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Post by douglaslam on Oct 17, 2014 11:56:35 GMT -5
Hello all, I am now well and truly in The Middle Kingdom. I spent the first two nights in Canton at a hostel that I first stayed with my daughter in 2010. The more time I spend at a hostel, the more I like it. There is plenty going for hostelling. Hostels are the way to go if you are travelling unaccompanied. You did read my piece about how I was unceremoniously turned away from another hostel that I was booked into. It was to do with the Autumn Trade Fair. I can't believe business people to the Trade Fair were looking for hostel accommododation.
I am not interested in the Shangrila or whatever they are called at the big end of town.If I want to stay in a hotel, the Oi Kwan would be my choice. I want to sample the old world charm, and experience the high life of the 1930s and pre-communist years. To see what I meant, just Google Aiqun or Oi Kwan.
My contact number is 86 136 3243 4207. Tyuti1668, are you going to Chungshan, call me when you get there. I am in Cheung Gar Bin now.
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Post by helen on Oct 17, 2014 23:40:18 GMT -5
Hi Douglas - is it still warm there? I hope you have a great time in the village. Keep us up with the play as to where you will go. Any Zengcheng trips this time? The villages between Dongguan and Zengcheng are slowly being destroyed. and less and less locals can speak Cantonese - maybe they aren't local - but migrants trying to make a living in our part of town. Enjoy.
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Post by douglaslam on Oct 18, 2014 3:17:59 GMT -5
Helen, it is still hot and sticky during the day, and just a little better at night. Can't imgine how it was like from June to September.
I went to Canton instead of Dongguan as I have done in the past is that my Auntie is now no longer at Dongguan. She is getting feeble, reliable 24/7 live-in carers are hard to get. Auntie is with one of her daughters. She didn't like losing her freedom having to live in a high-rise gated building. I didn't like it either, I much preferred my hostel.
I wanted to upload photos, somehow I just could not transfer the images from the memory card to the Forum. I couldn't get on top of 21st.century technology.
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Post by helen on Oct 18, 2014 17:07:06 GMT -5
sorry about the photos - maybe you will run into a computer literate person in your travels. What's the plans for your foray into the countryside? Are there still loongan available? we had some Thai ones last week.Are you going to see the Chan Academy and Bai Wun Sarn (White Cloud mountain) while in Canton?
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Post by chansomvia on Oct 19, 2014 18:25:45 GMT -5
To Douglas and Helen and to our other learned folks I wonder if anyone has come across this type of village hotels; I intend to stay a few days near our village and do not want to impose on our distant relatives to provide a bed. This trip is planned for December next year 2015 which coincides with a trip back home in Malaysia from New Zealand to attend a school reunion of our aging group of over 70's. Joe
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Post by helen on Oct 20, 2014 2:38:46 GMT -5
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Post by chansomvia on Oct 20, 2014 14:59:03 GMT -5
Hi Helen, thanks for taking the trouble to help out and for the prompt response. There is a difficulty in tracing the street and name as the real name may be in Chinese and am not able to google it. The streets are largely un-named in the villages inChina, but believe this hotel may be on a bigger street near the town to get business. As said before we do not want to camp with our very distant relatives as they may not have the facility, moreover after doing the Camino de Compostela (St James Walk now made in a film "The Way") in Spain staying with my wife in albergues (pilgrim hostels with bunk beds) comfort is not of the first priority but convenience to visit places is. Worst come to worst I will approach my nephew-in-law who is a cartographer with the Ministry of Defence to assist me, I do not know if he is allowed to do that in the highly security minded department but will try. We will probably miss each other in China as you are planning to be there in October 2015 but all the best. Where is Simon? and has your daughter returned from her reverse diaspora from Shanghai? I hope that at least one of my six grandchildren can follow your daughter's footsteps and spend time in China eventually, to be totally immersed in the old culture and language, my own three children and their spouses are although all Chinese high school graduates from Malaysia are too busy raising their children here to spend time in rural China. You are lucky to have a daughter who went to Shanghai.
