Ni Hao Hong Kong! March '11

  Hello Hong Kong!  A totally last minute trip...it was a whirlwind and complete fun!

Tim had to travel to Shanghai and Hong Kong, China in March for work.  He called me not even 3 full weeks before he was supposed to be in Hong Kong (which was the end of his trip), and says "you wanna meet me in Hong Kong?"  What?!?!  "Um, sure honey" was my response.  However, I called up my parents and they were able to drive over and watch the boys for 8 days, while I travelled by myself to Hong Kong, via the Amtrak from Oceanside to LA Union Station to LAX to TOKYO, then finally to meet Tim at the Hong Kong airport after going through customs!  Then a 25 min train ride to the hotel.  It was an amazing trip and I loved every second of it, even when Asian people that had no sense of personal space were 'all up in my grid'!  So fun!  I am so grateful it all worked out for me to be able to go!  And we knew we didn't have to worry about the kids at all cuz they are completely fine with my parents!  They had tons of fun too!  They were quite bummed we left them at home though.  

My itinerary:  Leave house Wed 4:45am to Oceanside, CA Amtrak transit station.  Take 2 1/2 hour train to LA Union Station.  Wait 25 mins for shuttle bus to LAX.  Leave LAX 3 hours later for 11 1/2 hour flight to Tokyo (got lucky with a window seat & no one in the 2 seats next to me).  Wait 2 hours before boarding plane to Hong Kong for 5 1/2 hour flight.  Arrive Hong Kong 1:00am Thursday morning.  Spend 2 'days' by myself exploring while Tim worked.  Then Tim and I had stuff planned together...

Except that I didn't get my time by myself save a couple of hours.  The night before I had to leave I came down with horrible bronchitis and a sinus infection.  After a trip to Urgent Care and loading up on meds, I headed out the next morning.  Yeah-great fun while on a LONG plane ride!  Seriously hit me outta nowhere!  So, the hours I could have spent on my own exploring beautiful temples and gardens and shopping that Tim didn't have any interest in were instead spent in the hotel room crashed in the bed!  But, since I crashed all day I was able to hang with Tim when he got off of work!  

So, the ACTUAL happenings:   Thurs. am I woke up and got ready (woke up by 8am as commanded by a friend that travels internationally a lot) no matter how tired I was and regardless of how I felt, got ready for the day, and went down to an amazing buffet breakfast at the Kowloon Hotel where we stayed... (complete with Asian fare as well as traditional English fare-including THE BEST bread pudding and vanilla sauce that I have ever consumed!  I enjoyed it every moring!)

Next, I jumped in a taxi, and tried ever so earnestly to give the guy instructions on where I wanted to go.  The thing about Hong Kong taxi drivers:  they don't read OR speak a lick of english, even though ALL directions, street signs and addresses are written in Chinese AND English across HK...so he had to call someone and I spoke with them so they could translate to him.  I found out later I could have taken the MTR (subway) for a fraction of the cost...it was still way cheap by taxi.  I went to the Kowloon Walled City Park and I was so excited to take tons of photos of the beautiful gardens, the 'ruins' of the city, and pics of the surrounding residential skyscrapers.  I walked around for maybe an hour and decided I was pretty wiped so I walked a mile or two to the MTR and took the subway and arrived right by the hotel!  The subways in HK: VERY NICE!  Very clean, no one is allowed to eat or drink or smoke or do drugs, etc. on them, just crowded for the most part, as was every part of HK!  I started to walk around a bit to get to another destination I wanted to go to, and ran into a very small temple I don't recall the name of, but it seemed like it was just there for tourism and was lame.  I took some cool pics (something they wouldn't let you do inside if it was NOT just for tourism I found out later).  Then I really was WIPED!  I could barely breathe or hold my head up!  So, back to hotel for me.  Tim got off a bit early, saw me sleeping, so he went to get fitted for a suit!  

When he returned, we walked down (just across from our hotel) to the Victoria Harbor and purchased our little plastic tokens to ride on the world famous Star Ferry.  It takes you around the very choppy harbor and is very loud and smelly, but it was awesome.  It gives you an amazing look at the entire harbor, of Hong Kong Island (where the IFC and the Financial District is) and of Kowloon, our home for the duration.  Got some really great pics of the buildings, of ships passing us, and the skyline and each other on the ferry!  It was incredibly misty/hazy the entire time we were there.  The weather was about the same as home though...damp and about 65-70 the whole time!  Next we went for amazing, official dim sum and walked around a bit and finally schlepped back to the hotel cuz again, I couldn't hold my head up!  (I later found out that not being able to breathe/smell came in handy the 1st couple of days!)  

