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Published: November 16th 2018
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Shaoguan Pass
The gate at the top of the pass First of all, I published a blog yesterday but for some reason an email didn't go out to all my subscribers, so make sure you read yesterday's blog first.
We began our journey north today. Now that the rooting is over, we're off to the Shaoguan Pass, which sounds kind of like the name of the pass in Disney's Mulan where everyone gets bulldozed by an avalanche. Luckily for us, winter hasn't arrived yet and Mushu wasn't there with dragon-shaped weapons. The Shaoguan Pass is important to us Chinese from the Pearl River Delta (the "Alabama of China" as we've been told, minus the alligators) because it's where our ancestors migrated from thousands of years ago (sometime after we all left Africa and before 500 B.C.) Legend has it that the Chinese Emperor had a beautiful concubine who fled and hid in a village. The Emperor found out where she was hiding and ordered the whole village to be destroyed, so the whole village fled via the pass and into the Guangdong province (the pass borders on the Hunan province).
Since most of our villages are on the Delta, or very close by, the journey north took quite a
Please Don't Poop Here
These signs were everywhere next to the sidewalk. Who is pooping on all the sidewalks that they have to invest this much money in signs? bit and was split over two days. When we finally reached the Shaoguan Pass, it was a
hike nice stroll up to the gate. Along the way, we passed a fertility well, which our leader Steve said was very effective. Everyone that's touched it on the 30 & younger summer program was pregnant within 3 months. I stayed far away from the well. Once at the top, it was nice to reflect upon the history of the trail, a lot of which is still original. Most ancestral village books that document genealogy have a bit in front about the massive migration.
After the pass, we stopped quickly at the hotel for lunch. Probably our worst meal to date, but one of the most entertaining lunches by far. Our hotel was converted from old government dormitories (slim pickings for hotels near the pass), and we had been warned months ago that tonight's hotel would be rough. Scott, one of the guys who had went on Roots last year, told us all about the hotel at lunch. He spoke about how it was haunted, and the supernatural experiences he had there last year. Mamie, also at our lunch table, was skeptical
Owyeungs on the Pass
The Owyeungs on the trip at first, until everyone at the table started chiming in with their own supernatural experiences. Scott expressed how he didn't want to sleep alone in the hotel room. Mamie looked worried. Mary, probably in her mid to late 70's, explained what you can do to manage ghosts. First of all, jade protects you. (Mamie said, "I don't think I have enough jade on!"). Second of all, you need to talk to the ghosts to explain you're just passing through and that you mean no harm. Thirdly, you need to call upon a deceased relative to protect you for the night (seems like this would be unnecessary if the second point were true). I teased Mamie for claims on ghost protection:
Me: "I call dibs on PoPo for the night!"
Mamie: "No way! She's my mother!"
Me: "You have your father too. He died when I was only one so our bond isn't as strong. Ask him for protection."
Mamie: "My father's been dead for 25 years. There's no way he remembers me."
Me: "Well I'm PoPo's source for continuing on the Owyeung blood line out of the two of us, so I think she'll probably
Loaded
Holding about $120 USD but feeling like a million bucks. Dad and I dividing up our cash to buy out the place of Owyeung stuff. Everything ended up being ~$0.50 USD each, so we didn't even spend 10% of the cash I'm holding. protect me over you."
Mamie: "OK well then I'm rooming with you tonight."
That backfired quickly. That's what you get for teasing your aunt I guess.
By the time lunch ended, all six tables were talking about ghosts, and discussing which forms of protection everyone was using.
After lunch, we went to Zhuji Ancient Alley. This place houses all ancestral temples of the original 183 families that migrated through the Shaoguan Pass. The Ancient Alley houses ancestral temples and sells souvenirs and genealogy books. Owyeung / Owyang / Ouyang is a rare 2 character last name, and was one of the original 183 names. But, because it's not as popular as Chen or Lin or Wong, our ancestral temple is quite run down and Steve warned us we'd get shafted on genealogy books and souvenirs. Dad and I went into power shopping mode, and split up cash between the two of us. We only had 1.5 hours until closing (the ghost stories took a long time at lunch), so we strategized. We power walked to the Owyeung ancestral hall, and then we split up and bought out the vendors of all things Owyeung. We ran around
Owyeung Ancestral Hall
The top two characters on the top say "Owyeung" in traditional Chinese. The spray paint on the left and right say "Owyeung" in simplified. and bought keychains at every single street vendor, along with Owyeung history pamphlets (the bigger families had large books but we aren't as big). Once we were sure there was nothing "Owyeung" left, we decided to go see the Lum / Lin ancestral hall. My grandmother was a Lum (Lin in Mandarin). It was huge and in much nicer condition. Not the first time on this trip where I've thought my grandfather married up. On our way out of the park, we stopped to buy Lum books. I never miss an opportunity to haggle.
Dinner was at the hotel again, much to everyone's dismay. As we were walking into the dining area, they singled out all the drinkers (most of the people on our trip didn't drink--Asians often have an enzyme missing that makes it harder to process alcohol / makes them turn red / "Asian glow"). Dad and I got separated into the "drinking" room, which I expected would be beer or maybe bai jiu (rice wine). No. Turns out, we were dining that night with two officials who were very heavy drinkers. We drank plum wine, which had a higher alcohol content than wine but less than
Family Photo
This guy said he was an Owyeung who took care of the building. Inside was a motorcycle and lots of storage, so not sure how taken care of this place is. vodka. It tasted like a very bad port wine that burned on the way down. It was horrendous.
When dining with an official, all tables must come up and toast the head table (the one with the officials). You drink your entire glass when you toast, then show your glass to the table that it's empty. Our table was 5 glasses deep (talk about peer pressure) before any of the toasting started. 30 minutes in, and Dad and I were the only ones at the table without Asian glow. Thank goodness Dad and I don't get Asian glow. The official said, "you two aren't drinking enough since you aren't red". I told him it was because I was part German (I don't know that much Mandarin so I picked one country after he didn't like my "my mom's American" response. Her family's been in the US for many generations and is thoroughly mixed, but he didn't care. I was also 10 glasses deep on plum wine, so thought process wasn't at 100%). So he said, "bring the German in here". We toasted to international travelers, China, and possibly Germany. Mom got called out because she snuck tea into her
Cheers!
Don't look too close or you'll see tea leaves in Mom's glass. glass (the same color as the plum wine, but she sure had a lot of tea leaves in her wine). She didn't care.
The night ended quickly after dinner. I took a couple of Dad's last few drinks. We can't all be 26.
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