Arnotts Mint Slices

This cookie alone had improved my quality of life by at least 7%. Not since Deer Valley's double chocolate chip deliticious masterpiece has a cookie affected me so profoundly. If you like girl scout thin mint cookies then you will LOVE these. They are Australian but check your grocery store as it may carry them. Try one. I promise you will thank me.

Hong Kong 411

We loved Hong Kong. Here is some information for those of you planning a trip there.

We loved:
-Chi Lin Nunnery
-Wong Tai Sin Temple
-Escalators
-Trams
-Golden mile
-Victoria Peak—see the post about where to go for the best view
-The Markets: temple street night market, lady’s market, jade market
-Night light show
-Macau
-Star ferry ride

Read about or was recommended but didn't get a chance to do:
-Bank of China: You can get an awesome view of skyline but you NEED your PASSPORT and we didn’t have ours with us so we couldn’t go to the viewing area
-Big Buddha and Lantau island
-Monastery of 10,000 Buddahs
-Stanley Market and area
-Rickshaws—there are only like seven operating. You can’t ride in them because the dudes are too old but you can pay to take a picture. I thought it would be cool to see because they may be gone in 10 years.
-Food. We didn’t try much because we were always in a hurry and it was mostly in Chinese.

Transportation:
-The MTR is nice and easy to use
-Taxis are affordable, maybe even a little cheaper than Singapore but you have to pay a surcharge per bag if you have luggage
-Airport express train is super nice, clean, fast, and cheap. There are free shuttles from the stops to most hotels. You get a discount for multiple tickets so don’t buy at the automatic machine but at the counter.
-Octopus card is like an MRT card here. It can be returned when you leave. You can get all your money back less a $7 HKD deposit. You can use this card to pay for almost everything.

Accommodations:
We stayed at the Cityview hotel. It wasn’t fancy but was affordable ($65/night) and in a great location. It was near all the markets, close to the temple, right by an MRT, and close to walk of stars and HK island.

Metropark was also recommended to us.

We had intended to stay at the YMCA but didn’t get it booked in time. We’ve heard amazing things about it and it’s good value for what you get especially for a family suite.

HK: Macau

On our fourth and final day we had intended to go to Shenzhen, the border city in China. A dear Chinese friend of mine whom I taught on my mission lives there. We'd been told you didn't need a visa to go since it's right on the border, but you did and we couldn't arrange one in time. I hope our paths will cross while we are living here.
We decided to go to Macau for the day since we likely wouldn't have the time on a subsequent Hong Kong trip. Macau is a former Portuguese colony. It is a little over an hour each way on the ferry. Wikipedia once again comes to my rescue: "Macau was both the first and last European colony in China.^[8][9] Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and theBasic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.^[10] Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defense and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy,immigration policy, and delegates to international organisations and events."

We decided last minute to go there so we didn't have a plan and were a little "walked out", so we hopped on this pedi-cab. You get bombarded with all sorts of tour offers when you exit the ferry terminal. We've never been on one before. It was fun and Samara loved it, but you feel a little guilty when he gets off and limps.


First stop--Fishermans' Wharf. He was so nice and took lots of pictures for us at the first stop. He didn't speak english and I couldn't help but giggle every time he made us stop at another spot for a photo.

Macau is famous for its casinos. After did our little tour with him, we ate then walked around quite a bit and didn't know where we were. We ended up at a swanky casino and the bellman was really nice and told us to go in and get a shuttle coupon for a free ride back to the ferry terminal. Apparently, you can get a free shuttle to and from the terminal to any of the casinos so that's good to know if you get lost and end up near one or just want to see one. The Venetian is there and if we would have had more time we would have checked it out.

Next stop on the pedi-cab was St. Paul's ruins. The Church of Mater Dei was destroyed by fire in 1835 but this facade still remains and is a tribute to the Jesuits' heritage of Macau. Mr photographer driver had to wait by the bike so no more family photos.


Macau has a European feel but it also felt distinctly Asian. The signs were all in Portuguese and Chinese.

We parted ways with our friend at the Senado Square, the heart of the city.

I love this building!

The Senado square is paved in a wave-patterned mosaic of colored stones. It was a great pedestrian area and we even got some gelato!

The local cuisine. Gelato was more our speed.

This is a fascinating (and seemingly ancient) temple we stumbled upon in our lost wanderings.


I loved this building, though I'm not sure what it was. There really was quite a bit more to see. A full day would have been perfect for Macau...unless you're a gambler and want to test your fortune in the casinos.

We arrived home around midnight. Samara woke up when the plane landed and when we pulled into our condo she said, "Mom, I liked Hong Kong. I wanna go there again, ok?"

HK: Markets, Golden Mile, and Lightshow

Day three (anyone as tired of this as me...I just keep telling myself it's all for the blurb) in the afternoon we ventured out to experience some of the markets near where we were staying. This is just an old apartment building. Hong Kong is so much older than Singapore and this was made apparent with these types of buildings--there is not much that is run down in Singapore.

