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July 16, 2012
July 13, 2012
Day Three - Senior Special
Simpson - Hoiping
We're still in Hoiping today visiting Simpson's village, his maternal grandmother's. He was able to see his family's house and met the head of the village. Simpson was able to take some time to take in his village and take pictures.
As it was Simpson's day we had to have the film crew in matching polka dot uniforms. Despite Matt's insistence that everyone "size down to look huge" no one did. The shirts were a great aesthetic choice, but the material they were made out of was either cursed or designed to be worn in arctic conditions. The three guys who didn't rip off the sleeves ended up suffering quite a bit.
Kaiping Diaolou
After Simpson's village we went to the UNESCO World Heritage watch towers that were used for defense and to display wealth later on. The watch towers were very cool to see and gave us more time to bond as a group.
The group is definitely getting along really well, the mix of personalities, experiences and age are making for a fun dynamic. We're all feeling like champs.
After lunch we headed over to the Li Garden which had exhibits on overseas Chinese and the impact on the villages they left as they sent back money, or returned home. There were interactive displays and a walking tour around the grounds. We also saw the coolest hat ever with a built-in, solar-powered fan. It even had what we can only assume are fully licensed Angry Bird designs.
We also saw Jonny's doppelganger, picture to follow. Ever since Eric was mistaken for a Hong Kong movie star on the airplane sitting in Economy next to the bathroom, we've been looking for doppelgangers. While it's been easy to find guys with Eric's hair, it's been hard to find ones that wear such tight tank tops and oil up their arms each morning.
After the Li Garden we headed over to Simpson's maternal grandfather's village. He was able to see his grandfathers room and meet some of the people still living in the village.
Today, July 9th, is Steve's birthday! There was no caking as our group's age and maturity level make such pranks seem beneath us. Instead we decided to get foot massages and with a lack of decent Mandarin speakers we had, shall we say, varying experiences.
So with Simpson's full day of Rooting and Steve's birthday we had a great senior special.
July 11, 2012
Day Two: Enping and Hoiping
Before heading out to Matt's villages we had breakfast at the hotel. The waitress laughed at Matt's inability to serve jook and pushed him out of the way.
Matt Owyang - Enping
After breakfast we headed out to Matt's villages. First we went to his maternal grandfather's village and saw the house. The house had beautiful paintings above the doors. Unfortunately we could not get in because the doors were rusted out. We met a local villager who knew the family and he showed us around.
We all loaded back onto the bus and headed across the river to Matt's primary village, his maternal grandmother. When we arrived we met with Matt's grandmother's cousin who showed us the five houses built for the Moks.
For lunch we had fish ten ways. We watched the cook grab a giant fish and how they prepped it. It was really great and they even had cold Coke for Ryan.
Yvonne Chan - Hoiping
After lunch we headed to Hoiping to visit Yvonne's village, her maternal grandfather. We met a lot of people who remembered her mom and were able to look around the family houses. Yvonne was walking around with a giant smile on her face.
We then went to her grandfathers shop and started to explore the area. While taking some pictures around the area Olivia ran into Wendy Lo, Roots '91. Yvonne and Wendy, 21 years apart on Roots, find out they're are neighbors in Hoiping. And they are both back in China together the same summer.
Al happened to call during our chance encounter to check in, SF time 1 AM. Frank took the phone and asked, "Hey Al, do you know a Wendy Lo from Roots?" "Yeah, of course, '91, why do you ask?" "Because she's standing right in front of me." "What!"
Al told us these things happen when you Root. Crazy.
Hoiping Nights
After a nice meal of chicken and donkey we headed out to the streets of Hoiping trying the street foods and fruits. We got to have fried stinky tofu, red dragon fruit and mangosteen which were all amazing.
We got to haggle with vendors over the price of shirts and according to Nicole, one of our guides, we still got ripped off.
Looking forward to day three.
July 8, 2012
Day One: Across the Pacific
Blogger's note: We'll be posting some pictures on the blog but check out this link for pictures from our pro, Simpson - http://www.flickr.com/photos/simpsonyiu/
Next stop: China - Thursday, July 5th, 2012
The Rooters, our leaders, mentors, friends and family all gathered at SFO for the send off to China. The yearly ritual includes comparing packing ability, last minute advice from mentors to mentees and pictures - lots of pictures. Once the ritual was complete we headed of to the gate to start our long journey to China.