Joe
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Post by douglaslam on Oct 26, 2014 9:02:23 GMT -5
Hi to everyone from Cathay; I am at a cheap hotel in Foshan (佛山) with Ming my village brother. We were on the road yesterday, arriving at Foshan in the afternoon. After visiting the famed Temple, we checked into a cheap hotel at 120 RMB / night ( less than US$20,) twin bed. Quite pleased with value for money. To day, we went to Xiqiao Mountain (西樵山) to see the best known landmark, zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A5%BF%E6%A8%B5%E5%B1%B1 and planned to go from Xiqiao to Toishan (台山) to see Duanfen (端芬) link. ( Can't get on Google for our friends who can't read Chinese.) It didn't work out because there were no bus services to Toishan from Xiqiao. We had no choice but to return to Foshan. There was no knowing where the bus was taking us. We got to the terminus, walked a bit and checked into the first cheap hotel we saw. After a little bargaing, we got the price down to 110 RMB / night, even less than last night. The best part is; there is a PC for the guest to use. I have a back log of emails to clear and I haven't been able to log on because I don't have a mobile device, and internet cafes are hard to find. Tomorrow, we'll set out for Toishan, and hopefully Duanfen for some fun. DJ; you're indeed related to Zhou Enlai (周恩来). Just wait for the relevant page from the genealogy register which I photographed. I met the father and son duo and more from LTW, and they all know a Chow family I know well back in Sydney. The conversations just flow and flow. To cut a long story short, we also had lunch with Suzie ( my name for the lady of lolly's China-side of the family.) As for your mother's village SMT, I am waiting for a reply from the village official. There are no genealogy records available for sale. As for Kay Kok the Lau family village, there is a small problem because Kay Kok is big, and is now divided into two villages namely Wan Hon amd Loong Shui. We didn't have time for it. I may not return. My biggest result so far is at the Ma village of Sa Chung. I did a search last year on a personal request by a man in his 80s and his son from Sydney. The result I got was not wrong but incomplete which rendered everything incomprehensible. There were intrigues of adopting out and name replications. Boy, would they be surprised? I couldn't accept the results from last year because I worked so hard for it. I walked for hours and was not appreciated. I planned my second visit, and chose a different line of attack. Sa Chung as well as Sing Sze (lolly's) LTW and SMT; it could not have happened if I didn't speak the dialect or hailed from the same county. On Saturday or Sunday, I'll be meeting Maggie, the name I gave to Carlos' China-side family contact, (Carlos is better known as kaluosima from Peru.) Watch this space.
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Post by FayChee on Oct 28, 2014 11:16:40 GMT -5
Douglas Lam, once again I am 'hooked' on the wonderment of your beautiful way with words. I love reading about your adventures.....they put me into another world that I may never experience. I can see it all as if I am there beside you. What a great gift to let others see the world through your eyes. Thank you Douglas..............
Fay Chee
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Post by lolly on Oct 28, 2014 17:10:55 GMT -5
Douglas, you have so many paths you are following for so many lucky people. We really appreciate you making the time to contact "Suzie" again. Look forward to hearing all about your meeting when the time is right. Uncle Denis has been checking this site to learn more of your adventures this time around. They never cease to create interest and enjoyment for us all ..... and you do sound like you are having a lot of fun in the process. Almost sounds like a "penny hike" .... you reach a point, toss a coin, heads you go one way, tails the other!
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Post by chansomvia on Oct 31, 2014 5:12:37 GMT -5
Hi Helen I managed to find the street in Hai Yan with the hotel and the difficulty was that the street address was written as YAN ZAONG but it should have been YAN ZHONG. Thanks for looking at the query and thanks Henry for setting me on the right track Joe
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Post by lachinatown on Oct 31, 2014 12:34:41 GMT -5
Very good, Chinese characters make a difference.
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Post by chansomvia on Nov 2, 2014 4:55:27 GMT -5
yes lachinatown, Chinese characters makes a great difference and as you can see from the painstaking handwritten address written in English the writer was not conversant with English and the H was written as an A in the street name of YANZHONG. We used the English translation to try to find the hotel and street as am not able to write the query in Chinese in Google Map. Knowing Chinese characters is only part of the road to discovery as the people in Haiyan speak Taishanese firstly and pronounce the street in their dialect, then perhaps Cantonese, and the street name translated officially in English is from the Mandarin intonation. Try teaching this to my Kiwi grandchildren! My thanks for those who have assisted me in this exciting voyage to trace my village.
A bit out of subject but can anyone recommend places to explore within a three hour car or bus journey from Haiyan town? Would appreciate any input to plan for a longer stay in the village area.
Joe
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Post by lachinatown on Nov 2, 2014 12:03:14 GMT -5
Yes, I just tried with inputting 台山市海宴宴中大道 the Chinese address as written, it pops out immediately.
DouglasLam or Henry's nephew would be the best person to give you information.
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Post by douglaslam on Nov 3, 2014 4:59:17 GMT -5
These posts first appeared under a different thread and posted by Henry on my behalf. Many thanks to you Henry.
I couldn't figure out why the connection was failing me....until a young fella came by a short while ago. He sorted out the connection problem and I am now back in business. So I decided to re-post under My Excellent Adventures to give it continuity. I haven't advanced very far in my push to catch up to the 21st. century.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 27, was a red letter day as far as genealogy search goes. It has to be said I promised to look into Ken, alias kjhong's mother's village in Duanfen and the possibility of acquiring a zupu if circumstances permitted.
The day started ordinarily enough. After breakfast. we set off for Foshan Bus Termius and made our way for Taicheng. The fare was 55 RMB, much of the travel was on tollways, and the journey took about an hour and forty mins. As soon as we got to Taicheng, I enquired about a connecting service to Duanfen and Ken's village. The driver set us down at a village he thought was closest to Ken's. The fare was 8 RMB which was a good indication of the distance involved.
