Hong Kong in hot July

A day with friends at the pool and then hanging out at their house. We had a lot of fun at Tai Po Pool because besides the pool they had six awesome water slides and a dive pool.

Kaylin coming down the slide. Wheeeeee!

 The kids were very ready to eat a meal and crash after a great time in the pool.

 
 This is a picture of us with the Simon's family enjoying some Thai cuisine. It was delicious. Even the fozen pineapple drinks. Yum.

 Lindsey is enthusiastically modeling the rest of a milk tea with pearls or bubble as they are sometimes called. It was good, but I would get the next one without the pearls (jellied coffee or tea beads, I think made out of tapioca and coffee or tea).

 Just outside the Thai restaurant the kids discovered this beautiful shell. Once they finally managed to get it, they realized it was inhabited by a good size snail. This is Lindsey's hand so you can get an idea of it's true size. They let it go of course.

 5 Hour Date Night! A US coworker, Tara, offered to have a fun time with the kids and let Mark and me go on a date. We went to a lovely Italian terrace restaurant for lobster fettucine and some wonderful breads. We then went to a theater to watch Green Lantern in 3D. Then we went to Starbucks for drinks and dessert on their outside patio overlooking the city skyline. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable time.

 Mark got to participate in the Father's Day choir (about 7 of these men are from our Sunday School gp).

We enjoyed a lovely time of fellowship and a meal with friends, Alvin and See Mei and children.

 We traveled by ferry to Lantau Island for a hike with a coworker of Mark's, Eric. This is the scene we found just off the pier, glorified shacks on stilts. Very sad conditions.

  I love this picture of Hong Kong's gorgeous national flower (on it's flag).

 A boom line is also know as a SHARK NET! Yikes! We were sure to stay in the designated area.

  I loved these Asian inspired gazebos which faced the beach not to far away.

A distant view of the Lo So Shing Beach, which you can only get to by boat or a good trek.

 On our hike away from the beach and to a local fishing village, we encountered quite a few of these lovely creatures. They are larger than the size of an adult hand spread out. These were hanging just about the trail. I wonder if that's has anything to do with why the beach doesn't have many visitors.

I'm not sure if this school is active during the school year or not.

We came across this sign about Kamikaze Grottos. These were caves where Japanese (They had come to occupy Lo So Shing village as their fort)  during WWII would hide speed boats and launch suicidal attacks on the Allies warships if they were to pass by.

Gratto or Cave (There is water in the cave.)

Our family with Lo So Village in the background.

 We had fresh seafood by the seashore. There are fish tanks along the front of the restaurant where you pick out your own fresh (still alive) seafood that will be cooked up for you.

The food was delicious and  we usually eat with chopsticks when we are at any Asian restaurant. We have all gotten pretty good at it. Behind us there are quite a few house boats. It looks like a whole village of boats connected by planked walkways on stilts.

We had some prawns (large shrimp) and boiled fish. It was really good. As you can see, they serve the whole fish.

Lindsey tried fish eyeballs. They're a little juicy.

Interesting site: We have seen many buildings with this same architectural characteristic - wind holes.

These are some of the kids that play together at the park. This was a day we were actually saying by to two of them who were leaving that afternoon to go back to their home in India. Our kids now keep up with them through  Skype.

VW Bugs of all different color designs were lining the streets on our way home one day. This was Kaylin's favorite.

 We have been enjoying Hong Kong as our home for 135 days so far. :)

June 4th Trip to Noah's Ark

While there are many Noah's Ark replicas, this is the only one in the world that is built to scale. It was a gorgeous day to go, even though it sprinkled a little in the afternoon. We took a fellow expat friend, Mike, with us.

This was a photo op we couldn't pass up.

These are a pair of Toucan birds.

This is an attempt at getting a full view of the ark. Yes, it is right beside a bridge that goes from the mainland of HK, touches on Park Island (which is where the ark is) and continues on to Lantau Island where the airport is.

Family picture in front of the ark.

They have some lovely bridges over here.

The kids thought this oversized replica of a snail shell was great.

Landscaping art is major over here. They change out the date everyday. By the way, they put the day of the month before the month.

