Hong Kong - Day 5

Here is that missing day that we had in Hong Kong. So, I had forgotten what went on on this day. I looked at the pictures and now know what we did. We spent the first part of the day at bethany. I don't really know what we did, but we stayed there till 12 I think. Then we caught the ferry out to Hong Kong Island, and then took another ferry to Kowloon where we were going to meet up with the Huangs and their aunt.

We met in the shopping plaza that is right by the Star Ferry, which is the ferry that goes from Hong Kong to Kowloon. This is a international type mall. So, everything is way expensive. All the namebrand stuff is there. We didn't plan on buying anything.

So, we ended up meeting for lunch in the place. There was a dim sum restaurant there, and we went to that place. It was pretty good. Dim sum is a style of food where you get small portions of different food. My dad used to go to places where the servers would push around carts with stuff on them, and you would just grab what you wanted off the carts.

Well, those types of places have, apparently, almost all disapeared. So, now, you just order what you want. We had little cocunut flavoured marshmellow bunnies, pork meat, skin, and fat, some soup stuff, some duck, pigeon quarters, and chicken feet. There were also little dishes with tiny little fish in them.

So, the pigeon and chicken feet were new for me. Pigeon wasn't anything special, it was like a mini mini chicken. Didn't quite taste like chicken, but it was similar. The chicken feet were interesting. There really isn't any meat on them, but the way they are cooked, the skin just come off very easily. So, that is what you eat. I didn't have much at all, just one toe, but oh well, that was enough.

By the time lunch was over, the Huangs had to catch their flight. So, we said goodbye and then hanged around in the mall a little longer. We had dessert a the mango place we went to last night, and that was very good. My dad wanted to go see the YMCA, so we took the metro over.

We spent a little time there, and then we walked over to some famous hotel that is there. I don't remember what it was called, but i twas pretty nice. They had live music and even all of those namebrand shops inside. There was lots of jewlry and cloths in there. So, that was it in there.

Then we took to the metro to a part of town that was supposed to have lots of open air markets with lots of cloths and things. There was also a computer shop there. A big Chinese mall like place.

There really wasn't anything to buy in the computer shop, and Katherine wanted shoes, not clothes (at the moment, the next day she wanted clothes...). So, we ended up not really buying anything. So, we spent the rest of the night there, just looking around.

As I remember we left pretty late (like all of the nights we've been here). So, we got back pretty late, walked up the hill in the dark and went to bed.
-Aaron


The Hong Kong Island convention center

From Hong Kong Day 5

Inside the mall. There were these oval things along the length of the building. The whole mall stretches along by the pier. So, it is really long.

From Hong Kong Day 5

Bunnies!

From Hong Kong Day 5

After a little time...

From Hong Kong Day 5

Chicken feet

From Hong Kong Day 5

Pigeon.....with head. No, I did not eat the brain.

From Hong Kong Day 5

The mini fish

From Hong Kong Day 5

Some of the mango desserts

From Hong Kong Day 5

The hotel

From Hong Kong Day 5

The computer place

From Hong Kong Day 5

A pretty much empty metro car. They are really pretty long.

From Hong Kong Day 5

Chinglish. You must BEWARE!

From Chinglish

This was for the mango place.

From Chinglish

There were many stpes, not just one.

From Chinglish

From Chinglish

This was a sign under a maple tree, I think. You know, the ones with little twirly seeds that come down like helicopters.

From Chinglish

There are some crazy children in Kowloon...

From Chinglish

HSH (Home Sweet Home)

5:02am
Katherine here...
Here we are back in Petaluma! Wow. It feels so different.
Yesterday morning we all got up and got ready to leave (we did most of our packing the night before). We were off the island by 10:45am; and at the airport ready to board the plane (after all the security and immigration...) by 12:45pm. We had lunch at the airport, for ridiculously high prices. I would have thought we were in America if I hadn't known we were in Hong Kong. :)
Around 2:10pm we started boarding and the plane took off at 2:45pm. The plane ride was nice. We watched lots of movies. I never once fell asleep. :}
When we got into the SFO airport we were all pretty tired... we got through without a hitch and were out of the airport by 12:30pm. Please note that we got into the SFO airport (at 11am) "before" we left the HKG airport, and on the same day.
We stopped by Costco in Novato and after that I don't know what happpened because I was fast asleep, and did not wake up until the middle of last night. I woke up and fell back asleep on and off about four or five times! Finally at 1:50am this morning I gave up and got out of bed. Danny came with me to the kitchen, and a few minutes later my parents joined us. After all, it was our day time. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the dreaded jet lag.
Aaron is still asleep, but the rest of us are WIDE awake. It is going to be a... sleepy.... day.
-Katherine

Hong Kong - Day 6

Alright, I know I am skipping days 3, 4, and 5, but I wanted to give a quick update. So, here we are, we just had our last full day in Asia and are flying back to California tomorrow. Flying back, we get 12 extra hours of Thursday the 31!

