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Post by Henry on Jun 6, 2010 7:03:23 GMT -5
Posted by Henry Tom for Douglas Lam - no access to the SiYi Forum from China
My Excellent Adventures in China: An introduction from you can do wonders.
Day 1 Thursday, May 27, 2010 My trip finally gets underway, I want to share it with fellow Forum members and visitors. It is a little like a blow-by-blow description of my daily activity. It is my observation, from my perspective as one who is returning to the land of his birth, of interesting incidents and characters which maybe of interest to fellow travellers who are keen on things China. As for digital images, I have to wait for my return to Sydney so that my children can upload them for me. I am very much an IT ignoramus. For starters, I do not have a digital camera, I have to borrow one later on and learn to use it. I only have an old-fashioned 35mm SLR, which comes up well short for modern usage. I fly Virgin Atlantic for the sake of saving a few bucks. I could have flown direct to Guangzhou, and make my way to my village perhaps on the same day. Besides, I may change my mind and want to spend time in HKG. The flight arrives late at night, I am in no hurry to make a quick get away. I decided earlier on to spend the night at HKG Airport, again to save a few bucks more. Why spend hundreds of HK$ just to have a hot shower and a few hours of shut eyes. My dollars will go a lot further in China, and everyone of them counts. It is an experience I have not yet had. And I did not inform anyone in HKG of my trip. I thought I would probably be told to move on by airport security or the police. How wrong I was. There are literally dozens bunked down both in the departure hall and the lower arrival area, and the numbers increase as we get into the small hours. There are Fillipina housemaids, young back-packers with surfboards, Indians and Pakistanis, and Africans who spread-eagle on the seats with large cartoons beside them. There is a large African population in Guangzhou, who ply between their home countries and China as small traders.It is a small United Nations at the airport. I probably don't fit into the profiling of one who chose to spend long hours there.. I travel light, I have only 6.5 kg of check-in luggage. Getting to sleep is hard, so I drag my small bundle of belongings with me as I pace the airport. I now know it much better. I see the need to buy an Octopus Card for my travel needs, I could not find my old one. I check all the public transport routes and timetable. The first route bus that takes me to Prince Edward metro station leaves at 0530. That suits me fine. From there I can join the first bus to cross into China.
Doug
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Post by harc3 on Jun 6, 2010 14:49:00 GMT -5
Thanks for posting for him Henry Have fun Doug, I know I did. Thanks for sharing your journey. Look forward to reading more about it. Good luck and be safe.
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Post by helen on Jun 6, 2010 16:41:26 GMT -5
I know the feeling of no access to this site in Beijing. Look forward to part 2 - Must have a lot to catch up on, seeing as it is dated May 27. A bit like snail mail. Have fun Doug. I envy you
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Post by chansomvia on Jun 7, 2010 17:08:07 GMT -5
Helen, Glad to see this forum being kept up to date of adventurers going into China, I am sure that Douglas Lam is having an unforgettable experience. As said before using a VPN (google it) will allow access to this forum in China.
James To, you and Simon met him in Auckland, has got his Doctorate, and has been appointed by the Ministry to work in the New Zealand Pavilion for six months.
Any members visiting that pavilion can ask for him, and he can give an indepth briefing. Should you want your daughter to meet him please pm me and I will give you his contact in Shanghai.
Joe of Christchurch
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Post by Henry on Jun 8, 2010 5:45:10 GMT -5
Posted by Henry Tom for Douglas Lam - no access to the SiYi Forum from China
My Excellent Adventures in China: An introduction from you can do wonders.