The Flight: Short and Sweet
Our flight from SFO to Hong Kong was only 13 hours, which gave us plenty of time to sleep, watch movies and eat as much ramen as we wanted. We were all sitting in separate seats which led to some interesting experiences. Some had small children use their shoulder as a pillow and legs as a jungle gym. Others took the time to grab some sleep. One even found out there is nothing sweeter than Honey, and even got her number.
Landing and Crossing the Border
We landed in Hong Kong the morning of July 7th, local time. After meeting intern Jonny Lam the group was finally all together. After getting situated with phones and money we began the long trip to Enping.
The crossing from Hong Kong to China was nice and smooth. We switched from mini-vans to a bus to get to Guangzhou to meet up with the officials we'd be traveling with. The first leg of the bus ride gave us time to find out that Jonny laughs so loud it angers bus drivers and that Simpson is a camera encyclopedia.
The mini-bus and Lunch
After meeting with the officials and loading the mini-bus with our luggage we headed to our first meal. Everything was delicious, especially the rice - apparently Ryan has never had rice so good. There was chicken, pork belly, spicy beef, fish and more. After lunch we loaded up on the bus once again and began the drive to Enping.
The Stool, Rehearsal and Are You Smarter than a High Schooler?
With our luggage taking a significant portion of the mini-bus's interior a quick solution for a extra seat was created with a little red stool, some seat belts and clever placement of bags to lock it in place. Perfect. The trip was going to be about four hours during which time we had a chance to test our wits against Ryan: age sixteen, GPA 5.0. Needless to say, we lost. We also had a chance to practice our performance and choreography.
Dinner and Dancing
After settling into our hotel we headed out for dinner. Dinner was eel claypot rice, a soup with thorny, local greens eating which Matt managed to injure himself. We had a great meal and got to walk around the area and see hundreds of people dancing in a park. We went back to the hotel to finish out a day that started in San Francisco and ended in Enping.
Next stop: China - Thursday, July 5th, 2012
The Rooters, our leaders, mentors, friends and family all gathered at SFO for the send off to China. The yearly ritual includes comparing packing ability, last minute advice from mentors to mentees and pictures - lots of pictures. Once the ritual was complete we headed of to the gate to start our long journey to China.
The Flight: Short and Sweet
Our flight from SFO to Hong Kong was only 13 hours, which gave us plenty of time to sleep, watch movies and eat as much ramen as we wanted. We were all sitting in separate seats which led to some interesting experiences. Some had small children use their shoulder as a pillow and legs as a jungle gym. Others took the time to grab some sleep. One even found out there is nothing sweeter than Honey, and even got her number.
Landing and Crossing the Border
We landed in Hong Kong the morning of July 7th, local time. After meeting intern Jonny Lam the group was finally all together. After getting situated with phones and money we began the long trip to Enping.
The crossing from Hong Kong to China was nice and smooth. We switched from mini-vans to a bus to get to Guangzhou to meet up with the officials we'd be traveling with. The first leg of the bus ride gave us time to find out that Jonny laughs so loud it angers bus drivers and that Simpson is a camera encyclopedia.
The mini-bus and Lunch
After meeting with the officials and loading the mini-bus with our luggage we headed to our first meal. Everything was delicious, especially the rice - apparently Ryan has never had rice so good. There was chicken, pork belly, spicy beef, fish and more. After lunch we loaded up on the bus once again and began the drive to Enping.
The Stool, Rehearsal and Are You Smarter than a High Schooler?
With our luggage taking a significant portion of the mini-bus's interior a quick solution for a extra seat was created with a little red stool, some seat belts and clever placement of bags to lock it in place. Perfect. The trip was going to be about four hours during which time we had a chance to test our wits against Ryan: age sixteen, GPA 5.0. Needless to say, we lost. We also had a chance to practice our performance and choreography.
Dinner and Dancing
After settling into our hotel we headed out for dinner. Dinner was eel claypot rice, a soup with thorny, local greens eating which Matt managed to injure himself. We had a great meal and got to walk around the area and see hundreds of people dancing in a park. We went back to the hotel to finish out a day that started in San Francisco and ended in Enping.
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