Volleyball - Soccer? You decide....

Our hotel in Chaing Mai was across the street from a little park that the locals used every evening when the daytime heat subsided to play some pickup games of.... volleyball-soccer. I don't know what the game is called, but it AMAZING. Take a look and see for yourself...

VIDEO CLIP OF VOLLEYBALL-SOCCER MATCH(Right Click and "Save Target As" to your computer then play file from your computer)

Read more!

Zero, zero, seven, bang – AH!

On the first night of our trek, our two guides introduced our group to a drinking game of sorts. The game was called Black Magic, and aptly so. If you lost a round, you got a stripe of soot from an old cooking wok smeared across your face. With our crew of crazy Brits, Scots, and Irishmen, one stripe of black quickly turned into smearing black by the handful all over faces, arms, body’s – wherever they could (we’d worked ourselves out of the game at this point.) They all woke up the next morning looking like they’d just stepped out of the coal mine.

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK

Read more!

A rainforest without animals?

If you live in Colorado, all you have to do is step out into your backyard and you’ll very likely see more wildlife than we did on our entire trek in Thailand. There are virtually NO animals or birds in the forest here. If you count spiders and crickets as animals, then it was like Wild Kingdom. Otherwise, it’s totally devoid of any type of wildlife.

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK
VIDEO CLIP OF THAI CAZOO PLAYING AT OUR CAMP(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO OF KID WITH HUGE BEETLE ON A STRING(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

Read more!

The view from an elephant

This was one of the things we were most looking forward to on our trip and we got to do it during our trek! We sat on a little bench on Metu’s (our elephant) back for a full hour ride through the forest. He’d reach his trunk up every few minutes so we could hand-feed him bananas! It was amazing!

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK
VIDEO CLIP #1 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO CLIP #2 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

Read more!

Keep on Trekkin’

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work out in a steam shower? We learned first-hand on our 3-day trek through the rainforest outside Chiang Mai. Strangely, the temperature probably didn’t rise about 90 degrees or so. The humidity, on the other hand, was unreal. You’d take about 25 steps and your body's faucet would just turn on. Thank goodness for all the waterfalls throughout our trek! They made for nice, refreshing breaks, and baths, along the way.

PICTURES OF ELEPHANT RIDE & JUNGLE TREK
VIDEO CLIP #1 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO CLIP #2 (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO CLIP OF THAI CAZOO PLAYING AT OUR CAMP(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)
VIDEO OF KID WITH HUGE BEETLE ON A STRING(RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" AND THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

Read more!

Dance, dance dance

Surely a major trip highlight for Lee was seeing first-hand the traditional Thai dances. He was mesmerized by the torch dance, awe-struck by the tea leaf dance, and riveted by the dance of the swords. He’s been practicing them all ever since the show! Keep at it Lee!

PICTURES OF CHAING MAI
VIDEO CLIP (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" TO YOUR COMPUTER, THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

Read more!

My, what a long neck you have

There’s a tribe of people in northern Thailand that are known for the long neck women. Originally from Burma, the women wrap thick (and heavy!) copper wire around their neck, gradually adding rings to stretch their necks over time. They add a new ring every one to five years, starting at about age 5 or 6. The tribe is still relatively new to Thailand, immigrating only 10-15 years ago. They’re actually not even considered Thai citizens and are only allowed to live on the very northern edge of the country. If they’re caught in other areas, they’re deported back to their home country.

TEST

PICTURES OF ORCHID FARM, DUNG PAPER, CAVE, LONG NECK VILLAGE
PICTURES OF CHAING MAI

Read more!

Poo-Poo Paper

Did you know that elephant dung doesn’t smell? Moreover, did you know that you can make paper from it? We visited the ‘special laboratory’, a.k.a. the little wooden hut, where they make the dung paper, as one of the stops on our day trip today. The entire process, from poo to paper, takes about 18 hours. On the same trip, we also stopped at a big orchid farm with a rather pathetic butterfly farm adjacent. The orchids were incredibly brilliant, with dozens of different varieties. The butterflies, sadly, were mangy and rather dull.

PICTURES OF ORCHID FARM, DUNG PAPER, CAVE, LONG NECK VILLAGE

PICTURES OF CHAING MAI

Read more!

The sky is falling!