 Friday, Tim worked again that morning while I slept off my meds.  He returned and in the afternoon we took a taxi to take the Peak Tram up to Victoria's Peak.  So, when we got out of the taxi, the guy was yelling at us in Chinese to get out of the car and Tim was rushing and I was rushing, and I am very sad to say, we left our Nikon D3000 SLR camera on the back seat of the taxi, realizing it only a few moments later AFTER the taxi driver had driven away of course!  Oh I was sick, and Tim was even more sick cuz he felt he was at fault.  So, all the pics from that 1st day were wiped.
So, the rest of our pics are from our crappy little pocket video camera that takes stills...so oh well.  We still have the memories, right?  Another reason I am journaling this trip in such detail so that we can remember more since we have limited pics!

 

This is the actual cable car, the PEAK TRAM, that takes you straight up the mountain (seriously seems like it goes at more than a 45 degree angle!) to Victoria's Peak!  The picture at the top is a pic of the building and the flat part at the top is the 'lookout' deck and you can see all of Hong Kong Island and the harbor, then over to the Kowloon side!  It was spectacular, it really was!  And it was windy and chilly up there too!  The Mickey Mouse pic was at the top inside, they were advertising Disneyland Hong Kong.  No, we didn't go!  Of course there was shopping inside the tower going up to the observation deck.  There was a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant and a Burger King.  Tim had already been eating nothing but Chinese fare for a week and begged for a Whopper!  So, this was the one 'off' meal we ate...the rest of the time we ate real Asian food.  

I loaded these backwards, oh well!  Victoria's Peak is over on Hong Kong Island, and to get over there, we purchased our little plastic tokens for a couple of dollars and rode the world famous Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor.  It was loud and smelly and awesome.  We saw excellent views of the skyline on HK Island where the financial district is (below) and of Kowloon where we were staying.  Very cool.  We got awesome pics of the choppy waves (a very rough ride), ships passing us and of the beautiful and incredible buildings!

See the RED sign?  You can't tell from these crappy pics, but it says DB as in DB Schenker, the company Tim works for.  They don't even have an office in the Financial District, but they pay TONS of $ for that advertisement to be part of that skyline!  ha!

Next day, Saturday morning, we travelled via the MTR (so easy to get around there!) then walked several blocks to the House of the Lord.  We were extremely excited about being able to attend our temple while there.  It is in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and is quite small, understandably with the lack of land!

The temple workers were very happy to see us there...sometimes they go days without seeing patrons.   We actually attended a session in Indonesian for a couple of young women going through for the 1st time.  I listened in English while Husband listened in Chinese!  He thought it was so cool!  

This is the sign for the temple...so cool.  Across from the temple is a big new building we went to check out.  Turns out it is a ward building, along with Patrons' rooms for people that travel to the temple without a place to stay, Missionary offices and a Distribution Center.  We bought a Chinese Book of Mormon and a Chinese Hymnnal (each open from the 'back' very cool).  Then, we ran into 2 American missionaries there and they were thrilled to see us!  It was fun talking to them.  I think one was from Utah or somewhere like that.  They were telling us that even though Prosciliting (sp?) is NOT allowed throughout mainland China, the Church maintains an excellent relationship with the Chinese government.  So, the ward/branch members there in the mainland are the ones that spread the word, carefully of course, but are not able to 'teach' the discussions.  So, if someone becomes interested in taking the discussions and getting baptized, they are able to obtain a special Visa and travel to HK for just the weekend...Friday they receive the discussions and Saturday they are baptized by the missionaries there in HK.  Then they return to China!  Incredible!  It was heartening to see the church members there and really testified to the fullness of the gospel!

Then back to the hotel to change and hit Mongkok, the Ladies Markets where a lot of the street vendors are.

So, I think we had one of these drinks every day except for the 1st day...and on the last day we had 2!  They are actually a Japanese infusion fruit smoothie thing....the bottom of the cup had Aloe jelly in it, then a mixture of coconut milk, mango and other fruit juices, then topped with bits of fresh mango and pieces of coconut and to drink it we sucked through a big wide straw.  SO yummy!!

In the ladies' market...Man oh man was I ever a target in Hong Kong...long blonde hair, white girl...the sales people had it in for me!

I especially liked this decorative thong for a man...hahaha (so gross)

This is what we saw as we walked out of the subway hall and into Mongkok.  CRAZY!  So many freakin' people!  Neither Hong Kong Island or Kowloon was nearly this crowded!

Tim revelled in the mess of the crowd, the disgustingness of the air greased from street food and the pushy people.  That "Virginia Hourly Hotel" sign cracks me up!