We first stopped at the "ladies' market", where you can buy all sorts of designer knock-off and cool chinese stuff. We picked up some Christmas presents for our parents. This is at the Jade Market, where they sold jewelry and jade trinkets.

They had some really beautiful stuff. We wanted to get Samara a little bracelet. They didn't have much in small sizes. When the first lady was showing us bracelets she showed us a pink one and a red one. They weren't quite small enough so she sent us to another stall. Well, Samara already had it in her mind that she was getting both colors (they happen to be her two favorite colors and the only two colors in her little mind) so when we bought only the pink one a meltdown ensued. Ben and I do occasionally hold our ground and we kept trying to explain how she should be glad to even get one as their are starving kids all over the world who don't even get one bracelet, etc. Anyway, when we tried to get Samara to wear it and told her to look how pretty the pink one is, her reply was, "the red one is pretty too." She refused then and still refuses to wear it until she has "two bracelets."

The little stinker sporting her disappointed look.

We grabbed a bite to eat and then went through the Temple Street night market. We just walked through, but there are apparently fortune tellers and impromptu Cantonese opera performances if you stick around.

Notice the lady and girl with masks on. I have never in my life seen so many people wearing masks. There is certainly nothing wrong with it, but in the states you don't see it outside the hospital on anyone but my parents. In Singapore, you see it more frequently than in the states, but in Hong Kong they were very common place. I'm sure it is just beause they were burned with SARS and are paranoid about H1N1. There were also signs in public restrooms and on elevator buttons telling how many times a day it was disinfected.

Like I said, we like walking so we walked the 'golden mile' down to the avenue of stars. The golden mile is a mile of high-end shopping. The neon signs were everywhere and I thought they were quite charming in their own way. They certainly made it feel exciting.

The avenue of stars is on the Kowloon side and they have a nightly light show at 8:00.

This is Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon peninsula. It was stunning!!

If we would have had another night there we would have gone again. Samara loved it too and is still talking about it and the second bracelet she didn't get.

A family picture for good measure.

HK: Escalators, Parks, and the Peak

We were very surprised by how steep, hilly, and green Hong Kong is. It's really quite stunning. Because of this, HK is home to some unusual methods of transporting people up and down the slopes. Day two, in the late afternoon, we headed out for Victoria Peak and went on two of these unusual methods--the escalators and the tram.

The central-mid-levels escalators is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world.

The escalators are 800 meters long with a vertical climb of 135 meters. The total travel time is twenty minutes. The daily traffic exceeds 55,000 people. They run downhill in the morning and uphill from 10:30AM to midnight. They take commuters who live in these neighborhoods to and from work. You pass all sorts of street, alleys, shops, and even a mosque. We passed little bohemian enclaves and others that had a European feel. We thought they were fascinating. Maybe we are easily entertained but it was one of our favorite things to do and we'd highly recommend it. It was a great way to see more of the city and the people.

We stopped to take a few breaks and enjoy the sites and sounds of the city below. We really enjoy walking around new places and think it's a great way to see them so we decided to walk to the tram.

We passed through the zoological and botanical gardens. They are very small and free but pretty nonetheless.

We passed other parks.

A memorial from WWI and II. We didn't know exactly where we were going and there weren't many signs so we were relieved when we made it to the tram base.

Getting on the tram to go to the top of the peak.

It is so steep and a 45% angle in some spots but you can't really tell from this. I tried to get a shot from the tram. It makes you a little nervous but they say there has never been an accident since the tram began operating in 1881.

This is what happens when you let a two year old who is OBSSESED with the tripod and shuttle release cable take control. You get 30 frames in a few seconds.

The view was spectacular, though this doesn't do it justice. It was hard to get the shutter speed I wanted because my tripod wasn't tall enough to not get the glass in the picture so I had to prop it up. I sadly learned on my way home reading the airline magazine that you can "bypass the official platform at the peak by exiting the peak funicular and turning right onto Lugard Road. You will be treated to a quite walk around the mountain before coming across a clearing where you get a splendid view of the glistening city of lights." So there you have it. That's the one thing I want anyone reading this who is planning a trip to HK to learn from my experience. Even if you don't care about a photo I bet this viewing area is filled with fewer obnoxious tourists. :)

Here is a shot that does it justice.

HK: Nunnery and Temple in New Territories

On day two we had a couple hours in the morning so we headed out to the New Territories (the northern part of Hong Kong), which really isn't that far.

We went to the Chi Lin Nunnery.

We both love architecture and this is an amazing complex.

The Entrance

The Chi Lin Nunnery was founded in 1934 but was rebuilt in 1990. The present-day buildings are wood frame buildings built without the use of any iron nails. This construction is based on traditional Chinese architectural techniques dating from the Tang Dynasty that uses special interlocking systems cut into the wood to hold them in place. The Chi Lin Nunnery buildings are the only buildings to be built in this style in modern day Hong Kong. The buildings are constructed of yellow cedar shipped from Canada, which endeared the buildings to Ben all the more.

