Hong Kong

Ellie, James, Coleman, Grace and I all flew down to Hong Kong to enjoy warmer weather, a little more western culture and to work on some visa issues. It was a great escape to leave Jack and Adam home with a babysitter.

Flying into Hong Kong you almost can't believe your eyes. It reminds me so much of Hawaii with the lush trees and mountains and then high rise after high rise. Hong Kong is like New York in that they have 7 million people packed into this tiny space. I think it is one of if not the most expensive places to live and has the most expensive home in the world and I could tell why. because of its charm, beauty and action.

It was one of the most amazing citites I have ever seen. You see the pictures in brochures and think that can't really be what it looks like, and then it really is! It is truly a west meets east experience. It was still China and you'd see things that were so Chinese, but then you saw open top double decker buses driving on the "wrong" side of the street. (Obviously, tons of British influence still here.)

On this trip we were on planes, trains, trams, ferries, buses, trolleys, subways, taxi and foot! I don't think there are many more means of transportation. However, to be truly chinese we would have had to ride a bike or scooter and we didn't do that.

Here are Ellie and James on top of a double decker bus!! They loved them and were continually asking for it to be our mode of transportation.

Here we are jammed on a subway. It wasn't always this crowed and usually my kids were jumping up to try to grab onto the hand things that hang down. We love the subway and I think many locals were entertained by the enthusiasm. In Hong Kong there really are not a lot of do's and don'ts but you do not eat on the subway. It is very clean and I think a source of pride for the people in Hong Kong. All of the transportation (besides taxis) are very clean and you just don't get them dirty litter or eat in them, but then there is so much of the city that is dirty - it's a little weird.

This is a not so exciting picture of one of the ferries that go from Hong Kong island to the mainland. I can't find the picture I took of the chinese workers at the ferry. They were dressed in blue sailor suits that look just like the ones you would put on a little boy for Halloween. We thought the ferry was very fun - you can tell we are easily entertained.

There are so many people in Hong Kong. One night we were crossing a big intersection and I said to Coleman just look at all the people. It was just a flood of heads in front of you and walking toward you. We were there over Valentine's Day and so it wasn't even high season I can't imagine it in the May or June!!

We stayed on both Hong Kong Island and the mainland and enjoyed what both had to offer. We ate at Outback Steakhouse, and our hotel was right by IKEA, but then it felt like China - we hit the Temple Street night markets where you barter for everything and you have an assortment of things to buy from bags and watches to palm reading. We would start to barter and they would say to us "this is Hong Kong, not China". Everything was more expensive - but well worth it. Ellie and I were loving it and Coleman was okay, but poor James was going to kill himself. He was a good sport, but I don't think shopping for hours with his mom and sister is ever going to be his thing!!

While we were getting on the ferry we saw what looked like a "pirate ship" and knew we had to get a picture of that for Jack and Adam. There were so many different types of ships in the harbor. We saw everything from true fishing boats with the lines sticking straight out and the nets to huge industrial rigs...I don't know enough about boats to describe this well... James looking out the window of the ferry ride from the mainland to Hong Kong island.

The humidity was high (my hair would not stay straight) and it wasn't even the summer. I can't imagine August! At least the temperature was great!

It was amazing just to even walk down the harbor. It's like walking for a couple of miles with buildings and museums and restaurants going straight up and then you look over the harbor and not far away you see the same type of buildings on the other side. So at night, walking along there with all the lights is amazing!! One night we saw the Symphony of Light. Which is the world's largest permanent light show projected from atop the buildings on both sides of the harbor. There is also a light show at night where there is lights from the building and music and it is really cool. They also have their own version of Hollywood Boulevard with the hand prints of famous chinese actors. We saw plenty of Jackie Chan paraphanalia, and it was really fun.

Here you see some local food fresh from the ocean. This is so chinese to have buckets of live fish swimming in front of a restaurant to show how fresh thier fish is. Here you see crawdads (or something like that) wiggling around on a table in front of a restaurant. Then when you order they take it off the table and cook it so you know it's super fresh. No thanks for me. I personally don't like to see the animal alive just minutes before I eat it - no matter how fresh that makes it!!












While we were there we went to the LDS Temple and it was amazing!! It is a high rise building that includes the temple, a church and the mission office for the Hong Kong Mission. We hung out on the second floor where the "church" is, relaxed and had a good talk with the missionaries. Then we went up to the third floor where the mission office and Temple President and Mission President live. We talked with President Goo (the temple President) for a while and it was great to learn from him. Then the top floors were the actual temple floors and they were amazing. There was such an awesome spirit being there. We loved it!!

We took a tram up the Peak to overlook Victoria Harbor. You go up so high that you are literally in the clouds. It was also pretty cloudy so the pictures aren't great, but we got plenty of great views.

Then it started to rain a little so we went into the 10 floor mall type thing and Coleman talked us into playing some video games at EA Sports (from Coleman: "it's in the game"). The facilities and set up were amazing and we had a really good time. We had to peel ourselves away after a litte while. Here is Grace trying her hand at a little video monopoly with Ellie.






There was a really cute restaurant that was all about the Peanuts gang. The theme was executed very well with everything from the pictures on the walls, floors, food, large stuffed animals in the corners, tables with peanut characters and there was even a Charlie Brown cartoon playing on the TV on the wall. We thought about Miss Hickman (Ellie's 3rd grade teacher) while were were there because she loves Snoopy!!

On the last day we saw the biggest Buddha in the world!!! We took the Gning Ping 360 tram ride (picture) up to the top of the mountain to this cute little village. There we saw a movie about the three monkeys who were supposed to teach us about Buddhaism - it was mostly just entertaining. Here you can see the women offering gifts to the buddha. This gives perspective as to how huge the buddha was. These women were very small compared to the buddha. You couldn't even see them from the tram when you saw the mountain the buddha was on.

We saw the original monastery that was started here. One of the pictures is the inside of the monastary - very ornate and it had lots of flowers and plants. As we were on the steps outside the monastary we saw a large group of monks leaving the sanctuary after a worship service. This man was the last one down the stairs and we named him Uguay from Kung Fu Panda because he seemed the oldest and wisest. But all the monks had shaved heads, and were in those brown robes. On the sanctuary grounds we had a vegetarian lunch of fried noodles and other vegetables wrapped in pastries? That left no one satisfied!

Here we are after climbing up the steps to the big buddha. We are really high up and the clouds would pass over and cover the buddha and so it was hard to get a good picture and no on was in the mood to take a lot! The picture doesn't show how steep and how high up we are. As I was climbing the stairs I thought about Po (from Kung Fu Panda - you can see our cultural training sources) and him climbing the stairs up the the Jade Palace. Wow, it is much harder than it looks!

Here is Ellie holding her chin above the bar at an exhibit at the Science museum. I can't remember how long she did it for, but it was about 10 times longer than I did it. That is sad, because in 6th grade I could hold myself up longer than any other kid in the school. Those days have long past. But the museum was fabulous!! Very interactive and fun. We really enjoyed all the museums and parks for the kids. Hong Kong has so much great stuff...I keep thinking of more, but I must go to bed...