Hong Kong- Boys and Planes

Leaving for Hong Kong was a bit stressful. We didn't leave the temple housing until later than I had planned, so we caught a later bus to the airport. I was doing the math in my head, and we would make it, but it would be close, so hopefully no problems checking in or no heavy traffic. As the happy traveling gods would have it, the bus was 30 minutes faster than we thought. We got to the airport only to find that every time we had to get in line for something, there was a special line for families with children- which was usually a lot shorter than the other lines. We got thorough everything in record time. It was a beautiful thing. Whoever came up with family lines- bless you.

Then, we got to our gate, only to find that our flight was delayed an hour. So....we had plenty of time to spare. Peter almost fell asleep in the stroller, but then decided he needed to run instead. Then, we found another glorious thing, a children's play area. Again, whoever decided to put in play areas for kids at airports- you are a fantastic person. We took Peter over and he ran and ran and followed other kids and found things to climb through. It was a great thing. Also, it was fun because there were a number of multilingual kids there. They would say something to their mom in English and their mom would respond back in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, or any other language and they would both understand each other. Blows my mind those kids.

Peter did take a break from playing to check out the planes with Jonathan.

Since living by a military airport in Nanjing, Peter has seen and heard many planes and he loved watching them.

Happy baby at the airport.

We got some food while we waited for the plane, and the flight crew gave everyone free water bottles. Since living in a country where you cannot drink water from the tap, free water bottles is one of the best things they could give us. We didn't have to wait too much longer and we got on the plane, Peter promptly fell asleep and slept for a little bit and before we knew it, we were landing in Taiwan. On to our next adventures.

Hong Kong- Temple Day

LDS Hong Kong Temple

By far the best day in Hong Kong for me was when we went to the LDS Hong Kong temple. If you want to learn more about the temple, click here. We stayed at the temple patron housing that night- right across the street from the temple. We took a bus there, got off, walked towards the temple housing and saw the missionaries! I've missed seeing missionaries since they are not allowed to go to mainland China, so it was great to see them. They were such helpful guys and so happy to help. They took us to the temple so we could check in and get the key for our room.

While we were checking in we saw a guy who was also checking in who was wearing a BYU shirt! He goes to BYU, but either has Hong Kong background or served in Hong Kong, because I'm pretty sure he spoke Cantonese with the temple helper but he spoke English without an accent. We talked with him a bit in the temple house. He was a super friendly guy and we had fun talking about BYU things.

After checking in, we got the times that we could go to the temple and we went to our room to relax. Peter promptly fell asleep and stayed asleep for 2 hours. Jonathan and Beccah went to the temple to do baptisms. Peter and I stayed in our room for a bit and then went out and talked with an Indian family for a bit. They have a 2 year old girl so she and Peter played for a bit. They had come to Hong Kong from India so their family could be sealed together. We believe that families can be together forever through an ordinance that can be performed in the temple. It was really neat that this family was going to be sealed and be able to have that bond beyond death.

Then, Peter and I went to the park next door to wait for Jonathan and Beccah to get back.

Peter found a giant abacus.

He also went for a ride in the little car. It was super hot outside, Peter tried to go down the slide, but he touched it and then blew on his hand and shook his head, too hot. But he had fun running around.

I loved being at the temple because it felt familiar, peaceful and clean. The temple is the House of the Lord. When we are there, we can feel His spirit with us. We can receive direction and clarity. We can feel His love. I've missed the temple more than I've realized since living in mainland China. It was such a beautiful place to be. The people were all helpful and kind. The Indian family offered us rice or noodles to use if we needed them. A Chinese woman gave the little kids candies. It was cool to see members from mainland China and other countries all coming to the temple. It's a wonderful place to be. I'm glad this was part of our trip.

Peter and Robin in front of the Hong Kong LDS temple.

Jonathan and I left Peter with Beccah that night so we could go to the temple together. It was nice to take a break from the crazy traveling and go and be in the temple. There were only 6 people there with us, which made it feel cozy. For a bit, I could forget about where we needed to go the next day, when the plane left, did we have enough diapers, and just feel love and peace. The temple is a blessing.

Peter and Jonathan in front of the LDS Hong Kong temple.

The next morning was our last day in Hong Kong. We got up, finished packing and headed out. Next stop Taiwan.