Today we arrived in a town in northern Thailand called Chiang Mai, in spite of the fact that everyone was telling us repeatedly the we couldn’t come here because the town had flooded. True, the town had flooded, but it turned out to be only a few of the major roads, and the rest was just fine! Chiang Mai is the backpackers’ capital of the world. The entire city caters to the crowd that wants to sleep and eat for cheap, and see a lot of the area. There are guest houses and internet cafes on every block and a myriad of day trips and excursions you can choose from. Makes traveling here pretty simple, but you wonder how “authentic” your experience is at the same time. Nonetheless, Thai people seem to be very proud of Chiang Mai. We chose to rent a motorcycle to see the sights today, as it was way too hot to walk around on our own. The night bazaar here was equally big, but not nearly as impressive as the one in Bangkok.

PICTURES OF CHAING MAI

Read more!

Doin’ the electric slide

For those of you who’ve been to Thailand, you’ve probably heard of the famed electronic market. A mecca for those who desire to have the newest and the best “equipment” to make their life easier. The electronics market in Bangkok is the size of a large mall – four floors in all – selling nothing but computers, cell phones, mp3 players, printers, cameras, the works. Buying a Playstation 2 game here is a bit of a covert operation, but Lee managed to walk away with some new ones for Nate.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

Read more!

Here a wat, there a wat

There are some 500 wats (Buddhist temples) in Bangkok alone. For a city of 11 million people, you need that many I guess. Each one seems to be more ornate and glittering than the rest. While in the city, we saw most of the major historical wats while in the city, and toured the grand palace where the royal family resides. The photos can’t even begin to do justice to how lavish and impressive everything was there. Interesting factoid we learned along th way: ‘The King and I’ – in any version – is illegal to watch here in Thailand. The kind is considered infallible and the movie does not portray him this way. Our tour guide at one particular wat said he had to watch the film in a locked room with a guard.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

Read more!

The best market EVER

We found it, the pinnacle of all markets out there in the world: The Bankok night market. It runs from about 7pm until whenever people pack up and leave. We’ve been to many many markets so far and seen lots of handmade trinkets, plenty of fake Rolexes, about a zillion necklaces. This market was finally something different! Row after row after row of really unique, upscale, beautiful things – from clothes and jewelry to lamps and furniture. There was nothing “crafty” about the place. We walked for hours until we finally got to the center of it all – the beer garden of sorts - where they had a massive stage set up with pop singers and background dancers. Quite an evening.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

VIDEO CLIP OF BEER GARDEN AT MARKET (RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" TO YOUR COMPUTER THEN PLAY FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER)

Read more!

Tuk Tuk…..goose!

Tuk Tuk…..goose! So far, Bankok is not at all what we’ve expected. We had prepared ourselves for endless noise, chaos, dirt, mugginess and crowds. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Bangkok is rather spread out, the weather was much more pleasant and less humid that China, the people are friendly, and the city’s actually pretty nice. Best part about it – it’s CHEAP. We’ve stayed in excellent hotels, and had incredible meals here so far. The food is such a nice change from the bland noodles and sketchy mystery meat we were eating on a daily basis in China! The tuk tuk (basically, it’s a motorcycle with two seats strapped to the back) is one of the primary methods of transportation here. The upside – you get to be outside and ride in a fun little car. The downside – the pollution and traffic are horrendous in Bangkok and, as soon as you sit down in a tuk tuk, you inevitably get stuck between two buses breathing in fumes.

PICTURES OF BANGKOK

Read more!

Comments now turned on!

In china the web was all in chinese... so I couldn't figure out how to navigate the settings of our blog well enough to allow comments. But, now they are turned on, so feel free to add our own bits to our blog. Look forward to hearing from you!!

Read more!

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Each weekend during the month of September, Macau has hosts an international fireworks competition - with two different countries competing each week. We were lucky enough to catch an evening of fireworks. We took our chances, even though it was still pouring, and climbed up to a huge cathedral looking over the famous ‘Macau Tower’ (their version of the space needle) and the harbor where the fireworks would be set off. We have a little video of team one. Unfortunately for everyone watching, team one wasn’t very impressive compared to team two!

VIDEO CLIP (Right click and "save target as" to your computer, then play file from your computer)

PICTURES OF MACAU

Read more!

Forecast calls for rain - again

It’s now a meteorological fact that where Lee and Betsy go, it’s going to rain. Sunday’s forecast actually called for squally rain! Sure enough, around 4pm, when we’d wandered possibly as far from our hotel as possible, the downpour commenced. Our $1 umbrella was useless in the wind. But hey, at least being drenched here doesn’t go hand in hand with freezing like it does at home!

PICTURES OF MACAU

Read more!

