I Found My Ancestral Village !
Jun 28, 2006 2:29:44 GMT -5
Post by kenwong on Jun 28, 2006 2:29:44 GMT -5
With the help from my “friends” from this Forum, I managed to track down my ancestral village last week.
After attending a Seminar in Hong Kong, on the 21st June I headed for the China Ferry Terminal (CFT) in Kowloon for the ferry ride to Gonyi. The ferry goes directly to Gonyi on every even day. There was no Super Class on that day, so I took a First Class ticket which cost me HKD 260 one way. As it was the 21st (an odd number day) , I found myself docking at Doumen, cleared immigration and hop on an airconditioned bus to Gonyi. But as Taichengshi is actually before Gonyi in the north, I have them dropped me off at the Taishan Garden Hotel in TaiCheng City. It took me 1 ½ hours from the port of Doumen to Taicheng City. The infrastructure is quite good actually with freeways most of the way, although I must admit the freeways seems somewhat devoid of any vehicles. Either someone had a poor business plan, did a bad market survey or they are taking a long term view here,whatever, the roads are well built and impressive but as I’ve said underutilized.
After leaving Kowloon at 8.45 am I found myself at the Taishan Garden Hotel (Tel :86-750-5500888 Fax : 86-750-5518015) at 12.20 pm. The deluxe room which I have made reservation for in Hong Kong cost me RMB 340 per night. The hotel is 3 star but is the best in Taicheng City. The rooms are air-conditioned (necessary as it is the hot season) and comes with coffee making facilities and a well-equipped fridge. I have called the hotel from Hong Kong and they have actually arranged for a car to pick me up at Gonyi Port. So the poor driver has to come back with his empty vehicle. People speak Cantonese here, what they call “Pak Wah” or White Language , unless you are well versed in Say Yup or Toishan Wah, I would advise you to just stick on to your Cantonese (after all, we are in GuangZhou).
There is only one trip , to-and-fro daily from Gonyi to Kowloon. The ferry leave the CFT at 8.45 and then leave Gonyi Port at 4.15 pm. So if your village is in the southern part of ToiShan county and if you are taking TaiCheng City as your base, it is OK to take this route. If your village is in the northern half, a better option is to choose Jiangmen City as your base (with the 5-star Yucca Hotel providing free transfer from the port to the hotel. Deluxe room for 2 is about RMB 450 per night). The ferry from Jiangmen to CFT is thrice a day.
Upon checking in at the Taishan Garden Hotel, I found out that there is a daily coach from the Hotel to Kowloon and back. The air-conditioned coach operated by the Weisheng Bus Co will depart Kowloon from the Prince Edward Bus Depot at 7 am each day.With immigration and all, it may take you 5 hours to reach the hotel. Thereafter the coach will head back to Kowloon, Hong Kong at 1 pm. The one-way fare is HK 160 r RMB 180. You can book the ticket from the Concierge at the hotel or call The Weisheng Bus Co at Tel: 23918090 to enquire if in Hong Kong.
The staff at the Concierge at the Taishan Garden Hotel are very helpful. After giving them the name of my ancestral village they did the rounds for me, making phone calls to friends and the authority whilst I have my late lunch at the café. After lunch, they told me that that they managed to pinpoint the area where the village should be and I hired a car from the hotel for the next day, at RMB 50 an hour, on a air coned Toyota Crown complete with driver, to me the car hire’s a bargain. I then decided to hire a car for 2 hours to do some sight seeing in Taicheng City itself. Again, the driver acted as a tourist guide and showed us around. The old architecture is very Nanyang i.e South East Asian as those who have made their fortune from that part of the world would come back and build similar buildings put up in the British Colonial era.
June is a low season (meaning lesser people like me coming back in search of their roots) but is rainy and hot. It was about 34* C when I was there. Nov to Jan is cold and from April to Oct the weather will get warmer, peaking in June/July.
Main specialty is the claypot eel rice; five seasoned duck and seafood. Dog meat is a regular menu although they do not serve it at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant which incidentally is the best restaurant in town. A meal for persons of soup, duck, claypot rice, chili leaves vegetables (very nice actually), steamed rice, Chinese tea and desert cost us RMB 70. The next night we had similar seafood and the bill came up to RMB 65.
