RHS'69
A Search for Family Roots
U.S. State Department travel advisory: Exercise increased caution in Hong Kong due to civil unrest.
Since June 2019, large and small political demonstrations have taken place in various areas of the city. Some have resulted in violent confrontations between protesters and police.
Ignoring all that, RHS'69 Reunion Committee chair Vincent Yim visited Hong Kong to see and learn about the part of his family he never met.
Back home he removes his flak vest and tells of a wonderous trip.
Once out to freedom, our 40-minute train ride had left long ago. Our tour guide was making other forms of transportation. He arranged another bus to take us to another border crossing. There, we all had to apply for an Urgent Visa, individual photo taking, two page form to fill, passport verification and $124...each! Two hours later we are crossing the border into China and a bus waiting for use for our 2 hour ride into Guangzhou.
We lost 5 hours of sightseeing stops along the way. Gordon was very good, cool head and very creative to reroute us and make arrangements to get us there. I will use him again on my next travel into Asia. I actually enjoyed watching the government officials do their jobs and they did it well. Sorry, signs everywhere "No Photos!" or I would still be in China eating day old Dim Sum...in prison!
This morning we met our professional guide, Gorden. We went to West Kowloon Train Station to go into China, Guangzhou. The front entrance were blocked with fence and huge water barricades, to prevent protesters from entering.
Once in, the Custom Border officers told us that our Visa were revoked, all 22 of us. Months ago, cousin Alice went online and applied for the Visa and paid the $84.00 each. The visa showed from the USA into Guangzhou and agenda of our travels inside China. The errors were, we spent two days in Hong Kong and the visa request should have been USA to Guangzhou via Hong Kong.
The Peoples Republic Custom detained us for 2 and a half hours. They held us in a detention room. I don’t think everyone knew the 4 individual rooms behind us were the interrogation rooms.
Finally they were ready to release us. Ten customs officers showed up to escort us. Splitting us into two groups marching us side by side one custom officer to one family member to a border line, a 16” yellow line divided China and HKG painted on the ground.
There at the border were 6 Hong Kong Custom officers waiting for us ready to make the exchange…..it was just like Check Point Charley!
Because we lost 5 hours getting into Guangzhou we went straight to dinner. Our second 9 course dinner always has a signature dish...a baby suckling pig.
David is giving wishes to everyone for good health, safe travels and so far no one got arrested.
Next door there was a huge wedding party going on. There must have been 1,000 guests.
I walked in and started taking pictures. They must of thought I was the brother of the bride.
I escaped without being arrested.
After dinner we walked over to the Pearl River Cruise Station. We could not believe the crowd that were trying to get on the river ferry.
We bought the reserve seat tickets about a month ago. It is the most popular evening things to do. All these people are on stand-by waiting to get on for available standing room only.
It is a one and half hour river cruise up the river and there must be 30 or more lit up ferry boats dodging each other up and down the river.
All the biggest building are covered with LED lights with a light show only China can do! At the end of the video there is a bridge that is over a mile long with two huge LED billboard. All these lights dwarf Las Vegas and Time Square.
There is a 80 story building with a dragon spiraling up its side. A must do if you visit Guangzhou.
After the Night Ferry Cruise we checked into the White Swan Hotel …after 10:30 pm.
It's the first 5 Star rated hotel given in China. It's located on a small island and most of the Embassies were there too. Sometimes it is called The Baby Hotel.
Back in the days when China put a limit of one baby per family, they were putting their baby girls up for adoption. If you wanted a baby girl you would most likely stay at the White Swan since your embassy was nearby. A very stately and artsy area and I want to go back to stay longer.
February 1, 2020