mARTin-on-tour.demy travel blog

We get up so early today that after we have breakfast at 7am, we sleep for 2 hours on the bus until we arrive at a fruit plantation. Guess what – sponsored traveling again. We pick a fresh piece of blueberry-like fruit named mulberry from the tree and it tastes good. There is also this fish pond which is completely full of hungry goldfish.
Another 30min bus ride to the next sales attraction. This time it’s all about pumpkins. The attractions are built up very similar. A person comes into the bus and gives an introduction. The group follows the person through a way under a roof. On the way the person speaks about the production\culture\agriculture\health benefits. At the end of the way is an air conditioned room with lots of chairs and a board to write on. The person explains the product for about 20-30 minutes in a very intense clear voice and body language and eye contact – would be nice if some teachers could get the same education – getting the attention and explaining things to a bored crowd. The group is then led to a shop where lots of sales personnel are waiting to sell the products to the group. The Chinese government organizes these ‘attractions’, that’s why the procedures are very similar, just the theme is different each time. After this pumpkin site, we have lunch and take a short walk around where you can see the making-of process in the shops – shop and factory at one site. I am also followed by a beggar then.
Back to the bus to the next sales attraction. This time a woman with a funny voice introduces us to the culture of her tribe. We first get a scarf-like thing to put around our neck for blessings, then get four little cups of different tasty tea as a welcome, in a nice hut made of wood and bamboo, sourrounded by banana trees. The last stop of the 3-day tour is a typical Chinese entertaining show about some tribes in the Yuannan province. There is a lot of singing and dancing where they wear different nice tribal costumes, where girls show their bellybuttons and boys showing their chests. There are also a few acrobatics performances which feel quite scary: two sisters performing many different poses on a circular-moving ladder in the air, two boys walking on broken glasses one even carried a man on his back, a boy placed a boiling hot iron on his tongue. Apart from the scary feeling, I also feel so attractive today that a tribal girl places a scented heart necklace on me by showing her affection. I am invited on stage together with two other guys to co-perform in their bride-picking play. I am asked to follow the girl to do some girly poses. Then I have to choose a bride between two face-covered ‘girls’. Unfortunately, the ‘girl’ I choose is actually a boy. Nevertheless, I enjoy the show. Now we are on the bus driving back to Shen Zhen!
After some refreshment, we go out to Central and enjoy the Peabody – a band from Sydney – in the Carvern. It is a classy small venue with some cool lighting and effects.