Day 2 Friday 28 May I catch the first route bus at 0530 for Kowloon's Prince Edward Station. In the early morning light, traffic is flowing easily. HK people's can do attitude and the drive to overcome all hurdles is legendary stuff.. Take the new airport, it was created from nowhere. By flattening islands and filling in the sea, a new airport virtually came out of nowhere. There was no land available for such a major infrastructure. And the supporting roads, bridges and dedicated rail link are something else to marvel. I am not a fan of over development, but some development is inevitable. Take Sydney, everyone agrees there is a need for a second airport; and there are plenty of cow paddocks. Yet the bickering goes on for over thirty years. All this not-in-my-backyard mindset is stiffling many major essential infrastructure projects. I think Geoff would agree with me. At Prince Edward Stat. I have plenty of time to have a HK style breakfast after I bought my bus ticket for HK$100. There has not been a price increase for years. Competition is good. The bus leaves at 0730. Things are getting streamlining : there is a one stop Immigration and Customs clearance, you clear HK side and walk straight to the China side. It is a very smooth flow. It can only be good especially for passport holders like us. There is only one incident to report. The bus stops at the usual pit stop, there are people getting off. I thought it was time for a toilet break. So I jump off and make for the toilets. Then I hear the doors closing behind me. The bus is just setting down passengers. I run back on the double and stop the bus from leaving without me. That is too close for comfort. I get to Shiqi or Shekki first then think of a toilet break at a restaurant. After a meal and a cold beer, I get to the familiar Route 10 bus for my village. The fare has actually gone down but there is no conductor onboard any more. It is flat fare for all. I certainly surprise a few people when I turn up unannounced. Douglas
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Post by helen on Jun 8, 2010 6:09:31 GMT -5
Helen, James To, you and Simon met him in Auckland, has got his Doctorate, and has been appointed by the Ministry to work in the New Zealand Pavilion for six months. Any members visiting that pavilion can ask for him, and he can give an indepth briefing. Should you want your daughter to meet him please pm me and I will give you his contact in Shanghai. Joe of Christchurch Thanks Joe, I'll certainly let my daughter know about James. She has just gone to Europe for 2 weeks, so wont be back until near the end of June.
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Post by tyuti1668 on Jun 8, 2010 18:25:58 GMT -5
... There is only one incident to report. The bus stops at the usual pit stop, there are people getting off. I thought it was time for a toilet break. So I jump off and make for the toilets. Then I hear the doors closing behind me. The bus is just setting down passengers. I run back on the double and stop the bus from leaving without me. That is too close for comfort. I get to Shiqi or Shekki first then think of a toilet break at a restaurant. After a meal and a cold beer, I get to the familiar Route 10 bus for my village. The fare has actually gone down but there is no conductor onboard any more. It is flat fare for all. .... Douglas ;D ;D HK bus's fare is cheaper than Shenzhen bus It's HK$150 (3-month open-tix) roundtrip ;D Frequet traveler (1 year package) like myself: $680 fpr 10 (991)/ $800 for 11 (Wing Lee) there's NO pit stop for ZS bus like the OLD "$130 -GDHK" days that refilled @ the 南沙加油站 (Diesel is cheaper & cleaner in HK than mainland) , Panyu that "pit stop" u refer is " 浪网服务区". Flat fare Y2 for #10 bus since 28 March,09 the "un"familiar #29 bus (via many Longdu villages) is also Y2 flat fare ;D
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Post by chansomvia on Jun 9, 2010 6:14:56 GMT -5
Helen, Your daughter sounds very adventurous like you! I will be home in Malaysia first week July then be away to UK to finalise our China trip with my brother-in-law next year. We return through Toronto, New York and LA, we will transit via AKL.
We plan a trip to Shantytown later this year with our Senior Group and will meet the Curator who spent so much time recording the lives of the Chinese miners in the West Coast of New Zealand.
Perhaps Simon can follow us there as it could warrant an article. He could drive through Greymouth to meet us from Nelson.
Joe
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Post by Henry on Jun 10, 2010 6:21:41 GMT -5
Posted by Henry Tom for Douglas Lam - no access to the SiYi Forum from China
My Excellent Adventures in China: An introduction from you can do wonders.