The complex is centered on a courtyard filled with lotus ponds.

Opposite the nunnery is the Nan Lian Garden.

The garden is also spectacular.

They are landscaped according to the Tang style as well.

Next we headed one MTR stop on our way back to the Wong Tai Sin Temple.

The temple is described as a miraculous structure because it survived

Japanese occupation in the 1940s and remained unscathed.

This is outside the complex, where you can buy incense sticks.

Wikipedia says, "Wong Tai Sin Temple is one of the most famous shrines in Hong Kong. It is dedicated to Wong Tai Sin, or the Great Immortal Wong. The 18,000-m² Taoist temple is famed for the many prayers answered: "What you request is what you get" via a practice called Kau Cim. They light incense sticks (what they are doing here), kneel before the main altar, make a wish, and shake a bamboo cylinder containing fortune sticks until a stick falls out. This stick is exchanged for a piece of paper bearing the same number, and then the soothsayer will interpret the fortune on the paper for the worshiper. Often the same piece of fortune is taken to multiple booths for verification purposes."

I don't have any photos of the main buildings. We were in a hurry and didn't go in that far. This is just a little pagoda to give you an idea of the style of the Taoist Temple. The temple complex serves three major religions Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

This is the wall along the path at the entrance that leads up to the complex. We are not sure what they are writing. I assume, based on what I read, that they are making a wish of some sort and recording the fortune from the paper here. Anyone know? We thought these two places were definitely worth a visit and they are very close to each other so you can easily do both in one trip. Nothing is too far from the city and it was neat to go to the new territories. They reminded us a bit of Russia.

We then went back for naptime so we could take turns attending a session. Samara loved her cot. She is obsessed with pink so she was in heaven!

We also learned that she loves sleeping with a pillow.

HK: Streets, Trams, Clocktowers, and Walk of Stars

Our flight left at 6:15 AM so that meant waking up bright and early to get to the airport. It's just shy of a 4-hour flight. So after customs and taking the airport train into the city, Samara was ready for a nap. We were on our way from the train station to the housing and she desperately wanted her #1 comfort--sippey cup. It was packed away so I said she should just cuddle me since snuggles are better than sippey anyway. She replied very seriously, "No mama, no. Water is better than hugs."

After unloading our stuff and an unsuccessful attempt at getting her to nap we headed out to explore the streets of Hong Kong and ten minutes later she crashed.

The alleyways between the buildings were oddly appealing. You'd see all sorts of life (and mischief?) going on back there, people taking breaks from work, kids in their school uniforms smoking, old people sleeping.

Always good to know Coke has made its mark in the world. I love the butcher's expression too.

I thought this drug store was so interesting with the traditional medicines on one side and the modern ones on the other.

Ben contemplates our next move.

A yummy fruit dish with black glutinous rice. Though it was tasty, I was slightly disappointed because it was supposed to come in some funky 'trendy cup' but instead came in a regular styrofoam container.

Ready to conquer the underground, or MTR, not to be confused with the MRT as it's called in Singapore. One thing that really surprised us was, despite Hong having a population of 7 million compared to just shy of 5 million in Singapore, the trains, although very crowded at times, seemed less crowded in general than Singapore's. Also, the malls we walked through were far less crowded than here. As a country/city-state Singapore has a higher population density but as a city Hong Kong is more densely populated, which makes sense. Moreover, I had commented to Ben that it seemed like there were a lot fewer children in Hong Kong than Singapore, which already has a low birth rate. When I was looking up the population density just now I learned that Hong Kong has the lowest birth rate in the world at 7.42/1000 persons, so there you have it. I did get an "A" in Population Geography.

We rode on a tram and thought they were quite fun. Hong Kong has the world's largest double-decker tram fleet still in operation. The tramway dates back to 1904. They reminded us of Russian "tramvai", except those are only single story.



The skyscrapers were amazing. I love the other buildings reflected in this one.

We took a little ferry ride across the harbour from HK to Kowloon for $2.50 HKD so about .25 USD. There are all sorts of ferry rides/tours--from a cheap ride like we took to nice dinner cruises as well as trips to outlying islands. The skyline is so impressive, but we were surprised how gray it was. It was hard to get a nice picture during the day because of the gray cast overhead. Debbie told me the pollution is mainly coming down from China and not necessarily due to emissions and HK pollution by itself.

The clocktower, a famous landmark and the only remnant left of the former railway station, and the YMCA. The YMCA is a hotel and reasonably priced for its super location. We were going to stay there and even through we didn't, we nonetheless highly recommend it.

The skyline gets prettier in the evening but wait until you see it at night!
They had a little walk of stars along the promenade on the Kowloon side. Hong Kong is famous for its films and has a long, proud history of stars. Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were the only people we recognized but, seriously, who else is there? After the long day of travel and all the walking around we were beat and all crashed at 7:30 that night.