Day 14; Shaoguan (Fri; 11 Apr)

 Tour 2; Day 1

The schedule:

• Early bus to/through Shaoguan
• Mei Guan Pass
• Guangdong Nanxiong Zhuji Ancient Alley
• Bus to hotel in Shaoguan

Today was the beginning of the 2nd part of China trip (which I've labeled Tour 2) and is focused on genealogy, specifically what we could learn about Donna's 4 grandparents. Donna had done a lot of preparation for this part of the tour that included corresponding with a professor (and two of her students assigned to Donna's case) at Wuyi University who specialized in "Overseas Chinese" genealogy (as far as I know, all the members of tour group 2 had some discourse in this manner). The tour group grew from 28 to 47 or so (I was never really sure of the tour 2 group size as we seemed to gain and lose a couple of folks sporadically throughout the days of tour 2). The new folks had made their way to the Voco Guangzhou Sifu Hotel on their own and as the remaining folks of the tour 1 group got in very late we (probably more correctly, I) didn't notice the new folks when we got in. I did note some basic confusion as the tour organizer and tour leader worked at integrating the new folks into the reformed and much larger group.  Anyway, the morning began at 5 AM-ish with hauling all our luggage to the lobby (which the hotel kept for us as we were coming back there after spending one night in Shaoguan), a head count, grabbing our bagged breakfast then boarding the bus along with our "one night" luggage at 5:30 AM. This, so that we could get to the train station on time for a 7:40 AM departure. My recollection of the train station is that I was once again impressed with China's investment in infrastructure - it was as big and as nice, perhaps nicer, than any train station I've been in in the US (including Grand Central Station in NY...). Before we boarded the train we were once again reminded that when the doors open and the passengers that were getting off got off, board without delay as the train doesn't stop very long. This was our second trip on the "bullet train" and it departed on the precise minute the schedule indicated. As before, folks were not close to being seated before the train was underway. We all eventually got to our assigned seats without incident and enjoyed the 40 minute, 350 kph (217 mph) ride to Shaoguan.

We boarded a tour bus in Shaoguan for a two hour bus ride to the Mei Guan Pass. The road we took might be described as very utilitarian in that there was a lot of semi-truck traffic. This is another way of saying it wasn't particularly scenic...  Mei Guan Pass is famous as one of five routes over the Meiling Mountains between the provinces of Jiangxi and Guangdon. These passes were used by many northern Chinese migrating to southern China over a thousand years ago. Mei Guan Pass has been known by various names through the ages and in use as early as 221 BCE.  It is highly likely that at least one of Donna's ancestors made this trek. According to Wikipedia it was initially a treacherous and forbidding foot path. Today, however, it is a 5 m wide, brick-paved path and a moderately popular tourist attraction. We entered from the southern side where the bus parked in a staging area and started the ~1/4 mile climb to the summit. The summit is denoted by a stone archway with carvings on both sides (north and south). The carvings are in Chinese (duh...) and only now (long after having made the hike) do I learn that the carvings are different on each side of the arch. The northern side says "First pass of Lingnan" while he southern side says "Majestic pass of Nanyue".  Both Lingnan and Nanyue are alternative names for Guangdon - no mention of "Mei Guan" in either. No vehicles are allowed on the path (well maybe maintenance type vehicles, but we didn't see any...) and, interestingly, there is a refreshments bar, almost a cafe, at the top where several tourists were gathered. My guess is that most of the folks enjoying their snacks were contemplating the hike down to their respective starting points (north or south of the pass) and certain that it had to be easier going down then coming up. This, of course, was only kind of true (different muscles used going down...). Back down the path and on the bus for our next stop, the Guangdong Nanxiong Zhuji Ancient Alley (GNZ).