Day 3 Saturday May 29 This is one of the main purposes of my visit to China: to track down a cousin's ancestral home and any possible living link(s) in China. Cousin Danny ( my gf's younger sister's grandson) is about 22 years my junior. He is of mixed (Mother,German) heritage. I re-established contact with him about four years ago, before that, I only remember him as a little primary school boy. Now, he is about 40 years old, and living in Oxford England with his partner. His partner is doing post-doc. research there. Danny, always showed some interest in his Chinese heritage. There is really no one around whom he can turn to but me. I did preliminary work about a year ago when I sent two spies to his ancestral village to make enquiries. The initial results were encouraging. No one alive could remember his grandfather but one very old man remembers his oldest uncle when they used to play back in the '30s. My spies are now too busy, and don't have the address. So, I turn to Ming, my next door neighbour and a childhood playmate. He is now in retirement even though he is a little younger than me. Ming worked 43 years in the same job with an electricity distribution company. Therefore, he knew every village in the area and many of the villagers. A most ideal helper. Many mobile phone calls, endless small cups of tea and rounds of cigarette later, we track down two octogenarians. Both old men used to work with Ming, and all doors open for us. The older one remembers my two spies, and wondered what had happened to them. He takes us to the house concerned. A young woman comes round to open the doors for us. It is unoccupied. It is very spacious by the standards of the time and has a well at the back next to the kitchen. Very handy. It has four storeys, with the top floor barely big enough for one or two persons. The top floor is special because it has slits on the sides of the wall for gun placement. It falls within the definition of a diaolou or watchtower as I shall learn a few days later from my tour guide on a diaolou tour. But it is not a stand alone building or grand in appearance. An old woman with a walking frame now appears. She is the widow of cousin's grandfather's youngest brother. I didn't think it possible for anyone in cousin's gf generation still alive. His gf had died in 1960, a year before my arrival. That's fifty years ago! It explains why my urgency to go to China. She is practically deaf. She can only remember cousin's gm and uncle but not his gf. She has no idea who built the house. The old woman is the second wife and has only one daughter in HK. Therefore, cousin is one of the male heirs to the house. Cousin's grandfather was fiercely patriotic and a KMT member. I think he entered Aust. in 1920. He circumvented the Whit Aust. policy and the dictation test (Google) because he qualified as a merchant/manager class. Perhaps he did build the house by pulling down the old or bought land to start anew. It was purposely built large because he wanted a big house for his bride and a large family to follow. Fate would have it, cousin's gm and her oldest son came to Sydney instead. Again, it was the father's job with the banana merchant Wing Sang Co. which allowed him to reunite with his wife and young son. Cousin's gf never gave up hope of returning to China. So much so, he made elaborate plans and meticulous calculations for life back in China after the defeat of the Japanese. He bought excellent tools for use back home. I remember seeing hand saws, drills, hammers, chisels, step ladders etc., clogging up the place. He even bought large crates of laundry soap. The bars of soap lasted well into the 1970s. But one Chairman Mao thought different. He spoilt the party for all. The older octogenarian then offers me a hand copy of the genealogy book at a cost. This is quite a proper thing. But I say no because it is incomplete. I draw up a simple family tree for inclusion, cousin's name is in it because my late uncle had chosen a Chinese name for him. I plan to call again with the help of Ming and to entertain all the people concerned. But something dreadful happened to Ming on a later day. It upsets my travel plan as well as much pain for Ming. That in itself is another insight into China. Anyone interested? Douglas
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Post by helen on Jun 11, 2010 2:49:56 GMT -5
Yes, I'm intrigued by your tales. Thanks Doug
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Post by Henry on Jun 11, 2010 5:56:13 GMT -5
Posted by Henry Tom for Douglas Lam - no access to the SiYi Forum from China
My Excellent Adventures in China: An introduction from you can do wonders.
