneventful and we later left and went to the family home where i was greeted with a warm welcome from the whole family including MinYings father who was at first dead against his daughter marrying a westerner, We retired early after eating AGAIN
, How do these people eat so much?
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The following morning we woke and was called for breakfast which consisted of no fewer than 8 courses and again the bai jio came out and my wife's father poured my cup to the brim and poured himself and MinYings older brother a smaller amount
, After 3 cups of the gut rot and everyone putting food in my bowl I felt need to sleep again, About 4 hours later i woke and went down to the family room and was again welcomed by the whole family, And then it hit me ,,, I needed to use the dreaded squat toilet, ( I can not get used to these things), And then time for lunch,
, How do these people eat so much so often???, I could not refuse as it might offend ma ma.
The next day we went to Handan airport for our interview in Shanghai, MinYing absolutely loves to fly now, (only her second time), The plane reversed out and then the pilot hit the engines at full speed and we were off, No taxiing down the runway we just went off at full speed, We landed in Shanghai and found the hotel and had an early night
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The next morning MinYing was a little nervous but confident, We had breakfast and made our way to the Australian consulate general office where we waited for our interview, We had a warn welcome from Joyce Wang who is the Senior Case Officer at the Shanghai office, She is about in her mid to late twenties and is a very friendly lady, She took MinYing in first and I waited in the waiting room, I met two other Aussies there and started to talk to them and found out that they have been waiting for 9 months for their interview and they were pissed when I told them I only waited 7 weeks for ours, Around 30 minutes later Joyce came out and asked for me to join them in her office, I sat down and she asked me a few questions about family and background and she questioned why some of our QQ chat was in pin yin, My reply was that I have been learning to speak Chinese and write in pin yin to make our communication even better rather than just expecting MinYing to learn English, She was very pleased that i have been making the effort.
The rest of the interview went well and i noticed that she and my wife were both getting on so well and talking and laughing together, Joyce asked me to look at some documents that she had and she looked impressed when i asked MinYing for my glasses so i could focus properly,( I spoke in Chinese), The only thing that was asked from us was a new birth certificate to co-inside with the new notarized correction of the previous mistake, I asked about the processing times and Joyce told us that it will be around 3- 4 months, I was happy to hear this, I left with good spirits, Joyce also told us that she thought it was a very romantic way of meeting each-other through the internet as i was only looking for a guide for my first trip to China and things grew from there.
We got back to the hotel room and I laid on the bed and MinYing laid on me and cried her heart out, After a few minutes she told me that someone said to her that if the interview was successful she was to have the visa granted so she could join me here within a few days, I explained to her that it has to be put in a queue as there are many people applying for the 309 visa and not to listen to anyone who has not been through the process before, She understands that we must wait and hope for a good outcome but is very confident now that we will be together next year, We went to The Pearl Tower for dinner that night even though she protested about the 600rmb price, WOW, $100 Australian, She is so careful with money.
We returned to Handan the next day and got a taxi and the driver told MinYing that there was a new hotel in Handan and it was cheaper than the one that we always use so she said we should stay there (Who am i to argue with a woman so careful with money?) We proceeded to the hotel which was not new but just a little renovated, We went to the room and turned on the air-conditioning and then went for a walk, We returned sometime later to find that the room was like an oven, MinYing went down to reception and told them that we would be leaving as the air-conditioning was hopeless, Their reply was that they would charge us around 100 RMB for their inconvenience and she went off the deep end, There was customers in the reception and the manager came down and refunded all our money just to get her out of the hotel and not scare the rest of the customers from the hotel, We proceeded back to the usual hotel we stay at and there was no problem, The next day we met with some of her girlfriends and we ate again
, ( I put on 6 kilos is 10 days), The next day we returned to the family home and ate again, And drank more bai jio
, It turns out that it was her brothers birthday, We went to a restaurant which consisted of around 20 people and the women gathered in one room and the men in another, MinYing joined me with the men and the meal got under way, OH NO , MORE BAI JIO, The brothers friends toasted me one by one trying to get me drunk but one by one after about an hour they declined my return toasts , (pussies) Anyway it was a great evening, Back to the family home for the night and to sleep on the bed which consists of a very hard base with-out a mattress, My back ached in the morning, ( how i love Chinese beds).
The next morning, mama told me that they were going to make dumplings, Around 250 dumplings were made
, mama boiled me up around 20 of these and made me eat them all by myself and then the rest of the family was called to eat and she expected me to join the family and eat more
Again father brought in another bottle of the dreaded BAI JIO and poured me a cup full again, Then came lunch and then came dinner, I was like a stuffed pig.
The next few days were the usual with meeting her many friends and eating AGAIN, I must say that i have never been made so welcome by any-one but the Chinese people and I enjoy every moment with them and I am always welcomed back by my wife's many friends, QQ International has brought us closer as we talk for many hours each night and MinYing is always waiting for me every night, Technology is a wonderful, I wish i brought her a computer after I first met her in Beijing so the lonely nights were not so bad but I am happy to see her every night now.
I guess that I need not tell you that our hearts sank when the alarm went off on our last morning together, It is so nice to wake with the woman you love sleeping in your arms, Something I miss and look forward to doing every morning in the future, This time the good bye was too much for me, I was tears in my eyes and she was not so good too, Well it is nearly 8:30 now and Minying will be on-line soon so i must close, By the way, Trip number 5 is booked and paid for, I will be joining my wife on 21/12 and she is so happy that I will stay for 29 days, In just hope that I will not be returning home alone, Hope I have not bored you with a long post,, Regards from MinYing and John.