We scored a few deals, not as many as I hoped to get but still...
Hong Kong has TONS of shopping, I mean everywhere you look is a giant mall!  In the subway stations and even underground!  Directly below our hotel was a 3 floor mall!  BUT, everything is HIGH end, way too high end for me, even though I suppose there are excellent deals IF you shop and buy that HIGH end, plus there's no sales tax.  So, all of my 1 hour of shopping was done at the street market...haha.   We did go in to "Sa Sa", like a Sephora store and I got some goodies there too!

Back in Kowloon with another drink!  Yeah...told you!  We were obsessed, they were so delicious!

This is Kowloon, it is like the Times Square of Hong Kong.

On the MTR, Sunday morning, I believe!  I should have journaled all of this sooner, not 4 months later!

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to get over by the airport to travel to Lantau Island.  First, we took the MTR all the way out as far as we could.  Below, you can see the subway map displaying the 'Disneyland Resort' stop.  Apparently, people get off there and then take another short train (see the pink line) over to the resort.  We saw families with big bags packed getting off the MTR here...fun for them!

We exited in Tung Chung.  I was simply amazed at these buildings.  It was incredible.  And a lot of them are pretty much on the edge of the water.  Insane!

See the little person at the bottom right corner of the picture?  Gives you an idea of just how huge those columns are...

A view of the airport from the air...

So, we travelled from Tung Chung up and over to Lantau Island via the Ngong Ping 360!  It was fabulous!   The Ngong Ping 360 is a cable car, a gondola lift.  Prior to this opening, the only access to Lantau was via a mountain road and bus service and took an extremely long time.  It only took 25 minutes to travel 5.7 km (3.5 mi) up treacherous terrain!  And we paid extra for a 'crystal cabin' that had a glass floor!  Awesome.

Going across the water from Tung Chung to start the climb up the mountain was incredible..couldn't believe we were suspended in the air by a cable...so cool!  

See below that tower?  There's a foot path?  See it?  This foot path went the entire distance from the edge of the water to the Po Lin Monastery where the Tian Tan Buddha, or Big Buddha is located on Lantau Island.   There were plenty people walking this path that is under the cable.  Incredible.  This certainly was a highlight of the trip for me, can you tell???
Lantau is the 'country' of Hong Kong...the island is HUGE, the biggest of Hong Kong, and full of wilderness trails, monasteries and monuments!  We saw just a bit of this...

The picture on the left is in a little shopping village (of course!)     before you walk up to the Buddha.  I was actually kind of bugged by the commercialism up by this 'sacred' place...

The picture on the right is of the entrance to the actual 'attraction', where the Big Buddha was located.

The 268 steps leading up to the Big Buddha...

The Big Buddha is approximately 30 meters (98 feet) and is made of solid bronze.  The monks at the Po Lin Monastery built him in the 80's.  It was a sort of spiritual experience, respecting how far back this guy goes and learning a bit more about him.

Climbing the steps about half way up...

These were devas paying gifts to the Buddha, there were 3 on each side, totalling 6.  Each one was different-so much symbolism!  The scenery surrounding the Big Buddha was breathtaking really.  So peaceful up there.

A swastika?  We learned another meaning for this symbol...can't remember it though...duh!

See Tim in there with the flags?

So, they have these HUGE incense pots that people light their incense sticks (some of them like a yard long) and they bow and say prayers to different directions, then bow on the ground, etc.  It was interesting to watch people young and old complete these rituals.  The scent and clean smoke in the air was almost intoxicating.

Walking up to the temple...there were fruit trees  and all sorts of flowers, shrubs and trees across the monastery, all greatly cared for!

One of the only pictures of the two of us from the trip...maybe the only?  That's the bad part about traveling just the two of us...

Walking up to the temple.  Once at the temple, there were no pictures allowed inside.  The monks were praying and chanting and the sounds reverberated off of the hills it seemed...

We enjoyed a vegetarian monk-style meal at the monastery.  Very cool, and it completely filled up our bellies!

Just pics of random malls and shopping places in the area we stayed in...

This is the Kowloon Hotel, where we stayed, in Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon.  It was very nice, but the rooms are dinky!  Again, not surprising!  The triangular shaped, mirrored glass ran all the way up the ginormous building!

Inside the mall across the street (I have never seem malls like these all over the Kowloon district where we stayed) was a fabulous grocery store called City Super where we would buy fresh fruit, nut and cracker snackies every night to keep me going through the next day between meals.  And this place, the Little Mermaid Bakery had delicious baked goods that we snacked on as well!  Yum!  Traditional bean paste pastries as well as sweet as heck traditional English pastries.