3 Months in Hong Kong

We have now been in Hong Kong 3 months. It feels like it has been longer than that because we are settled and in a routine. When Mark was having such long work days/weeks at the beginning of our time here we decided to schedule a lunch date for our family in the middle of each week. We ride the MTR (train) to the Kowloon Bay station at the Telford Plaza Mall. He walks over to the mall and meets us at a restaurant. In this picture we are eating at KFC. It is similar, but different. They offer several rice dishes, and pizza pockets. We have also eaten at Pizza Hut, Spaghetti House, and Super Sandwich. Near our place in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST for short) we have also had some familiar food at McDonald's, Burger King, and TGI Fridays. We've also recently tried burgers at Triple O's (a Canadian franchise). We enjoy our lunch outings especially to spend time with Mark.

 They occasionally have some strange displays in their stores.

 This is a rice pouch called Zongzi (sounds like Shongsee) a friend of ours bought and gave us to try. It is a mound of rice with a mixture of meat, beans, and vegetables in the middle all wrapped in bamboo leaves. It fairly tasty.

 Here I am with friends, Leah and Kym, from our Sunday School class at Kym's flat with our families having a great time.

 June 1st lunch date with Mark at an outdoor commons area between buildings at Telford Plaza Mall. We picnic with KFC and took pictures of the kids near some beautiful ponds with a bridge.

Lindsey

Andrew

Kaylin with a flower in her hair.

We went to Hong Kong Park on HK Island for the day on June 3 with friends and had a great day. The park was huge. It had several playgrounds, a large aviary, several quiet monument areas for sitting, and much more we didn't get to. Here the kids are on the playground with friends.

Joy and I decided to join the kids.

The next several pictures are of interesting sites at the park. The kids enjoyed climbing this cork screw tower.

A walk way through the garden with a water fountain, benches, and lots of biting gnats and mosquitos.

Beautiful birds in the Aviary.

A great picture of friends, Mike and Joy, that we have enjoyed many trips to parks, museums, and church with.



Trip to Macau (HKSAR) May 21st.

On Saturday, May 21st our family enjoyed a 1 1/2 hour boat (ferry) trip to Macau. This trip allowed Lucy and the kids to renew their tourist visas. Macau is made up of a series of three islands with a population of about 457,000. It is also a mix of Portuguese and Chinese culture.

We are standing in front of an abandoned Fisherman's Warf Village. Abandoned because the 34 casinos on the main island have taken over the economy. There is also a man made volcano in the background that is no longer in use.

There are a lot of Buddist temples throughout Hong Kong and other outlying islands such as Macau.

Here you can see that people are praying and bowing before a shrine of various objects, and buying sticks of incense to burn and place at each level of altars along a staircased path.

These are the ruins of St. Paul's Church which was built in the early 1600's and destroyed by fire in 1835. Only the front and partial sid facades remain. They have built staircases up the back so people can look out the windows from up the second story.

The kids enjoyed the view from the second story window.

While leaving the ruins of St. Paul's Church we met a lady named Suki who was with a group passing out bags that had Christian literature, CD of songs, and DVD "End of the Spear" all in Chinese. It was a breath of fresh air to meet a fellow Christian assisting in the Great Commission to spread the gospel to all nations.

We were not quite prepared for what happened after we left the ruins for our taxi-van. We have been stopped occasionally and asked to have our pictures taken with strangers, but nothing like what happened this day. A couple asked and the next thing we new there was a crowd around us waiting for their turn (each individually of course). There must have easily been 20 or more pictures taken with strangers. The kids were all looking different directions not sure which camera to look at. Our taxi driver started speaking up and saying we should charge money and then shouting out prices (jokingly serious).

Once the kids got in the car they were a little stunned by what had just happened. Lindsey said, "It was like they thought we were stars or something."

We watched a water/music show out front of the Wynn Hotel (small scale compared to what the Belagio Hotel puts on in Las Vegas).

One of the modes of transportaion is by pedicab. It is literally a cab for two people with a driver biking them around town. We took a van tour instead, which was a little more cost efficient for a family of 5.

We had a wonderful day exploring a new place and renewing our travel visas. We left encouraged by and reminded to pray for those who are sharing God's love with people all around the world.