Tina's dad celebrated his 60th birthday while we were visiting. Actually, his true birthday isn't until October, but Tina told me that it's not uncommon to celebrate a big birthday during the Chinese New Year.
Her mom bought these candles to light for the birthday. Tina lit them in the morning, and they burned all day until the bucket caught on fire, then we put them out. :)
We went to a local restaurant for the birthday celebration. This is one of the five tables or so that were reserved for the event. Most of Tina's family is downstairs, greeting guests and lighting firecrackers.
It was my first time (that I remember) trying turtle. It wasn't very good. It just tasted fishy but was also kinda slimy.
A couple of days later, Tina and I went to a very famous mountain - Lu Shan. Tina's Dad actually "promised" me that I could go here, and he was really bound and determined that I should go. After much debating, it was decided that we would take a shuttle service from Tina's home to NanChang to take the train. In quite typical style, Tina told her dad that morning that she needed 10 more minutes to get ready. He said fine, but he actually went ahead and called the shuttle to stop by. We were rushed out the door and into the back of a 15-person van. The very back - where we were sitting - had no seat, only a few stools. So we sat there for an hour, got to the train station, and took an hour and a half train to the Lu Shan station. Once there, we joined another shuttle service that drives guests around the many sights of the mountain. But we still had another hour to go up the mountain - on a winding road in the fog. It was really quite scary, as the driver kept passing cars by driving on the wrong side of the road and laying on his horn, while talking on a cellphone.
Finally, we made it to the top.
Something about it reminded me of Gatlinburg.
We had lunch at this noodle shop. It was very tasty and importantly, hot.
It was the first time I've ever been so high up that I felt dizzy.
The next day it was already time for me to leave. Tina's mom prepared a feast before I left and insisted that I take lots of snacks - an apple, three bananas, plum seeds, peanuts, cookies, candies - for the road.
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
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