The next day I was all excited and with my driver, we took the freeway down to Duhu in the south and after asking a few locals, the driver found my ancestral village - Nan Chun Sar Lok for me. The village is 600 years old but inhabited by only 300 people now. I am sad that the village does not seem prosperous but that is life I supposed. I met new friends and managed to trace my generation tree from the genealogy chart at the Village Communal Hall. All which I photographed , document and will always treasure. I was invited for tea and spent some two hours there chit-chatting with the villages; and video recorded my visit.
With some time to spare thereafter, I visited Guanghai port which is about 30 mins from Duhu. My “relatives” from the village have told me how those days people from the village will walk an entire day to Guanghai to collect the seawater to make salt, so I was curious to see the place. Once a port bursting with activity with ferries to Hong Kong, the place is quite listless today. Nevertheless it is a port where in the 15th century the Imperial forces came to liberate the town taken over by a horde of Japanese pirates. Back in Taicheng city later that day, I went to the Taicheng City Bus Terminal and bought an early (8.45 am) air-con bus ticket back to Hong Kong the next day.
The airconditiond bus ride back to Hong Kong was very pleasant indeed. There was one toilet /refreshment stop and by 12 noon we reached Shenzhen. Immigration is a bit of a hassle though and as an Overseas Chinese , please queue at the Foreigners Lane. The Individual Chinese Tour/Visit or Group Chinese Tour/Visit Lanes are meant for Mainland Chinese. The bus drop me off at The Prince Edward Bus Depot in Kowloon and I took the MTR and checked into my hotel in Hong Kong by 2.30 pm. My advice to those wanting to take the bus is -travel light.Whilst porters are available the place is congested. I travelled via Senzhen for the first time so it's OK for first timers.
I have a profound sense of fulfillment after the trip and met /made many Chinese American friends at the Hotel café , people just like me who wanted to know a little more.
If you have any queries or would want some pics or maps do contact me at kingsgate@hotmail.com and I will see if I can be of assistance.
Best of Luck!
Ken Wong
Singapore.
After attending a Seminar in Hong Kong, on the 21st June I headed for the China Ferry Terminal (CFT) in Kowloon for the ferry ride to Gonyi. The ferry goes directly to Gonyi on every even day. There was no Super Class on that day, so I took a First Class ticket which cost me HKD 260 one way. As it was the 21st (an odd number day) , I found myself docking at Doumen, cleared immigration and hop on an airconditioned bus to Gonyi. But as Taichengshi is actually before Gonyi in the north, I have them dropped me off at the Taishan Garden Hotel in TaiCheng City. It took me 1 ½ hours from the port of Doumen to Taicheng City. The infrastructure is quite good actually with freeways most of the way, although I must admit the freeways seems somewhat devoid of any vehicles. Either someone had a poor business plan, did a bad market survey or they are taking a long term view here,whatever, the roads are well built and impressive but as I’ve said underutilized.
After leaving Kowloon at 8.45 am I found myself at the Taishan Garden Hotel (Tel :86-750-5500888 Fax : 86-750-5518015) at 12.20 pm. The deluxe room which I have made reservation for in Hong Kong cost me RMB 340 per night. The hotel is 3 star but is the best in Taicheng City. The rooms are air-conditioned (necessary as it is the hot season) and comes with coffee making facilities and a well-equipped fridge. I have called the hotel from Hong Kong and they have actually arranged for a car to pick me up at Gonyi Port. So the poor driver has to come back with his empty vehicle. People speak Cantonese here, what they call “Pak Wah” or White Language , unless you are well versed in Say Yup or Toishan Wah, I would advise you to just stick on to your Cantonese (after all, we are in GuangZhou).
There is only one trip , to-and-fro daily from Gonyi to Kowloon. The ferry leave the CFT at 8.45 and then leave Gonyi Port at 4.15 pm. So if your village is in the southern part of ToiShan county and if you are taking TaiCheng City as your base, it is OK to take this route. If your village is in the northern half, a better option is to choose Jiangmen City as your base (with the 5-star Yucca Hotel providing free transfer from the port to the hotel. Deluxe room for 2 is about RMB 450 per night). The ferry from Jiangmen to CFT is thrice a day.