It was lunch time when we got off the bus. There was no point to press on because the people drop everything for their midday meal. We walked into the village, and the first man we stopped to ask for direction and a place to eat was the best thing to happen on my current trip to China. Not only did he point us to a village restaurant, but also accepted my invitation to join us to lunch.
We hit off like old friends. The man is a retiree, from a Mei / Mui family. The Mei / Mui families are very prominent in Duanfen. He told me it wasn't easy to point us to Ken's village. We shall see later. After lunch, we went to Mr.Mui's street level rented space. It is suitable as a shop, but the decreasing population and traffic diversion brought on the decline. He has traditional village homes, a flat, and the rented space is for easy access. He took with him a big thermos of tea.
We set off in his small car, and in mins. we were in this famous landmark which was made famous as setting in films and TV dramas.
image.baidu.com/i?tn=baiduimage&ipn=r&ct=201326592&nc=1&lm=-1&cl=2&ie=utf-8&word=端芬 镇&ie=utf-8&istype=2&fm=se0
It was like a time warp, walking into the past amongst the old buildings of East and West architecture. Most of the buildings are unoccupied,tourists come by the busload everyday. At the time there was a group of local tourists. On weekends, hordes would descend from Hong Kong and Macau.
Next, we went to Ken's village. It isn't far but hard to get to because there is just a narrow roadway which permits only a small car to travel in one direction. There is no public transport. Mr. Mui told me even the motorcycle taxi operators would have difficulty finding it. Mr.Mui, being a well known local identity, the three of us were warmly welcomed by the villagers. The village has at the most twenty families remaining, mostly older women and a few men. There are rows of traditional village homes of solid construction, a reflection of the menfolk who went abroad to the Gold Moutain. One old woman in her late 90s was brought out, but she could not recall ever knowing Ken's mother.
Ken, was your mother born in the village or did she leave at a young age? The villagers and Mr. Mui talked in Toishanese which I could not fully comprehend. The villagers then led us to a neglected home, with a section in danger of collapsing. They were sure it was Ken's mother's ancestral home. There are houses with just the shell or outline visible because the bricks were sold for food during Mao's reign. It is sad.
Next, we sat and talked in the shade for a long time next to the village gateway, It was a peaceful scene watching the rice stalks swaying in the cool breeze and drinking tea. We emptied the thermos before Mr. Mui took us to another village which also has a row of houses very similar to those in Duanfen town. It is a well kept secret. It was a stunning sight and something completely unexpected.
I have to be honoest, without Mr. Mui, I would have hit the wall and beat a hasty retreat. Even if by luck I had found the village, the villagers would certainly not warm to me without Mr. Mui. And how was I to find my way out because there is no public transport? In all,Mr. Mui spent several hours with us and he wouldn't even accept my offer for fuel cost.
Ken, do make an effort to see Duanfen and your mother's paternal home. It would be a rewarding experience. I'd call Mr. Mui ahead to welcome you. He is a unique individual, so generous in spirit, kind, hospitable, enthusiastic and helpful in every way. He insisited it was affinity that brought us together, the Buddism and Taoism concept of '' yuen'' that link unlikely people together. I agree.
Photos with my further reports back in Sydney.
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Fay Chee, never say never. Please give yourself a chance to see China for the first time. Mars it isn't, but China would be so different to the U.S.of A. which is your home. If a long flight is too stressful, try breaking up the journey in sectors.
On Monday evening after visiting Duanfen, we got back to Taicheng, too late for the last bus for Chungshan. We checked into another 120 RMB / night hotel near the bus terminus. At about 6 PM, I called Henry's nephew Shi Cheng to invite him to join us to dinner. He couldn't make it but he did refer us to his friend's eatery to try frog rice. Last time, in 2012, it was eel rice.
Shi Cheng did join us for a chat later. You were never far in our conversation. Shi Cheng said you can go direct from Canton Airport to Taicheng by bus. He can meet you at the airport. Else, he can arrange a passenger van to pick up you and your party instead of public transport. If the timing is right, I'd like to join Shi Cheng in Canton to welcome you, and escort you every step of the way to Chao Yang. If you're adventurous, you can take the Metro to the bus terminus, see China up close, and then take a bus to Taicheng.
lolly, I think Suzie did feel a little guilty for not replying to your letter. She kept on saying joining a group tour to Australia one day. She certain has the means to do so. I asked her if there was anything I could take back home for you. She said something about some local foodstuff. I knocked it on the head because of quarantine regulations. I'll call her again on the phone.
I plan to see Carlos' extended family on Sunday, and invite them to lunch. The lunch meeting couldn't take place last weekend because Maggie my contact had to attend a parents' meeting at Macau. The new date puts my plan to travel further afield on halt. I planned a meeting with Maggie and her family members for a long time in anticipation of Carlos joining me from Peru. Now, Carlos is going to Melbourne to study for a higher degree instead.
Life is full of little twists and turns, sometimes for the better."
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