Last week I did some well work which was wonderful.  We went to a couple wells under construction and did some follow ups on some older ones.  It turns that one of our previous wells dried up.  Most wells we use are artesian- which means they act like a hole in a water balloon.  When you have a full water balloon and gently poke a hole in it, it will spray water out (that is, if you don't have a super full balloon- then it explodes :-) .  The same concept holds true for artesian wells. Underground aquifers are under pressure from holding all their water, so when a hole is dug into them it typically releases some of that pressure by draining some water upwards into the well.  However, if there is no pressure, there is no water.  Since it is dry season, it is not uncommon to have wells dry up until the rainy season.  Our wells typically don't dry because we dig them relatively deep, but it isn't unheard of.  It is possible to add a pump to the well to syphon water from the ground despite the lack of pressure, but the cost is higher, and the maintenance required typically leaves them broken after a year or two.

In the process of all this I was able to do a lot of moto driving.  It was really fun.  We went down a lot of back roads which were predominantly mounds  of dirt about a foot high and somewhere between 2 feet and 6 inches wide.  I am very glad I got my motorcycle permit last year with the aid of Ardel and his motorcycle skills because, even though we were only going about 40kmh, it was pretty intense at times.  

I also saw a number of ancestor shrines.  The most common kind are mold cast clay of some kind with a bright colored paint job.  They are almost all identical, and 8/10 houses or so have them in the front yard.  I learned the concept during school so it is really interesting for me to see them in practice.  The concept, to my knowledge, is probably different than from what I learned (ancestors can, like catholic saints, intercede to God for you, but you need to send them stuff and keep them content  in the afterlife- and also send them things to bribe God we with :-)  which was based on ancient Chinese customs.  Out here the predominant offering is incense and beer- yum!  If anyone on dioenglish knows more about shrines and ancestor worship please let me know, because it is very interesting.  I don't remember seeing any in Hainan when I was there a few years ago.