China Trip Day 11: Taishan

Today we had a full day in Taishan!  We visited both Pau Pau and Bak Bak's villages.  Bak Bak's maiden name is Chan so we visited the Chan family village. She married a man whose last name was Moy (my grandfather), so then moved to the Moy village where she had 3 children (Uncle Richard, Aunt Pooi and Pau Pau Nancy) before being forced to leave when the Communists came. She then had another child in Guangzhou (Uncle John), and then 1 more child (her last one, Uncle Frank) in Hong Kong.

We got dim sum for breakfast then got into our car and drove to the Moy "City Center" if you will, it is a new tourist attraction. It's set up in an old section of town and is now an open air market. Joseph was stopped again by a couple of girls who wanted to take photos with him. Joseph then got Kathy into the photos and then Maddie as well.  Photos are below of how large the group got who wanted to take photos with them. Then each of the girls wanted to take pictures with Joseph alone.  We then drove over to the Moy Village and visited the home of a current living resident who still lives there today.  We then saw the house my mom grew up in and even saw the bed she was born in!  Aunt Pooi is trying to fix it up to be livable as she plans on spending months of the year here in the future as she's currently retired.

We then headed over to the Chan Village and this village is being set up by the government as a tourist attraction as a lot of the homes are still in very good shape.  You'll see photos below of the incredibly ornage welcome gate to the Chan Village. Most villages only have a small sign noting where the entry way is.  The house my grandmother (Maddie's Bak Bak) grew up in is in very good shape and is set up as a tourist site!  That means, there is a placard outside with the date it was built, how many levels, etc etc. Tourists cannot go in but since we are family they let us in and we walked all the way up to the roof!  We were even able to go to the house next door that was in even better shape than her old house!

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and the 3 of us took a much needed nap. We woke up and walked around, then headed over to a family friend's house for a delicious home cooked meal.  On the walk over, 3 Chinese girls (maybe around 8-10 years old) saw Joseph pushing Maddie in a stroller and I heard them yell out in Chinese "a white person!" and they ran over to us just as we were getting to the house. They noticed Joseph at first and were looking at him, then noticed Maddie and started talking to her and asking her name (in English) and they asked where we were from. We then said goodbye as we headed inside for dinner, but they stuck around and we even caught them looking at us from outside as we were eating dinner.

Tofu making station at the Moy City Center
(This was for show only, they make the real stuff inside or at a different location)

Maddie running away

Pau Pau making tofu

Yee Pau making tofu

Vickie making tofu

Joseph getting Kathy into the pictures.

More people want in on the photo op....

And more....

And more...

And more!!

This lady just picked Maddie up without asking

Panoramic of the Moy Center

The tofu we "churned" is on the right. It ends up being very smooth after lots of churning.

Doorway to a relatives house who still lives in the Moy Village

Inside his house

Inside his house

This is inside my Mom's (Pau Pau Nancy's) old home. The alter is still there.
The Communists made all families tear down their alters but they somehow missed this one!

Maddie standing on a bed very similar to the one my mom was born in
(photos of that particular bed are on other devices)

Beautiful Welcome Gate to the Chan Village

A gazebo just inside the Chan Village

We have lots of photos of the Chan Village on other devices and will upload those separately when we have time.