Sunflower Beams: First glimpses of the village

I got the order of my photos mixed up, this post should have come before the previous 2, but doesn't matter :)

Daan's big brought us out for many drives throughout the 3 weeks we were there.
Mid-summer is a time for relaxation because the crops are all planted and it's not time for harvest yet.

The first of many watermelons we ate :)

Watermelons are especially sweet in Xinjiang, they grow very well because of the long summer daylight hours.
They cost $0.90RMB per kg, that's about S$0.60 for a 3kg watermelon!
Big sister-in-law said that when there was a good harvest, they used to sell for $11RMB for a whole gunny sack full of watermelons.
When I came back to Singapore, someone tried to sell me a teensy weensy slice of pale watermelon for S$1 (!!). Needless to say, I didn't buy it and walked away with a *so expensive!!* look on my face.
The Xinjiang way of eating watermelon is to slice it into HUGE slices on any surface (coffee table, flat rock on the ground... who needs chopping boards?!), using a small fruit knife.
Experts allow the juice to drip neatly onto the floor (with no need of wiping up afterwards because there are no ants!), whereas inexperienced watermelon-eaters (like myself) get juice dripping all the way down their forearms, onto their clothes and all over their faces.
The watermelon skins get collected in a plastic basin, to be fed to the chickens (of which every household has a few).
If you happen not to finish your watermelon (which happens rarely, because everyone loves watermelon, and there's usually so many people around), you can just cover the cut surface with a plastic bag and leave the watermelon on the table overnight. No ants!

Early maize. It'll be another 3 months before harvesting. Crops belong to big sis-in-law's family.

There is very little rainfall in Xinjiang (compared to Singapore).
It just happened that it rained for a few days when we first arrived.
While we were there from end July to early August, daytime temperature reached a peak of 35 degrees celsius, while it's at a cool of about 18 degress at night.
Relative humidity is low, so you hardly feel sweaty or sticky even on a hot day.

Mist after rain. Taken at 5.15pm.

I like how the clouds look :)

Taken at 5.27pm.

Taken at 6.33pm. See how fast the skies clear up!

Skewered mutton kebabs ready for roasting!

Big brother-in-law and father-in-law burning the wool off the sheep's head and legs. Said parts were kept for cooking mutton rice some days later.

Chimney on the rooftop. Smoke issues from kitchen. I assume the bricks on top are used to keep the rain out.

Mother-in-law has a large vegetable garden just beside the house!
I was helping to cook one day, and after 4th sis-in-law and I decided on the dishes, she said "ok, you can go pluck the vegetables now!"
Talk about fresh food! :)

Carrots on the left, eggplant on the right.

Green chilli. Found in almost every dish, or cooked as a main dish. In Singapore, my mum hardly ever cooks chilli. No wonder Daan always buys so much green chilli whenever we go to the market in Guangzhou - it's staple food! Mystery solved!