“Honk Konk”

Max’s attempt at saying Hong Kong :).  Wow, such an AMAZING trip!!  It was kind of fun to be the kid again, because it was just me and my parents.  And as much as I missed my kids, I would NOT have wanted them there.  That would be a way hard country to take them too.  So many people, stairs, public transportation, time change, long flight….all that.  And, being away made me so excited to come home and see them again and spoil them with presents :)

This is the church building where my parents live.  Their apartment is left of the big circle window up top (the two floors of windows and that big balcony make up their unit).  Their place was really pretty and very American which was nice.  It’s cool because they live on the 12th floor, my dad works on the 9th, and they go to church on the 3rd and 1st floors.  Everything in one place!

Their neighborhood.  I took these standing out on the balcony looking right and then left. 

We took a walk along the top of Victoria Peak, which overlooks the whole island.  So gorgeous up there.  It’s like Hong Kong is a mixture of Manhattan and Hawaii.  Lots of city and lots of tropical landscape.  This was on the walk looking at the backside of the island.

Eating dinner up at the top of the observation building.  It was cool to see all the lights of the city turn on as the sun went down.

We rode a crazy tram up to the Big Buddha, which is like in the jungle in the middle of nowhere.  It was about a 45 minute long ride, it just kept going and going up and over mountains.  Crazy!

We had to get a cotton candy there, just because it was so HUGE! 

Walking around the shops up there.  It was really weird to see a gigantic statue in the middle of the jungle. 

In the monastery at the Big Buddha.  It was interesting to see a few monks walking around, and seeing people light incense and bow and pray.  Made me grateful for the things I know :). 

We had lunch at the Monastery.  A vegetarian lunch.  While my dad seemed to like it quite a bit, I was not a big fan.  LOTS of huge mushrooms…not my thing.  And even my mom, who loves mushrooms and got excited at the site of big, plump mushrooms, took and bite and immediately said, “Ok, THAT is enough to make me not like mushrooms anymore”.  Haha!  Very different flavors that’s for sure. 

After we visited the Buddha we went down to the Tai Po fishing village.  It was really pretty sad there.  So much poverty.  We took a boat ride to see some of the pink dolphins (didn’t get to see any) and then on our way back we rode through the village which is built on stilts in the water. 

Gives you an idea of the kinds of houses they live in. 

Yeah, those are squid hanging off of someone’s back porch.  Mouthwatering, huh?

The market in the town where they sell all their catches. 

The smells here were unbelievable, and not in a good way.  They just slice up fish on the spot, de-scale them (scales flying everywhere), and the fish still move after their heads have been cut off.  Yikes!  

This was from the day we went to Shen Zhen, China to go shopping.   China was interesting.  A lot different than Hong Kong.  You can just tell they’re strict!  This mall was CRAZY.  I should have taken a picture of it.  There are hundreds of tiny stores everywhere, so you just have to weave through, and all of the shop keepers try to get your attention and call you “Missy, Missy” over and over again.  They actually just follow you around.  One lady there literally stalked us for about 20 minutes.  Any store we were at she would be lurking in the background waiting for us to come out so she could try and get us to her store again.  Kinda weird.  But we got lots of great shopping done!  I even got Mike a couple of remote control helicopters that are so fun.  Oh and sadly, there are NO normal toilets here.  You walk into a stall and there is just a hole in the ground that you have to crouch over.  No toilet paper either, so I was searching my purse for a couple spare Kleenex's!  I don’t understand that.  I really don’t.   Sorry for the picture of a toilet, but I had to post it so you get the idea! 

On the bus to Stanley.  This place is on the other side of the island and is a lot like Hawaii.  Pretty beaches and water. 

At the Temple in Kowloon.  What a  gorgeous temple!  It’s interesting that there is so little land around it.  I mean, it should be obvious because it’s so crowed there.  But it was kinda funny to look out the window in the dressing room area and see a pool and an apartment RIGHT behind it.   Oh and the name that my dad went through for was from 2200 BC!!  I couldn’t believe it.  China just has such good ancestral records.   The guy was Mr. Chi, and one of the workers was telling us that Mr. Chi was the first recorded leader of China.  And the name my dad had was from about 50 years after that, so he was probably in that line of heritage. 

I couldn’t get a good picture of it because you can’t back up enough to see it or you’re in the road.  So this was at a crosswalk :)

 

We rode the ferry back from Kowloon and the city was so pretty at night.  They do a laser light show in Hong Kong every single night at 8 pm.  The lasers are on the tops of the buildings. 

All in all it was such a GREAT trip.  Saw some amazing things and helped me remember to be grateful for what I have.  My dad is the Branch President of a ward of single sisters who are all from the Philippines.  These women, most of which are married with children, sign contracts for years at a time and come and live in a Chinese household as a “helper”.  They’re the nanny, and the housekeeper, and the cook, etc.  They go home maybe once a year, for a week or so.  Their moms and sometimes their husbands are raising their kids, and the money they earn gets sent back to the family in the Philippines.  Generally speaking, they are treated really badly, and it’s just such a sad situation.  These moms never get to be with their kids!  But the women are so faithful and good.  I can’t believe how hard they work.  They only get one day off a week.  Oh and in Shen Zhen one of the women who was selling jewelry (I bet she was my age) said she works TWELVE hours a day 7 days a week with only ONE day off a year (chinese new year).  She said she doesn’t have a boyfriend or any friends bc there’s no time.  It just made me feel so blessed to live here and be able to raise my kids. 

Anyway, THANK YOU Mom and Dad for the wonderful trip and great memories!!!