Upon checking in at the Taishan Garden Hotel, I found out that there is a daily coach from the Hotel to Kowloon and back. The air-conditioned coach operated by the Weisheng Bus Co will depart Kowloon from the Prince Edward Bus Depot at 7 am each day.With immigration and all, it may take you 5 hours to reach the hotel. Thereafter the coach will head back to Kowloon, Hong Kong at 1 pm. The one-way fare is HK 160 r RMB 180. You can book the ticket from the Concierge at the hotel or call The Weisheng Bus Co at Tel: 23918090 to enquire if in Hong Kong.
The staff at the Concierge at the Taishan Garden Hotel are very helpful. After giving them the name of my ancestral village they did the rounds for me, making phone calls to friends and the authority whilst I have my late lunch at the café. After lunch, they told me that that they managed to pinpoint the area where the village should be and I hired a car from the hotel for the next day, at RMB 50 an hour, on a air coned Toyota Crown complete with driver, to me the car hire’s a bargain. I then decided to hire a car for 2 hours to do some sight seeing in Taicheng City itself. Again, the driver acted as a tourist guide and showed us around. The old architecture is very Nanyang i.e South East Asian as those who have made their fortune from that part of the world would come back and build similar buildings put up in the British Colonial era.
June is a low season (meaning lesser people like me coming back in search of their roots) but is rainy and hot. It was about 34* C when I was there. Nov to Jan is cold and from April to Oct the weather will get warmer, peaking in June/July.
Main specialty is the claypot eel rice; five seasoned duck and seafood. Dog meat is a regular menu although they do not serve it at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant which incidentally is the best restaurant in town. A meal for persons of soup, duck, claypot rice, chili leaves vegetables (very nice actually), steamed rice, Chinese tea and desert cost us RMB 70. The next night we had similar seafood and the bill came up to RMB 65.
The next day I was all excited and with my driver, we took the freeway down to Duhu in the south and after asking a few locals, the driver found my ancestral village - Nan Chun Sar Lok for me. The village is 600 years old but inhabited by only 300 people now. I am sad that the village does not seem prosperous but that is life I supposed. I met new friends and managed to trace my generation tree from the genealogy chart at the Village Communal Hall. All which I photographed , document and will always treasure. I was invited for tea and spent some two hours there chit-chatting with the villages; and video recorded my visit.
With some time to spare thereafter, I visited Guanghai port which is about 30 mins from Duhu. My “relatives” from the village have told me how those days people from the village will walk an entire day to Guanghai to collect the seawater to make salt, so I was curious to see the place. Once a port bursting with activity with ferries to Hong Kong, the place is quite listless today. Nevertheless it is a port where in the 15th century the Imperial forces came to liberate the town taken over by a horde of Japanese pirates. Back in Taicheng city later that day, I went to the Taicheng City Bus Terminal and bought an early (8.45 am) air-con bus ticket back to Hong Kong the next day.
The airconditiond bus ride back to Hong Kong was very pleasant indeed. There was one toilet /refreshment stop and by 12 noon we reached Shenzhen. Immigration is a bit of a hassle though and as an Overseas Chinese , please queue at the Foreigners Lane. The Individual Chinese Tour/Visit or Group Chinese Tour/Visit Lanes are meant for Mainland Chinese. The bus drop me off at The Prince Edward Bus Depot in Kowloon and I took the MTR and checked into my hotel in Hong Kong by 2.30 pm. My advice to those wanting to take the bus is -travel light.Whilst porters are available the place is congested. I travelled via Senzhen for the first time so it's OK for first timers.
I have a profound sense of fulfillment after the trip and met /made many Chinese American friends at the Hotel café , people just like me who wanted to know a little more.
If you have any queries or would want some pics or maps do contact me at kingsgate@hotmail.com and I will see if I can be of assistance.
Best of Luck!
Ken Wong
Singapore.
