Robertson Tribe Updates

We’re back. Did you miss us?

We had some visa issues that needed to be resolved and the easest way to resolve them, believe it or not, was to exit the country and return so our passports would be stamped. We took a very impromptu trip (VERY impromptu) to the closest and easiest country to get to; Macau.

It was not the quick and easy trip people made it out to be, but we are a group of 6 traveling together and others just don’t understand the extra “issues” that creates.

It was a fun trip though, and a nice little break for us. It’s not as populated as Hong Kong, so we loved walking down the sidewalks. Here in Hong Kong, walking on the sidewalk is a contact sport, but in Macau, we could see the kids at all times and no one ran over us. People were more polite, but it was much harder to get a taxi. When we did get one, we quickly discovered they are smaller than HKG ones.

(Warning, world history lesson ahead….stay awake now….some of this was copied from wikipedia too, lest you think I’m this smart, )

It was also refreshing to see different architecture. Macau was ruled by Portugal until the late 90’s and the influence in obvious in the style of building and the color of them as well. There is also an obvious Catholic presence there with numerous cathedrals, statues, etc. In fact, that created an interesting problem in days gone by. Macau was considered by the Portuguese to be sacred Roman Catholic ground and the authorities barred the burial of Protestants within its city walls, while on the other side of the barrier gate the Chinese were equally as intolerant of the burial of foreigners in its soil. This left the Protestant community of British, American and Northern European traders with the only option of a secret night-time burial in the land between the city walls and the barrier gate, and the risk of confrontation with Chinese should they be discovered, or worse, desecration of the grave, once they had gone.

The matter was finally resolved in 1821 after the death of Robert Morrison’s wife, Mary. when the local committee of the East India Company voted to purchase a plot of land and resolve its legal status with the Portuguese such that the burial of Protestants would be permitted there. Later, the East India Company allowed burial of all foreigners, and several graves were moved from other locations outside the city walls into the cemetery, explaining why some graves are dated before its founding in 1821. Nationals of Britain, the United States of America, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany are buried there.

One of the many famous people buried there is Robert Morrison. Robert Morrison was a Scotsman and the first protestant missionary to China. He is credited for translating the Bible into Chinese. Here is a neat story about Morrison: When Morrison was asked shortly after his arrival in China if he expected to have any spiritual impact on the Chinese, he answered, “No sir, but I expect God will!”

Ok, back to the country and our trip….lesson over.  Well, almost. 

The majority of the country is a peninsula, with a few islands included. We actually stayed on an island. It was a reminder of home to see the water so often. We did find a lighthouse too which was another reminder of the coast of Maine.

Thursday morning, we took a private tour of the country. We all piled in a mini van and the driver took us everywhere a good tourist would want to go. It was wonderful! We would have never seen as much as we did if we’d walked and carried all our things in our backpacks. Little three year old legs just don’t last long (or Mama’s for that matter). It was such a treat for us, and a real highlight; worth every penny. As part of the tour, we drove by the governor’s house (which is PINK, bah ha ha) up to the highest point in Macau. From one side, you can see all of Macau. From the other side, you can see into China, looking over the Pearl River. We were marveling at the scenery, when the tour guide quietly told us that is where many, many Chinese lost their lives trying to escape from China. They tried to swim across and were shot dead in the water.

Seeing all this led to an amazing discussion this evening at dinner about communism, freedom, oppression, etc. It was a highlight of our time in Hong Kong so far because expanding our children’s worldview was a big reason we came; a huge reason. We wanted the children to see these things for themselves, to own it, to understand it. What an amazing teaching moment!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.