From Hong Kong to Home Village in SanShui, China

---

Wedding -- November 11

On November 11, we attended Phyllis' nephew's wedding. This is the event that prompted all three of Phyllis' sisters to come to Hong Kong. Two nieces also came, along with their husband/boyfriend.

In the morning, 7 of us went to Phyllis' brother Stephen's home where we had the "Tea Ceremony". This is the time when we meet the bride for the first time, and as a token of good luck, give the bride and groom red packets of lucky money.

This is the first time for a long time that all 6 of Phyllis' siblings get together. So, it is a rather emotional event.

Later, the nieces and their spouse/boyfriend (all 13 of us) attended the wedding ceremony at the church.

In the evening, we went to their wedding reception, which was held at an upscale hotel. The reception was very nice, with good food and good entertainment (a jazz band).

Hong Kong, visiting (November 12 to November 14)

In the next three days, we spent some time with Phyllis' sisters, visiting Yuen-Yuen-Hok-Yuen (a taoist temple) where our parents shrine were kept. We met up with relatives, ate, ate and ate. We met up with Elmira and Anthony, who were in Hong Kong from Vancouver on vacation.



China - Shenzhen

On November 15, after picking up the China visas from the "China Foreign Affairs Department", the eight of us met up to go to Shenzhen.

Our original plan was to ask Gary's nephew to take some glamour shots for us, but the private studios were not available. So, we had some photos taken near a shopping mall.

On November 16, we took a bus to Shekou, and got a glimpse of the new Shenzhen while enroute. At Shekou, we stopped at the "World above the Sea" tourist area and spent a little time there. Later, we went shopping at "Lowu Commercial City" and my sisters found some treasures. After dinner, all 8 of us went for a foot massage and everyone is happy with the service, and the price (Y15).

China - Sanshui

On November 17, Phyllis' brother and his wife joined us in Shenzhen.

Our nephews from Sanshui showed up with two vans at 10 am and took the 10 of us to Sanshui, which is about 3 hours away.

After a nice lunch, we went to the village to visit our Auntie. Our cousins, many of their children and grandchildren were already waiting for us. For my sisters, they have never met any of the relatives from the village. It was a wonderful experience to meet them for the first time. We then went to see the house where our father grew up. The house is no longer used. It is now used as storage. We lighted some incense and pay some respects to the ancestors and off we went for dinner.

At dinner, there were about 50 relatives, some did not get a chance to meet us at the village. Wow, what a scene. It is nice to see that everyone seemed to be healthy and relatively happy, and generally doing well. With the one child policy, there are just a few grand-nephews and grand-nieces.

We learned that another 30 relatives could not come for dinner as they were unable to take time off work, or live too far away.

On November 18, we had Dim Sum in the morning. Victor and his wife later left for Shenzhen to return to Hong Kong. Our nephew and a friend, who brought two cars, took us to "Lotus World", which is a major tourist attraction in Sanshui. In November, only a few lotuses in the greenhouse grew. However, we can imagine what it would look like in July/August, and it would be a beautiful view, with thousands of lotus flowers of different colours and shapes.

[Click here for photos]

---