Anyway, our flight leaves at 2pm, as far as I know. So, we are going to be leaving the island around 10am. We had a fun day today. It was actually my mom's birthday today. We didn't have a party, but she did get a diamond ring.

We spent some time in the big shopping mall right next to the ferry on Kowloon. Then we went to get a ring. We spent the rest of the day at a night market type place. Well, not really Taiwan style night market, but it was a big market, and it was night, hence, night market.

We did most of the shopping we have wanted to do tonight. Even though the prices here are much higher than in China (not amazingly so, still cheaper than the US, but close in price to the US), it was easier to do the shopping now. As we did not want to lug around a whole bunch of suitcases of stuff. Ironically, we only got enough to fill maybe one and a half big suitcases. Well, it was the thought that counted.

It's been five weeks. It's seems like we left yesterday (The absence of school work?). I must say, it's been an awesome experiance!
-Aaron


The tourist shot that I strive to get everyday. It's a tourist shot becuase it has all of us in it, and I could have taken this shot of us back in CA

From Hong Kong Day 6

My mom's new ring. The other one is her other one but she cannot take it off until we get back to a dryer cooler climate.

From Hong Kong Day 6

One of the market streets. This goes on for a block this way, and there was the same thing behind me as well. These little shops had a lot of stuff in them.

From Hong Kong Day 6

A overview shot of a little bit of the night market.

From Hong Kong Day 6

This is the first time we have been able to see the lights from Hong Kong island from Cheugn Chau.

From Hong Kong Day 6

I noticed I haven't posted any signs for a while, so, here are a bunch.


It's just a little funny at the end.

From Chinglish

For those who cann't read Chinese. This sign means, "Don't let your truck blow up on this road." For those who can, I don't need to translate.

From Chinglish

Read the small and big as one...

From Chinglish

These were at the ostrich farm. If you need to see them bigger, click on the picture, and then the little zoom button.

From Chinglish

From Chinglish

From Chinglish

Hong Kong - Day 4

Today we spent the entire day on Cheung Chau. We started out on the beach, moved into the town, and then came back to Bethany. I think I wrote about the beaches here already, but they are pretty nice.

With the weather being what it is, it is nice to be able to jump into the ocean, and not freeze to death. We spent a pretty long time on the beach. We rented some kayaks and went out a little in the ocean. We actually only rented two, and then took turns with them. That was fun.

While we were there on the beach, a helicopter landed on the near by helipad. Some one was getting medivacked to a different island. So, that was cool to see. It was an all black helicopter, and didn't look like something a hospital would use, but everything is different in this part of the world.

After spending time on the beach, we went down into the town'ish area to get some lunch. The only problems was that we did not have any money to get food. My dad looked for a bank to exchange money, but the three that he tried either would not exchange money or they wanted to give a horrible rate. So, we ended up eating back at Bethany.

We were going to go on some of the trails afterward, but we never made it back out of the house. So, we spent the rest of the day inside.
-Aaron

Hello!

From Hong Kong Day 4

Katherine and my dad heading out.

From Hong Kong Day 4

We didn't go much further out than this.

From Hong Kong Day 4

In the water.

From Hong Kong Day 4

Here is the helicopter landing. It was pretty windy out, so this pilot was quite good to set it down like he did.

From Hong Kong Day 4

Here is one of the alley ways we walked through.

From Hong Kong Day 4

Hong Kong - Day 3

Sunday. Today we had service on the island we are staying at, Cheung Chau. We had the service in the living room of the main lodge. That is where we are staying. Everyone who came was staying at Bethany. There was a youth retreat going on, I think. So, there were about 20 or so people here.

We sang some songs, and then one of the people here on staff gave the sermon. It was on Hebrews 12:1-3. In the NIV version there are three "let us" phrases. Let us throw off everything that hinders. Let us run with perseverence. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.

We also sang, again, for the people there. After the service we hung around at the house until around 2pm. We were going to meet some more people on Hong Kong island. I think our meeting was at 3:30, and we got there at around 3:35. So, we did pretty good. They were the president of IBLP of Hong Kong.

So, we talked a while in the Mandrin Hotel, and then went out to a local dessert place. This place focused on mangos. So, everything had mongos in it. There were mango juicies with mango pieces and mango gello and mango puree all in one cup of great goodness. Some of them had rice balls in them, which were interesting.

They almost didn't seem like rice becuase they did not crumble apart like rice does. They were very jelly like. Anyway, those were pretty good. All of the mango stuff was good come to think of it.