Day 4 Sunday May 30th A quite day. Two village people accompany me to a restaurant for a taste of eel rice. For our party of three with liquor, the bill comes to 243 RMB. I think it is a little over-priced. We then go to a well known village near by, Chuk Sau Yuen, Zhuxiuyuan of the Kwok or Gock clan. The Gocks as they are better known to some of us here, are very prominent early settlers. Two Gock brothers who made a name for themselves in Australia, founded the Sincere Company, a pioneering department store in HK and Shanghai. It is quite a walk passing many trading stalls, shops, high rise buildings before we catch sight of the traditional dwellings. Many of them are in various degree of decay, signs of inhabitants moving away. One old man, who is about 80 years old, has been pestering me almost from Day 1. He keeps the genealogy records. Every time he sees me, I remind him I have already done so with his predecessor about six years ago. but he won't take no for an answer. I am about to dispatch him with a 100 RMB bill, but my minders stop me. There is something unusual about this man's name: it is Moses in English. It turns out his mother was a convert when European or American missionaries descended on the village early last century.
Day 5 Monday June 1 The highlight is my small dinner party for my neighbours and close clan members. My helpers make up a list of about 69 persons, and we allow for a few no-shows. Three distant cousins and their wives are not coming. Someone tells me it is because they didn't show at my mother's funeral in late 2006 after being advised. Perhaps they don't feel right to accept my hospitality. Of course I don't dwell on that, it is their choice not to come. The Venue is Sun Kee 新记, tyuti1668 must have seen it ( it is fairly new and has a few parking spots at the front). The owners are known to me. There are eleven courses, all typical village fare, no shark fin, abalone, or lobsters, not that I could afford them. There is plenty of soft drinks, beer and hard liquor for all. Sorry, no Cognac, red wine from Bordeau, California or Australia. They sit comfortably in six round tables. They are doing me a great honour by coming. By 8 pm the party is finished. The bill comes to 3,800 RMB. It was my late mother's idea to entertain those villagers we know well. She suffered terribly through the Mao era. Rightly or wrongly she saw her only son's homecoming as a local boy made good, she set off firecrackers and invited people for an informal dinner. And I continue to honour my mother's memory each visit with a dinner party. As I went abroad in the old fashioned way, namely to the Gold Mountain. Each time I come back, I also give money away to people close or kind to my mother. In the past it was things like bicycle and sewing machine as well as money. I now only give to those who are old or too young to work. It usually costs more than my airfare. The amount given away ranges from 100 to sometimes over 1,000 per person when my wife is also with me. Those two are my big-ticket items. I am no sugar daddy, but I never act the miserable bastard, and my welcome home is always genuine.
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Post by Henry on Jun 11, 2010 12:43:58 GMT -5
Posted by Henry Tom for Douglas Lam - no access to the SiYi Forum from China My Excellent Adventures in China: An introduction from you can do wonders. Day 6 Monday June 1 and Day 7 Tuesday June 2 I am combining both days because they are rather eventful. Ming, my village brother is happy to be my travel companion for an overnight trip to Zhaoxing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Star_Crags Travelling by bus is the way to go. The fare is at 67 RMB x 2. Because it is the monsoon season, we are prepared for the eventuality and we do have rain some of the time. Along the route we pass townships well known to me or not at all familiar. We arrive early in the afternoon. Our intention is to rest up for the night, then have a full day to check out this well known scenic site. We walk around this very busy town, keeping a keen eye for affordable accommodation and restaurants. We also check a couple of travel agencies for guided tours. But none to be had, only a couple of very persistent women who offer their services on a motorised trike. We book into a place called the Garden Hotel at 100 RMB twin bed. It is supposed to be 2 star rated, but don't expect any English speaking staff or service directory. The room is basic, clean bed, clean linen, windows open to backstreet views, quiet, air conditioned, tea making facilitities, private amenities and a TV for good measure. At less than $20/night twin share, I have no complains. We set off in the morning for yum cha breakfast. the food is only mediocre at best. Then we go to the site, which