Family Visits

Shane and Shanda ( Nathan's younger sister and brother) came to visit us for two weeks. It was so great to have family here. I was feeling a little spoiled having the Annis visit followed right after by a Sweeney visit. It would be nice if we could have people come more often make us miss home less. We kept Shane and Shanda very busy doing all the tourist stuff and then some. The kids had people to carry them around, play games with them and some extra hugs aside from mom and dad.
Shane had a cantonese lesson from a very friendly taxi driver. That amused us all especially the kids- they have never heard a driver be so chatty and interactive. I was able to experience three new events, one that was on my list of things to do before we leave Hong Kong. The Peak at night, Dim sum and the other thing was to catch the laser light show while hearing the music play. That one wasn't on my list but hey it was something I had never done before.
Nathan took them hiking and they did the extremely difficult Pat Sin Leng hike. They got really burnt but I think they appreciated the views.

Mish Mash S&S from outypants on Vimeo.

Last Day out with S&S from outypants on Vimeo.

Visitors in November/Shenzhen

I am having trouble with blogger changing the format of my captions and photos. I am new to using it and don't really know how to fix it. So I apologize for the format.

We had a visit from our good friends Mike and Jodie from Traverse City. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and the Krohns. We often talked about how fun it would it be to be over here together and for 10 days we got that chance.


 I visited Lo Wu for the first time. A busy gateway between Hong Kong and mainland China. 
Lo Wu commercial city is a giant shopping complex.  You can get your nails done, buy illegal dvds and designer knock off accessories and clothes, or get your own made all in one place. 

It was an overload to my senses upon first entering. The second hand smoke lingering on every floor, with shouts of clerks outside their stalls yelling " hey missy, missy" trying to get my attention. 
It took about 15 minutes for me to adjust to the noise and smell and think clearly.

 My big purchase was a gray coat They started out at a sell price of $950 ($135)I bought it for $250 ($35) - the inside tag price read $3500 HKD ($500) I don't know if that is relevant or not
but all in all I felt I walked away with a good deal.
 The kids and Nathan visited the kite park while I shopped. Then they had pizza for dinner. Finding good pizza in China is hard to do but NYPD is good by American standards. The owner said he would like to open one in Hong Kong on the Island we can hope he open ones up in the New Territories.

The picture of the kids on the step in front of the station was taken not only by me but by several other tourist and locals.

Jane practicing for her Christmas program and our day out.

Lunch in Shenzhen from outypants on Vimeo.

7 months and top Five

We have called Hong Kong home for 7 months now.

5 indications I am starting to feel at home:

I don't have a mild heart attack anymore when offered water in a glass at a restaurant ( you don't drink tap water here)
I can wear jeans in 79˚ weather comfortably
I can tell a taxi driver where we live in Cantonese( so far I am being understood 50% of the time)
I don't have to buy all our food with an American label on it just because it is familiar - although I still use a lot of imported stuff because it is all I can get for certain items
Automatic check for Octopus card (electronic card used for public transportation) instead of car keys before leaving the house.




Elliot's top five about Hong Kong___ this week any way
prefers the buses over the train or boats
Spaghetti house for dinner
Playscope (indoor play place we have a membership too hands on stuff, toys and climbing net)
Best Friends: Isaiah and Aaron
Hiking

Jane's top five:
Restaurant - Ajisen ( Japanese Ramen place) she loves pot stickers
Buses
Best Friend: Abigail
Beaches
7-11 as a snack stop


My top five attractions/regulars so far
The promenade- I don't tire of that Hong Kong skyline
The ferry - relaxing way to travel ( not hour long ferry 10 minute ferry )
Repulse bay- my favorite out of the 4 beaches we visited
History Museum
Mong Kok for shopping- thanks to Bethany the secondhand /Pier one close out shop on Sai Yee street

Restaurants:
Spaghetti house
Genki Sushi
Triple O's ( canadian burger place)
India restaurant ( out of 3 Indian places we tried -by far the best Indian food is found here!)
Ajisen



Top five- over all likes
Being close to the China border- Shenzhen maybe only a 20 minute train ride, but you know you are in a different country rather quickly. Cheap buys and cheap eats. I hope to get better about exploring

The mountains- I love the views here too gorgeous.

Weather- the beach in October- need I say more


No car- no driving


Good selection of tea

Free Ice Cream from outypants on Vimeo.

Tuen Mun from outypants on Vimeo.

Say Cheese from outypants on Vimeo.

Ocean Park 2009

The two big theme parks here in Hong Kong are Disneyland and Ocean Park. We picked a weekday to visit to Ocean Park. The last time I had checked the weather it was sunny skies the day we left it said a few morning showers and sunny in the afternoon. Well it rained all day. Thankfully the rain was on and off and when it did rain it was mostly a light rain. At least the lines weren't really long and it wasn't 100˚ outside. The downside were the Halloween displays- they had some gruesome heads in the food stalls that scared Jane. We did our best to steer away from them and enjoyed our day as best as we could in spite of them.



