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Post by douglaslam on May 28, 2015 8:58:31 GMT -5
Helen and Fay Chee,thanks for the good wishes. I want to give Fay Chee every encouragement and assurance of doing the trip. I can think of many places of interest just in Guangdong alone. One such place is the site commemorating en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Zexu the burning of opium seized by Lin Zexu. It is on a very scenic spot overlooking a river. You can visualise British gunboats going up and down the river, chasing and sinking Chinese junks. That is gunboat diplomacy for you. I first visited this historical site in 1993. I want to save my revisit with Fay Chee. This incident brought about the First Opium War and ceding of Hong Kong to the Brits. It was a blessing in disguise when HK was given to the Brits. Later, it provided safe haven for many, many millions of people who escaped the excesses of Qing Dynasty China and Mao. Dr. Sun Yat-sun was one notable refugee. BTW Lin Zexu is always honoured as one of our clan and rightly so because he was from Fujian province. My ancestors came from Fujian about seven centuries ago to settle in where we are now. Douglas
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Post by helen on Jun 2, 2015 4:25:21 GMT -5
Hi Douglaslam - I've been there twice - a nice trip/museum and well worth visiting. You have left on your trip - enjoy the nice weather. I was in Europe a year ago, and had a great time.
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Post by douglaslam on Jun 3, 2015 13:07:41 GMT -5
Hi Helen, I am spending my third night in Munich. Tomorrow, I am planning to see Dachau with my daughter, then depart for Freiburg in the afternoon. There is so much to take in.
The weather has been exceptional. It is warm to hot. Today, I did a guided cycling tour of the city. It was about seven hours in duration, but there were many, many stops. The guides told us so much about the city and its past.
It is hard to find anything about the Chinese in Munich. Even Chinese restaurants are few and far between. Chinese vegetables, for example are non-existent in the supermarkets. In Sydney, you can buy tofu frpm most of the major supermarket chains. A very different country Germany is.
Douglas
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Post by helen on Jun 4, 2015 6:20:59 GMT -5
Sounds good Douglas - How's the wifi and access to the computer? More modern than China? You're right about the lack of Chinese. Even the Chinese food we had was basic. The bike ride sounds awesom. Keep us up to date with where you are,
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Post by helen on Aug 19, 2015 5:06:41 GMT -5
DouglasLam - You're off to China again in October? How long will you be there for? I think I'm going to miss catching you again. I leave Auckland for Beijing 27 October. Will be in Zhongshan around 12-13 November. I guess you will be home by then.
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Post by douglaslam on Aug 19, 2015 7:15:40 GMT -5
Helen, you're right, we won't be meeting up in China. I had to move my vacation forward by a couple of weeks in order to accommodate the people I'll be guiding over there. There are school children and a teacher in the group going to China during the October school break. I'll make it to New Zealand one day and see you and LC in Auckland.
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Post by helen on Aug 20, 2015 1:47:57 GMT -5
Oh no - but good on you guiding a group of people. Hope you have a great time.
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Post by chansomvia on Aug 20, 2015 21:19:46 GMT -5
douglaslam
Do not forget to take in Christchurch when you are in NZ
Joe
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Post by douglaslam on Aug 22, 2015 6:26:17 GMT -5
Hi Joe, airfares are so affordable these days, going to NZ is definitely on the cards. I am having three leave periods for next year. I hope I can fit in New Zealand.
Christchurch would be a nice city to visit. According to my cousin, whom I called on when I was in Oxford, Christchurch is named after Christ Church College at Oxford University. Cousin is a Fellow of Christ Church College. She guided me and others on a tour of the College. It was an eye opener. We were in a private garden which was not open to the general public. There is a four hundred years old tree, which inspired Lewis Carroll on his famous work. Douglas
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Post by chansomvia on Aug 22, 2015 7:42:53 GMT -5
Hi douglaslam It would be nice if you could plan to spend an afternoon with our senior group of the Canterbury Chinese Association with some pictures of villages and the every day life there of the Siyi county, a lot of the older generation were born there but few went back to visit, it would also be an eyeopener for the younger NZ born Chinese. I will follow this forum to see how things develop as you do a lot of traveling. I usually visit my sister and her family who live in Gerrards Cross not far from Oxford and is a pleasant place to visit, I am glad you saw the tree, I remember there was a huge sacred tree somewhere in China. I also noticed that many village squares had a huge tree with old folks sitting there to cool off and socialise as they had places to sit. See photo.
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Post by douglaslam on Jun 10, 2016 7:28:37 GMT -5
Hi Joe, I put in my holiday application for 2017. I want to have three weeks from May 7, New Zealand is my choice of destination. Hope to see you and Helen then. Douglas
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Post by helen on Jun 12, 2016 1:19:50 GMT -5
Hi Douglas - you will have to remind us early next year. How about your China trip this year? When are you going? I'm hoping for early November
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Post by chansomvia on Jun 13, 2016 4:51:11 GMT -5
Hi Douglas,
May 2017 sounds good and we will be here to take in the autumn in Christchurch, we could do a trip to Arrowtown to see your ancestors village shop the Lum (Lam) general store, a lot of effort has gone into restoring this Chinese settlement near Queenstown. I am hoping to fly into Guangzhou, Shenzen or Hong Kong on September 9th this year for a quick trip into Haiyan, perhaps staying a few days in Taicheng (Toisan)and Haiyan. Hope to be able to hire a vehicle and driver to take me around. Plans are not firm but would like to see the area once more, to try to find some relatives. Joe
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