Hong Kong- Tai O and Egg Waffles

We had given Beccah a lot of the responsibility for travel plans this day and she had found a waterfall area that was a few stops from the Tian Tan Buddha. So once we were done exploring the area around the Buddha, Beccah figured out the bus we needed and we got on and went for another crazy ride. Unfortunately, we missed the stop for the waterfall, but we made it to Tai O, a little fishing village. Since we were there, we decided to walk around and explore.

Taking selfies to the extreme. I've seen these used a number of times.

 Fishing boats in Tai O

More foreboding sky. Luckily, this time the skies kept their rain.

We walked down the streets and saw lots of dried fish.

It was a small little alley that smelled rather fishy.

As we walked along, we found this couple making egg waffles. We've eaten these a couple of times in Nanjing and we really like them. They taste similar to waffles, but they are a different shape.

First, you pour the batter into the pan. Then, you turn it a couple of times and when its ready...

Then, he pokes a stick in it, pulls it off the pan and into some paper for you to enjoy.

We love them!

 

Once we were done wandering Tai O, we went back to the bus stop to see a line of people that snaked along around the corner and past the buildings and kept going on and on and on. I was not looking forward to waiting there. But...there was another bus that we could take. It didn't take us to the main bus terminal we initially were at, but it would take us to a ferry station. That seemed worth it in order to avoid the long lines of the other bus. We met a man from South Africa who was living in Hong Kong with his wife who was from Hong Kong. We also met a woman and her daughter from Scotland. The mom had lived in Hong Kong with her family until she was 16- her parents worked with the Salvation Army, and now her daughter was working in Hong Kong. They were fun to talk with. Neat stories.

We finally got to the ferry station after the twisting turning roads and caught a boat back to Hong Kong. It took us to the island instead of mainland, so then we got to take another ferry back to the mainland. Then the metro to get home. Whew. What a day.

Hong Kong- Giant Buddha

As I researched things to do in Hong Kong, I came across the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island. It is a really big Buddah on the top of a mountain. I thought it looked really neat. The more we looked into going, the more unlikely it seemed it would be. It took just under 2 hours to get there according to everything we read. It would involve the metro, possibly a ferry, and either a bus or a cable car. That long of a travel is usually not to awesome with Peter, so I wasn't sure if we should test Peter's limits even though I wanted to see it. But, my good husband knew I really wanted to see it, so he pushed for us to go, even if it made for a long travel day.

We walked to a metro station, bought some lunch, took the metro to the island and got to the bus station. We opted for bus over cable car partly because I had no desire to go on another cable car, and partly because the bus, although a longer trip, was about a quarter of the price of the cable car ride. The bus came and we boarded and got the most motion sickness inducing bus ride of my life. Luckily, none of us got sick. But that bus was going through those switchbacks like they were straightaways. He didn't slow down except for the occasional spot that part of the road was blocked or it was a really right turn and another bus was headed towards us. It was quite an exciting ride.

Peter made friends, because that's what he does.

And we saw views like this so many times. We also saw some beautiful beach views and some super green mountain views. 

Once we got to the stop, everyone got off and we walked though an area with statues for each of the zodiac. Jonathan and Peter are both Year of the Dragons, so they got their picture with the guy in charge of that.

We got to the base of the Giant Buddha and began climbing the 268 stairs needed to reach the top. We were extremely grateful for the cloudy weather so it was a little bit cooler and we didn't sweat ourselves to death on the way up.

The Buddha is 112 feet tall and is built of bronze. None of the pictures I took really captured the size of the statue. It was really enormous. 

There were other Buddhist statues around the base of the Tian Tan Buddha statue.

We took a look around to see the landscape surrounding us and noticed a darkening sky on the horizon.

It didn't take long for that dark cloud to reach us and unload its water onto us. Luckily, there is a little museum area just under the statue which everyone flocked to so they could weather the storm.

Jonathan and a recently woken up Peter under a ledge waiting out the last bit of the storm.

It didn't last too long and the rain clouds receded.

After the rains, Beccah found her way to the higher tier to check out the Buddha. This picture slightly captures the size of Big Buddha.

Chinese man and Peter. This guy loved Peter and any time he would see him,  he would yell and wave, "Hello, Peter! Hello!" like they were the best of friends.

We also saw what is quite possibly the most adorable child's poncho ever made.

Robin and Tian Tan Buddha

 

The Buddha is build by a monastery, so once we were down all the stairs, we walked around a little bit exploring the area, and hoping the rains would stay gone.