But first, we stopped for lunch across from the GNZ. The note in my journal indicates that lunch was disappointing. It could well be that we (maybe just me...) were getting tired of Chinese banquets... just sayin'

The GNZ was interesting in several respects. First, there is no Wikipedia article for the "Guangdong Nanxiong Zhuji Ancient Alley" although it is readily found in Google Earth and there are several travel log type web sites which describe it. Second, there is purported to be buildings, heritage houses, from 182 Chinese Clans. That's not to say there are 182 buildings as one heritage house may represent more than one, perhaps many more than one, clan. The Li house, for instance, represents the Li, Le, Lee and likely other spellings of that clan. Thirdly, there were vast differences between the heritage houses, the well-funded houses being quite extravagant and others that were literally holes in a wall. It was quite frustrating for us trying to find the house that Donna and her ancestors might be represented by. We were literally dropped off by a sign that was supposedly an index of sorts, however, it was entirely in Chinese. We got literally zero help from our tour guide or, even more frustratingly, the tour organizer. For the first 1/2 hour our so we wandered around almost aimlessly. However, lady luck stepped in and first, when wandering back along the west edge of the site, we went into one of the really fancy houses, just because the door was open. It turned out to be the Zhuji Alley Museum and essentially had some information about most, maybe all, of the heritage houses there. Second, the receptionist spoke better English than we spoke Chinese so some communication, other than pointing/mimicking, occurred. Donna spoke with a guy who appeared to work there that we bumped into while coming out of the museum and he was able to show us to the house that Donna was looking for, the Ong Herritage House.  It was was about 4 houses further south and I'm certain we would have walked right by it as we didn't know the Chinese symbols for Ong. There luck really smiled on us as we bumped into a young Chinese man who I think overheard us struggling and said something like "I speak English, can I help you?". Turns out he was a professor, Bob Yeh, at a nearby university and Donna spent the next hour or so talking with him while he interpreted her questions regarding the Ong house. Had we not basically "run in" to these two fellows the entire visit to the GNZ would have been a bust. As it was, Donna got a significant amount of information.  That said, you'll have to PM her for what information she actually got as I've told you all I know, and I made up some of that... With our time at the GNZ up we boarded the bus and headed back to Shaoguan, well almost. If you've read the previous posts you may recall that I mentioned that almost every tour has one or more "that guy". We had that guy, and he wasn't on the bus. Stony spent the next hour looking for him and eventually found him sitting at the north end of the site (farthest from where the bus dropped us off and where we were directed to meet) waiting... for something. When he finally got on the bus he said something to the effect "it was only an hour". Forty-six-ish people, only waiting an hour... This guy was like this, or worse, for the duration of tour 2... Anyway, back on the bus, two hours later were were in Shaoguan but went straight to dinner (which my journal notes as "poor"), as it was 7 PM by then. We checked into the hotel after dinner (9-ish) and hit the sack. 

So far I was less than impressed with tour 2... but our hotel in Shaoguan was quite nice, so, as they say, hope springs eternal...

This is the fast or "bullet" train I've been blabbering on about... it looks fast standing still!

Our Tour 2 Group off of the bus and headed to the Mei Guan Pass trail head. We were a significantly larger group now...

There are a few vendors just before the beginning of the trail, then nothing until the summit.

Most of the trail looked like this, well kept, but it got significantly steeper near the summit

There were several explanatory signs like this, all in Chinese though (except for the title...)

There were also several statue/signs...

... as well as a couple of mini-museums along the side of the trail.

This is the archway at the summit.  We're looking north so the carving should say "Majestic pass of Nanyue".

The almost-a-cafe on the north side of summit arch. Many of these folks came up from the north side of the pass.

And just because it was there - the north side of the summit arch looking south. The carving above the arch should say "First pass of Lingnan"

Back near the trail head on our way back...

A map of the Zhuji Alley. We started at the south, wandered basically up the middle, over the bridge, then back and northwesterly before turning south and coming back along the west edge.

Some of the houses looked like this...

 

... or this (this is actually the museum)...

Inside the museum, equally spectacular.

Some looked like this...

... or this.

Others, like this...

The young man in the white shirt - Professor Bob Yeh - helped us immensely

Our hotel for the night - The Ramada Plaza...

... on the Zhen Jiang River. I took this photo from the helicopter I chartered for a tour around the city... NOT! Private or even small commercial aircraft operations are not permitted in China, for the most part. This picture is actually from hotel web site, I had to search it to document where the heck we stayed that night...