The English influence in Hong Kong was quite interesting.  There was traditional and standard English fare served everywhere and signs and advertisements were in English as well as Chinese.   And if you spoke with a young person (and Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui was crawling with young people!) they usually spoke English, so that made it nice to get around!  English food and tea times were popular...Tim's fav=sausage rolls (tasted just like the Aussies make 'em!)...my fav=Bread Pudding...yum!

So, one of Tim's associates, a young man named Ben, took us to an amazing restaurat that was in Tsim Sha Tsui East, off the beaten path, that served Beijing style Peking Duck.  It was great having someone Chinese order for us!  He knew just what to get too!

The most delicious soup, I have no idea what it was called...or what was in it...

An accidental random picture of the ceiling lights...ha!

And this was our Peking Duck chef...watched him carve the bird right there.  The flavor of the duck was mouth watering.  You placed strips of the duck on a tortilla like flatbread, placed some cucumber strips and bamboo shoots and onions in there, and then this sauce to drizzle over the top...oh my goodness it was wonderful!  mmmmmm...

Then some sweet 'n sour Yellow fish...it was very potent in taste and I think this was my least favorite part of the meal, but still very good.

Ben was such a nice guy...his little wife was not able to make it to dinner with us.  He doesn't live close by, but came all the way to us to go to dinner with us.  I think he was about 30 and they were expecting their 1st child, and lived in a 500 sq. ft. apartment!  It is crazy expensive to live there, and usually both parents HAVE to work...he was very nervous about providing for his family living there in such an expensive place.  I was very bummed that the only pic we got of him was so blurry that you could hardly tell it was a person!   He ended up leaving Schenker only 2 weeks later...prob knew he was leaving when he went to dinner with us-ha!

On our walk by the Harbor back to our hotel, we passed The Peninsula...a world famous freaking ritzy crazy expensive hotel!!!  Decked out, of course, with the HIGHEST end mall!  Quite pretty, huh?  The modern looking building that shoots out over the top is the modern addition to the hotel and shoots up I don't even know how many stories!

The Clock Tower that is on Victoria Harbor by the museums in Tsim Sha Tsui...it is pretty much right on the water.  It is the only remnant of the original site of the former Kowlon Station on the Kowloon-Canton Railway.  They actually had to move it a bit, and it became a monument in 1990.  A LOT happened in the 80's and 90's in Hong Kong, and it was quite intriguing to me learning the history...Tim, not so much...ha!

You can see the Cultural Center next to the Clock Tower.  I wish the Clock Tower was straight in this pic...

the rest of the Cultural Center.  You can see The Peninsula (the newer part of it) sticking out the top behind the Cultural Center.

More pics of Hong Kong Island from Victoria Harbor pier, our last night in Hong Kong...

and here's Tim pointing to the DB Shenker sign...

and the Batman building all lit up!  Tim took this pic for the boys!

Another juice drink!  Our last one of the trip!

So on Sunday morning, we pretty much just had time to get ready, packed and over to the HUMONGOUS airport!  The Hong Kong International Airport really can take your breath away at the shear size of it!  HUGE malls all through out it, and the gates were so HUGE...everything was HUGE!  Here's Tim enjoying his last sausage roll...yum for him!

And my last bread pudding...yum for me!  (also depressing...I HAVE to find a decent recipe for this stuff!)

See this place?  ENORMOUS! 

 So, Tim and I flew back seperately too...and he actually got stuck in a crappy seedy motel for an extra night cuz his flight got cancelled for whatever reason, so he should have landed home before I did since he had a direct flight and I didn't, but he didn't come in for almost 24 hours after me!  Poor Tim...he had a 24 hour delay just getting to Shanghai at the beginning of his trip due to fog in San Fran!  So, I flew back the way I came, and when we landed in Tokyo, Japan, it was snowing so I took a pic from the airport window!

Inside the Tokyo airport...Welcome to Japan!  I want to go back and visit Japan because all of the people that work at the airport are the friendliest people I have ever had contact with!  So incredibly opposite from any contact I have had at any AMERICAN airport!  ha!

Took a pic of some Japanese goodies as I was trying to pick something out to take home to the kiddos, to use the last of my $$...

So, something freaky..,I was in the Tokyo airport just the day before the big earthquake...crazy!!  

So the trip home for me was the same route as going to Hong Kong...only the flights were more crowded, I was totally sick of Asian food by that time (and that is all they served on the planes), I needed my 'bubble' back, and I was still sick and completely exhausted!  

Thanks so much Mom & Dad for watching the rugrats and taking care of them so that we could enjoy ourselves in this foreign land!  It was an extraordinary trip and I am extremely grateful that we were able to go and for all of the experiences there!   Missed you boys!  Thanks for the trip my sweet husband...love love love you.  (I AM allowed to do that here...this is our family journal not FB brat!)