Hong Kong

Just doing a quick update with photos for now, will add some more stories and pictures from our time in Hong Kong tomorrow.

Whitney & Rachel outside the Kindergarten they worked at.

View from the Nightingales home..isn't it gorgeous?

Who doesn't love funny chinese signs?

Alvan outside a temple

a road much travelled...on the double decker bus

Olympic mascots

Night markets

Alvan's arty shot

Karen's arty shot

common hong kong living

cute chinese homes

busy kowloon intersection

collision sign on every corner

Nathan Rd is the main road in Kowloon

I'm updating without pics at the moment, just so I won't forget what we've done so far. Pictures will have to be added later. We arrived safely at 8pm on Monday 21st, after a long and somewhat uncomfortable 9 hour flight. The plane was smaller than we expected, and we were largely ignored by the "attendants", and the inflight entertainment was frustrating, as there were no individual controls, and all the channels started their shows at the same time, so when your show finished there was nothing to watch until the longest running show finished. I know...whinge, whinge. The airport is so big we had to catch a train from our arrival gate to the customs & baggage section...actually we had no idea where we were going, we just followed the crowd!! Hong Kong is very warm and humidity is high, but mostly there is a cool gentle breeze blowing, and of course everything is air conditioned, so heat has not been an issue as long as we keep ourselves hydrated. Tuesday 22nd: Happy Birthday Nathan. We went to computer markets in Wan Chai to buy our camera. We bought a Sony cybershot...it will take a few days to work out all the features, but so far it's really easy. After the camera shopping we had our first dining out experience... the American Peking Restaurant. They opened the upstairs just for us, their service was fantastic. We had about 8 different dishes between the 6 of us (Carolyn, David, Rachel, Alvan, Whitney and me)...some of the new tastes which we absolutely loved were fried seaweed, fried beef in sesame bread, peking duck that was carved in front of us, and the best sweet and sour I've ever had (I am not usually a lover of sweet & sour). After lunch we walked to the base of "The Peak", the highest point on Hong Kong island. You catch a special tram (cable car) that pulls you slowly up(at a very steep degree)the mountain. Once you get off the tram there are still 8 escalators to ascend to get to the lookout point!! But the view is breath taking... it was fantastic to see all around the island. The sheer volume of buildings is only surpassed by their height!! We did take some photos with Whitney's "broken" camera, and Rachel took some pics on her camera too...so hopefully we will have a couple of good pics to add later. After the adventure of the peak, we caught a bus to the IFC (international finance centre) which also happens to be a shopping centre, we stopped for an Italian hot chocolate...mmmm! Whitney and Rachel could barely keep their eyes open, having pulled an all nighter on Monday night! We made our way "home", we were still so full from our lunch we didn't need dinner. We had scripture study together (except Whitney who had lost the battle to stay awake), talked a little longer and turned in for the night. Wednesday 23rd: Yesterday Whitney and Rachel had an opportunity to work at an International Kindergarten for a few hours (and earn some spending money in the process). We headed over to Kowloon for the day, while the girls were at work, Carolyn, David, Alvan and myself headed to the Jade markets to buy jewellery... and I discovered my talent for haggling..I loved it! Some lovely surprises for my girls when I get home (shh), I even got myself something, after Carolyn insisted I treat myself...very happy I did now! We picked up Rachel & Whitney and went to get lunch...just a chinese fast food restaurant. Then it was off to the "Ladies Market", which goes for about 3 blocks.. more haggling and lots of great buys later; some things include a beautiful fountain pen for dad (he has been wanting one for at least the last 20 years), some lovely silk table runners, and lots of other goodies that I can't mention or it will spoil the surprise for everyone! We had planned to see the "city light show" from on a boat on the harbour last night, but we were all so tired we decided to call it a day, and headed home for a lovely home-made salad for dinner. After scripture study, we all sat around talking again....lots of reminising, and of course lots of laughter. We love the Nightingales, and have really missed them this last year. They have decided they want us to move here!! yeah right! LOL. Today, Carolyn, Rachel, Whitney and myself are off to Macau, where we are spending the night at the Venetian hotel..can't wait. Alvan is off to a business meeting (fingers crossed it will be beneficial), and then he and David and Hugo are going to check out all the car show rooms (including ferrari, maseratti, and maybach just to name a few). Ok, time to go pinch myself! Hopefully, next post I'll have pics to add here.