The cable cars offer a nice view over the mountains. When we visit Repulse Bay you can see the cable cars as you are swimming in the water now when we go back to the beach the kids will remember being on them. Blue skies would have made the trip better but it was still pretty. The kids had fun riding all the kiddy rides. Jane loved the Frog Hopper right away, but it took about 8 rides before Elliot would try it when he did he enjoyed it. Jane was willing to ride some bigger rides but she was not tall enough. She will be our roller coaster girl for sure.








The aquarium is a great attraction with sea turtles, sharks,stingrays and larger fish. I have seen Panda's before otherwise those might have been a bigger deal for me. This is obviously the main attraction to Ocean Park. The rain as far as we could tell didn't stop the rides or too many attractions so we were able to experience a lot of what the park had to offer.
The kids couldn't stop cheering over the dolphin show. I remember Sea world being more impressive and of course having a Killer whale on display helps- but it was entertaining over all and they loved it.

Ocean Park from outypants on Vimeo.

mid-autumn festival lanterns!

mid-autumn festival lanterns!
Originally uploaded by muffyskat

A picture of one of the lanterns at the New territories celebration

Mooncakes : close-up

Mooncakes : close-up
Originally uploaded by SNAP: Singapore National Album of Pictures

Mid-Autumn Festival

Decorations outside of Parc Versailles.



The first week in October in China means the Mid-Autumn Festival. What does this mean? Moon cakes, lanterns and parties. October 1st is National Day this year marked the 60 year anniversary of communist China. These two celebrations overlapped one another.






We visited the East Asian Games Lantern Display in TST then got on the boat to visit the carnival at Victoria Park. As Americans we are constantly amazed at the lack of merchandise and vendors for these celebrations. We were actually hoping to purchase lanterns for the kids while at the park just for fun. Yes we could have walked down a side street and found a store that was selling them but we had already travelled on foot quite a bit and did not want to venture too far out. If this event were held in America there would be Food Vendors- hats-T-shirts- pins for sale on site at the event. Lantern Festival 09 or Mid-Autumn Celebration at Victoria Park would be sold in many colors and sizes.
 We found lights strung overhead and stages where traditional dances,opera and puppet shows were performed. No rides and no elephant ears. I have been in Hong Kong long enough not to expect the rides or the elephant ears. 
I am not complaining about the lack of ways to fleece me of my money by overcharging me for food,and cheap merchandise.



We attended the Celebration at Sha Tin which is in our area the New Territories. Sha Tin park is sprawling and a nice place to hold an event like this. It was pleasant to walk through and the displays were plentiful and some quite impressive. We caught some acrobats and dancing. The two languages the event was hosted in were Mandarin and Cantonese so we didn't quite know what was going on for scheduled events. We were without our camera then so we only got video of the event. No face painting or animal balloons but you could get your palm read. The line was sadly long for this "entertainment"


Mooncakes

Lotus Paste and eggyolk
I found the traditional Mooncake to be not that bad. The lotus paste has a sweet taste. It is a dense and very rich.

Guilin Trip September 2009

Nathan was able to take a couple of days and visit Guilin China and surrounding areas. Guilin is known for being one of the prettiest places in China and many travel far to visit it.





This village had no road until 1997. At that time no one spoke Mandarin (the national language spoken by virtually everyone on the mainland) by 2003 everyone spoke English! Reason being tourism. All the buildings are newer buildings.

Rice Terraces in the first photo




The cave was illuminated by lights. In the states when you visit caves you see signs and are told not to touch the formations as they are changed by the touch of human hands. Everyone touched the walls and formations in this cave.























The women in this village don't cut their hair. They keep it wrapped and covered until they are married and their husband is the the first one to see their hair. The side they wrap it up on indicates if they have children or not.

Nathan was volunteered to be part of a show that went through traditional wedding rituals he was a groom and had a bride
who is actually a married woman. At the end he was told he needed to buy a gift for his bride. I suppose you could refuse to do this, but I imagine you would be looked down upon, so he paid money for her to have a nice bracelet and in return was given three small cloth purses. One whose strapped broke after 2 minutes of Jane playing with it. A nice little money making scheme they have going on. The amusement I get out of watching him on the video is worth it. He was getting his behind pinched a couple of times an indication he was told that you are liked. I am unsure if this is a traditional tribal practice or just a slapstick gag to make the audience laugh.





They cooked rice and vegtables inside these bamboo containers over a fire very good. The chicken one you might want to pass on-they cut up a whole chicken and throw it all in there.


I particularly find this photo amusing. It is common to see postings on the mass transit telling you to give up your seat to the elderly or anyone in need with pictures indicating who that might be. This spells out very clearly who the in need might be.