A view looking through the gate to a mist shrouded Buddha. I'm glad we got there when we did, or we might not have been able to see much of anything.

We found the monastery area.  There were different areas you could light incense and worship. They also had a vegetarian deli there. When we were done, we walked back to catch a bus to head to find a waterfall that Beccah had researched. More on that in the next post.

Last view of Buddha, almost entirely hidden from view.

Hong Kong- Avenue of Stars

The boardwalk area has a section that has famous people's hand prints and some cool statues. It is similar to the area in Hollywood. We didn't recognize most of the names, because we don't watch too many Chinese movies, but we found a few we knew. For example,

Beccah and Jackie Chan.

We first came across Jackie Chan. All of the Chinese were taking pictures of this one, so it was easy to find

Peter touched the place that Jackie Chan's hands touched...and thousands of other people.

 We also found Jet Li. Jonathan and Peter got a picture with him. I think Bruce Lee also has some hand prints and a statue, but someone wasn't patient enough to find them. (That someone is Peter.)

Peter and Robin with the Hong Kong skyline at night.

 After finding some neat hand prints, we waited for the Symphony of Lights show. They use the lights on buildings along with some music to put on a light show. I was a little disappointed in this. Maybe we didn't have the best seats to see it, but it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be. But, it was cool to see the skyline all lit up.

Peter is getting better at smiling for the camera...when he wants to. Good catch Jonathan.

Peter also found a bear to ride.

On our way home, we found these 3 little girls- triplets, 2 years old. They were adorable. They loved giving high 5s, and even in the minute or two we spent with them, you could see different personalities.  Their dad pushed a double stroller and grandpa had the single. They had a heck of a time getting everyone into the elevator. I can't even imagine having 3 Peters at the same time.

Exploring the Boardwalk Area- Hong Kong

Since Hong Kong is a port/beach city, it has a sweet boardwalk that runs along the water between mainland and the big island. We explored it a bit after going to the parks and seeing all the birds. Here's what we saw:

 

Beccah watched Peter for a minute and he woke up the second we were gone and they found some street musicians playing. When we got back with Beccah and Peter, Peter was standing there swaying back and forth "dancing" to the music. He loved them.

 

We saw a Chinese Junk. They take people for a tour around the harbor, but we are not those rich people, so we just watched it from the boardwalk.

  Peter, Jonathan and Beccah in front of the junk. Got a good smile from Peter!

Robin, Jonathan and Peter with the Hong Kong skyline.

Slightly awkward photo- Peter refused to look at the camera, so Jonathan twisted at the last moment. Jonathan, Peter and Beccah with the Hong Kong skyline.

We can to an outside art exhibit. There were 3 parts to the exhibit- Heaven, Earth and Man.

The artist made these guys to show people enjoying nature and being outside.

This is a giant water droplet to show how water makes things live and also to symbolize the mobility of society today.

Peter kept kissing his reflection.

And lastly, the giant green apple to "encourage you to appreciate the natural scenery around you, and to explore the fun and possibilities that nature brings you.” It was a cool exhibit, and Peter loved playing in the grassy area around the apple. I liked the water droplet the best. It reminded me of the Chicago bean, just much smaller.

There were some quotes on the ground. This was my favorite.

While we were waiting for the light show to start, we got some dinner. It was okay. Not the best, not the worst either. Beccah and I both got sandwiches and Jonathan got pork and rice.

 

Jonathan played games with Peter's hands so the little hands wouldn't be too grabby.

 

Right next to the bench we sat on in the restaurant there was a little shrine. So different from mainland China.

On our way back to the boardwalk after dinner, we saw this. Iron Man Panda.

Next to it was a paper explaining it. 

"Iron Panda, Bi Heng. Fibre Glass, Steel Resin, 2014.

Giant panda, classified endangered species...an introspective reflection of mankind to natural ecological problems and a symbol of Chinese national treasure.

Iron Man, the world-famous archetypical superhero; representation of top-notch technology overriding natural hegemonic and Western advocacy of autonomy.

Tai Chi, the esoteric essence of the Oriental culture; its black and white circular pattern symbolizes allelopathy.

Combing the three elements, "Iron Panda" presents the melancholy underneath its domineering appearance. Mankind is sacrificing our heritage for the pursuit of power. The work implicates the mutual reliance of technology and ecology development."

And tons of baby Iron Pandas...which Peter loved.