Welcome to PlaaPlaaPlaa!

So you may be wondering why PlaaPlaaPlaa? What are those strange fish symbols above? What is ปลา and what does it mean? In short, this is a blog site, so surely there's going to be plenty of rambling. Unfortunately BlahBlahBlah was already taken, so I had to settle for the 'Plaa'. But there's actually more to it then just ramblings. The first fish symbol is actually a Christian symbol meaning ICTHUS - a greek acronymn which means "Jesus Christ is God's Son, the Saviour". The other strange letters you see in the last fish is actually the thai word for fish which funnily enough is pronounced "Plaa". So when you put it all together, this site is going to be my ramblings in telling people about how Jesus Christ is God's Son, the Saviour in Thailand (with plenty of good stories about food in between). Happy reading.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hong Kong & China

Despite being chinese, until just last week, i had never actually even been to China. So i was pretty excited when mum and dad asked if i wanted to go to Hong Kong and China with them for a trip with my aunties and uncle to visit my grandfathers old town, the church my great great grandmother had helped start, plus an uncle who had been imprisoned 3 times for his beliefs. I had always wanted to go visit the village my grandfather had come from, as i had been told stories of it since i was a little kid. So to go back to the village with all dad's sisters and brother (plus another new found distant relative) was just an awesome opportunity that i couldn't pass up. I thought i was just going to go visit the village, see the church and the grave site of my great great grandmother, then meet this uncle - but i ended up with HEAPS more then i was expecting. Not only did i get to do those things, i also got to see the house and room that my grandfather was born in, meet all sorts of relatives i never knew i had, find out stories about our family's past that i had no idea about, go visit a street that belonged to our family, see a 'mountain' that used to belong to our family before it was taken back by the government, eat heaps and heaps and heaps of new foods i never knew existed and find out some of the most encouraging stories first had from people who had been persecuted for their beliefs and stayed strong in their faith despite the circumstances. It was awesome! Everyday was just jam packed with meeting relo's, travelling, sight seeing - but none of it was the usual 'tours', it was like our own personal family tour. It's a trip i'll really treasure forever. Hopefully one day i'll get to tell you some of the stories about our family in person. too much to write on a blog. But here are a few photos of the trip.

the view of Hong Kong from The Peak


with mum and dad


the Bubba Gump restaurant


meeting my grandfathers 2 younger sisters for the first time


crazy toilet sign in a restaurant


all happy on the train to china - before we got lost...


meeting long 'lost' relos i never knew i had


the 'new' building of the church my great great grandmother helped start


at the grave of my great great grandmother


The outside of the house my grandfather was born in


outside the room that my grandfather was born in


Our family 'street' in Swatow, China


standing in our family street with all the relo's who went on the trip


the house of my great great grandparents


outside the massive church that my great great grandparents went to


inside the church! Check out the 2 grand piano's in there!

Some of the crazy foods we ate