is being boarded up around the perimeter for renovations. Who was to know we are to bump into the same two women who want our custom. We settle on 50 for all the attractions. But for the overcast sky, the lake is indeed of great scenic beauty. We stop at the first attraction, the admission fee is at 88 x 2. The trouble with tourist attractions in China is that every step along the way, there are charges payable and they are not cheap. I shell out the amount There is one young female guide assigned to us. She warms us the surface maybe slippery and to take care. We are led to see what supposed to be Burmese natives performing for us ( what are they doing in China ?) There is a supposed Buddhist place, and more unreasonable demands. It really falls foul of me. Finally, we are ready to move to the next attraction. As we walk down a footpath, the unthinkable happens: Ming slips and his left falls down the embankment. He cannot move, and I silently pray please let it be just a sprained ankle. To my absolute horror, both bones in his left leg are broken, and broken so badly that the bones pierced the flesh. I know then we are in deep trouble. Ming is in intense pain. The guide is quick to defray any responsibility because we were cautioned from the start about the slippery surface. One of the Burmese performers carries Ming on his back to get to a car. I pay off the trike woman, and get into the car with the guide and someone from the office. We head for the nearest hospital. There are no long waiting queues because it is not a general hospital. Yes, we have to pay every step of the way. The registration, x ray, pain killer and goodness what else. Ming is stabilised, and the tourist site people ordered a taxi for us for the three hour trip to Shiqi, Shekki in Zhongshan. Ming wants immediate repatriation to his preferred orthopaedic hospital in Shekki. He enjoys 100% medical rebate even though he is retired, in certain hospitals in Zhongshan. Needless to say the journey is a tortuous one for him. Ming's son is informed as we are getting close to the hospital. He is instructed to take all the papers and a large sum of money for admission. It is not a long wait at casualty, more x ray is needed, and after all the paper works and a 2,000 holding deposit is paid by his son, he is taken to a bed in a small crowded ward. Now, this is my first time to have anything to do with a hospice in China. It is an eye opener. For starters, you have to provide your own urinal, bed pan and wash basin. The placed is packed, the hall ways are filled with beds on both sides if possible. Your next of kins are to provide care for you. They may sleep next to you in a folding bed or sit up for the night. Young lovers are seen sharing the bed. If it is hot, bring your own cooling fan. Food is at extra cost, you can choose from a menu, and served in a little clay pot. You can have food brought in, of course. Styrofoam food containers are found where there are waste bins. Even though smoking is supposed to be banned, patients do light up in the wards. Some medico or orderly's dust coat is very grubby. If the patient is on a drip, don't forget to have your carer notify the nursing staff when it is close to finish.... there is so much more. Because of the unexpected expenses, I get cleaned out completely. I am left with just HK$50 plus some loose change in RMB in my pocket. I go home with Ming's son in his car late at night. The moral of the story is: don't get sick when you are travelling in China. And don't forget your travel insurance when you leave home. The tourism sites do not accept responsibility or liability. A tour group may provide some coverage. Remember anything that could go wrong can go wrong.
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Post by harc3 on Jun 11, 2010 16:41:39 GMT -5
First of all...thanks for sharing your journey. Enjoy reading all about it. Second....what a terrible thing to have happen. Hope he will be alright and you will be fine too. Yes be sure to have travel insurance and be prepared to pay a lot of money to get any care at all. I can only imagine what the hospice was like. Thanks again for sharing and hope all will be fine
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Post by Henry on Jun 11, 2010 19:14:10 GMT -5
Dear Colleagues, Being sick or hurt overseas is horrible. I always keep the International SOS phone numbers handy when traveling across China. I understand that they even have air ambulances running now. www.internationalsos.com/en/Regards, Henry
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Post by helen on Jun 11, 2010 21:02:42 GMT -5
Thanks for posting Henry - The trip sounds like it's been good up to now. All the best Douglas, for the rest of the trip.
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