After that, we had dinner at a place in a little underground mall. We then went to a raised area above the Victoria Harbor. We were on the Kowloon side. We overlooked the Hong Kong side.

That night there is what is called the "Syphony of Lights." It was supposed to be a laser show accompanied with music. There were probably 6-10 buildings that had lights on them. Some of them had lights on the outside of the buidling and flashed those on and off, others had spotlights on the tops, and a few of them had green lasers on top of them.

It was quite cool to see the cordination between the music and the lights becuase you were hearing music on one side of the harbor, and the lights were lighting in perect sycronization on the other side. So, from a technological stand point, it was cool.

The lights were also nice to watch. A little bit random at times, but still nice to see. Only green lasers really show up during the night time, unless it is really hazy, so only green lasers were used.

After that we took a ferry back to Central Station on Hong Kong island, and then took the ferry out to Cheugn Chau. Walking back on the path through the island and up the mountian is sort of fun, but also a little scary. You have things moving around in the trees just a few feet aways from you, but you can't see them. Probably, becuase they are mostly little toads, but that is beside the point. We are planning on spending the day on the island tomorrow. So, that should be relaxing.
-Aaron


Here is the "fast ferry." There are two ferries you can take into Cheung Chau. One is the slow ferry, which takes an hour, and the other is the fast ferry, which takes 30 minutes.

From Hong Kong Day 3

Here is a hydo-foil on its way to Macau

From Hong Kong Day 3

The sun setting over Victoria Harbor.

From Hong Kong Day 3

A foreigner... Sometimes it's funny to take pictures of unsuspecting people.

From Hong Kong Day 3

Here are some pictures of the light show
There are other ones on the album. You can get a better idea of the show if you look at them.

From Hong Kong Day 3

From Hong Kong Day 3

From Hong Kong Day 3

Hong Kong - Day 2

Well, it is hot here in Hong Kong. The weather can almost be compared to Taiwan as far as heat and humidity. It is a little bit better here than in Taiwan, but it is still pretty sticky. This morning we went swimming in the ocean. There are two beaches that are really close to where we are staying.

There water is pretty nice here. I don't know how warm the water is, but it is quite nice. We swam in the morning for a while. Till 11 or so.

Then we went to Hong Kong island and had lunch with the Huangs and Mrs. Wong (I don't know if that is the right spelling, or name, actually). Then we spent the rest of the day with the Wongs back at their apartment.
I can't say much of anything else, beucase there is nothing much more interesting to say, plus my dad needs to get on the computer and do some things, and wants me to go to bed.

Tomorrow we are going to have Sunday service here are Bethany house, and then go into Hong Kong island to meet the president of IBLP Hong Kong. So, we should have a good day.
-Aaron
P.S. I'll get pictures up tomorrow.


There are a few more on the album.

In the Ocean

From Hong Kong Day 2

Some of the shipyard on Cheung Chau

From Hong Kong Day 2

Hong Kong is the 2nd or 3rd busiest ports in the world.

From Hong Kong Day 2

Down a street in Hong Kong. My dad said this part has not really changed in 30 years.

From Hong Kong Day 2

This is the apartment complex where that other family lived. Imagine yourself being surrounded by buildings like this in a 360 degree circle, and you can get the idea of this place. I think there are around 2,500 living spaces in this complex, but it might be higher.

From Hong Kong Day 2

Some of the night lights in Hong Kong

From Hong Kong Day 2

The IFC building at night

From Hong Kong Day 2

Hong Kong - Day 1

OK, well, I finally got a good connection to the internet. So, I have uploaded pictures from the past three days.
All of the post have more pictures on the online album.
Assuming we can find an adapter for our US plug for the computer, I will be able to post things everynight.

We arrived safely in Hong Kong Today. We had a wonderful flight, and a ferry ride over to Chong Chou. So, we are here at Bethany house, looking forward to some relaxing times.
Hopefully, I'll get an adapter before tonight, and will be able to post a real post tonight, if not, so long for now.
-Aaron

Update: I got an adapter for the laptop, so I will be able to post things all week. I just realized that I said just about everything that we did today. So, I'm just going to update this post with some pictures.


A view of the new Beijing Airport

From China Day 29

Inside

From China Day 29

The driver on the right side....so weird

From China Day 29

There are some pretty mountains. This gondola goes up to the big Buddha

From China Day 29

The longest suspension bridge in the world

From China Day 29

This is the current tallest building in Hong Kong, the IFC. Another building is being built right now that will be taller.

From China Day 29

On Chuegn Chou island

From China Day 29

A beach! We've been told that the water is really nice.

From China Day 29

In the train

From Chinglish

It's a light switch, although you might not know it

From Chinglish