Visiting Ancestor Home

A group of us decided to go on an adventure to explore our ancestral home, the village where our late great-grandfather, grandfather and father used to live.

We didn’t have any relative there but we knew only the name of the village; so we had to depend on kind-hearted souls to graciously and happily lead us to the right house.

We were so thankful to be able to witness where our ancestor used to live.

The neighboring villagers were really excited to see us — the news about visitors from another country spread by word of mouth, and the friendly neighbors came by one by one to greet us and share fascinating life stories.

Now if you want to know about your ancestors, it is sometimes best to check with their neighbours, as they may know more than your own family.

While there, we were told many stories about our ancestors. In one, we learned that my great-grand father was born in a hut behind the papaya tree more than 100 years ago, to be exact, he was born in 1879!

The reason this 82 year-old uncle knew about our family history was because he said his grandpa and my great-grand pa were best friends! He even point to the spot where the hut was located; I think the so said birth place is definitely picture-worthy.

Even the pig were nosey and curious to know who these foreigners are that caused such commotion!

As the house that my great-grandfather lived in was vacant for a long time , one of the neighbours decided to let a family who raised pigs stay there and watch over the house.

Before we headed back to the city, the villagers insisted that we take some fresh produce such as papayas and lemons back with us as an organic gift from our ancestors’ land.

To celebrate the success of our adventure and remembering our ancestors, we had a sumptuous meal of delicious papaya soup with clams and lemons for sauce dipping. It was the best, most hearty meal we had in our ancestral land!

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The Great Wall of China

I studied about the history of the magnificent Great Wall of China during my elementary school year, but never dreamed that one day I would step onto this ancient path. What a surreal experience for me to finally walk on this wonder of the world!

The most visited Wall is the popular Badaling Great Wall. It is an hour away from the city, so it easily attracts lots of locals and tourists.

Badaling Wall is divided into two sections from the entrance: the northern side and the eastern side. The northern side is always congested with people due to access of cable cars and trolleys from the bottom of the hill to the steepest top. We opted for the eastern side which is the road less traveled.

People told us that the gorgeous time to visit is around mid-Oct where the vast surrounding ridges is decorated in vibrant red.

The time we went, most of the leaves were withered and the landscape were left with naked and bare bushes; nonetheless, it has its own charm of beauty.

The day was filled with delightfully warm sunlight with gentle crisp wind under a clear blue sky, which is rare in this cold autumn season.

The pavement is easy to walk on with gentle winding slopes here and there, and we hiked to the very end where the trail is blocked off even though the wall continues to stretch for miles and miles.

As I strolled along the wall, I couldn’t help but appreciate the hard labor the workers of long ago put into building this architectural masterpiece originally designed for military defense.

Along the way, we encountered more than a hundred energetic and fun-loving elementary students chasing each other and having their first experience on the wall as well.

They appeared to be on a field trip with an assignment to ask passers-by about their experience on the Great Wall. The sights and sounds of the giggling children made this leisure walk an enjoyable one.

After we arrived back at the entrance, we decided to explore the northern side; Indeed, there were a lot of people, young and old, buzzing with excitement.

After much searching, we finally spot the monument that everyone longs to take a picture with to prove that they indeed have reached the Great Wall!

The monument is a stone engraved with this famous Chinese writing: “If you have never been to the Great Wall, you are no hero”.

The idiom basically means that courageous people can overcome adversity… the background of this saying is that a long time ago, it was impossible to access to the Great Wall, so whoever tackled this difficult task and arrived was a true hero/heroine.

After we had accomplished our mission to climb the Great Wall and proved to be “heroes”, we are ready for a feast!

For our late afternoon snack, we enjoyed mouth-watering food on skewers.

A Peking duck delicacy, which one should not miss when coming to Beijing, was our evening meal.

For a midnight snack, we went to explore this famous street that never sleeps, called Gui Jie. There we tried spicy Szechuan seafood which included crayfish (aka mini-lobsters), escargot, crab and frog dishes to our heart’s content. The food was numblingly spicy and deliciously satisfactory.

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Matthew 11:28

Today is 11.28 and suddenly the verse from Matthew 11:28 came to mind: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

This verse is very special to me because it is a tender verse that I first heard God speaking to me directly which caused tears to stream down my face.

Through this startled revelation, I was made aware that the big God of the Bible is a personal God who cares and who had been anxiously waiting for me to cry out to Him.

Because I have encountered God in such a special way, I slowly placed my faith in Him and released my burdens to Him.

As the years go by, I have indeed experienced His gentleness and my soul finds refuge and rest in Him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

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