The view from the lighthouse

Today we climbed up to the top of Macau’s central park, which is situated on the largest hill in the area. There are paved paths everywhere along the hill where many people were out running in layers and layers of clothes to avoid getting any sun (despite the fact that it was about 95 degrees and sunny outside. At the top of the hill there’s a huge lighthouse and an old war bunker underneath.

PICTURES OF MACAU

Read more!

Vote for Pedro!

It’s election time in Macau. Everywhere you look there are signs advertising the election day (Sept. 25), and billboards for all of the groups running for their General Assembly (we’re assuming it’s like a town council, and they run as teams). There are about 18 teams running together - and their all numbered. We’ve seen two HUGE political rallies since we’ve been here, for teams 13 and 8. They hand out shirts and lots of shwag with their team number on it, and set up a big stage in the main square where they give speeches, and hire really bad singers to entertain the crowd. They also drive their election vehicles up and down the streets broadcasting their political platforms from the blaring speakers on the roof.

PICTURES OF MACAU

Read more!

Vegas baby, Vegas

Oh, wait, we’re in Macau, not Vegas. Macau, a city located about an hour’s boat ride from Hong Kong, is quite a place. Settled by the Portuguese, it’s got a distinctly European feel in some parts with cobblestone streets, cathedrals and old, colonial buildings. In recent years, the city has become a haven for gamblers. A few, large and bustling casinos are situated on the south end of town by the ocean. But, give it another 5 years and it’ll be the Vegas strip, no doubt. Everywhere you look in this city there is a giant casino and resort under construction. One, that looks near completion, has a giant volcano in the front. Many of the resorts share Vegas names too: The Rio, The Sands, and there’s even a Wynn hotel under construction. We went inside one called the “Lisboa” - it was packed, and the games were all totally different than in the US.

PICTURES OF MACAU

Read more!

Red light, green light

After taking an overnight train, followed by an afternoon in a waiting room of the ferry station and a two-hour boat ride, we arrived in Macau (Island near Hong Kong) with no clue where we were going to stay. Our plan: Betsy would wait with our bags while Lee searched for a hotel. First hotel he arrives at, he notices a group of young women, all dressed like they’re going out on the town. Well, it is a Friday night, after all. Strange, but they all REALLY want him to stay at that hotel. Too bad it’s too expensive for us. He moves on to the next to find ANOTHER group of very attractive scantily clad women - this time even more eager for him to stay. Yes, Lee had landed in the red light district of Macau, and these were all prostitutes wanting him to stay at “their” hotel. Lee, the faithful husband, respectfully declined, and we found a nice little hotel with a deserted lobby to stay in.

PICTURES OF MACAU

Read more!

The quest for #2

When we arrived in our quaint little home, we were immediately bombarded by about 10 local women - in their traditional clothes, trying to sell us trinkets they’d made, and asking us the same question repeatedly: “Number one, number two, or number three?” We finally realized they were talking about the three famous scenic viewing points that you can hike to from the village - and whether we would like them to guide us. We declined because, after all, we’re used to hiking and trying to find these little lookout points couldn’t be too hard, right? Wrong. We spend a good three to four hours in the stifling, humid heat climbing up and down, up and down the stone staircases trying to find #1 and #2, to no avail. Disappointed, tired, and drenched in sweat, we headed back to the farmhouse. So, the next morning, we got up early, and hired a local man as our guide. In addition to finally getting to see the spectacular views at #1 (where there happened to be ANOTHER hotel all the way at the top) and #2, our guide had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. He made a sun hat out of leaves for Betsy, sang Chinese songs, and used leaves to whistle. See the ridiculous video of Betsy trying to do this! (Right click and "save target as" to your computer. Then open and play from your computer)

PICTURES OF LONGSHEN

Read more!

A little farmhouse just for us

The Longshen region of China is where, hundreds of years ago, the Chinese created miles upon miles of terraced rice fields. By “terraced”, we mean that the surrounding mountains have been notched out to look like giant staircases. Each “stair” holds rice and lots of water during the rainy season. In the middle of the rice fields, there are dozens of little villages, accessible only by the network of stone staircases that have been built throughout the area. This is where we stayed the night - in a little inn (there are at least 1 or 2 in every village). The inns and houses in the villages were all these huge and intricate 3-story structures…animals on level one, living spaces on level two, and bedrooms on level three.

PICTURES OF LONGSHEN

Read more!

60 yuen to get your butt kicked

Yes, that’s what they charge you to thoroughly beat the crap out of you here in China. They call it a “Chinese Massage” on the sign outside. Liars, they are. There is nothing soothing or relaxing about the experience. Just an hour straight of needle-sharp fingers and elbows poking into you, and being repeatedly smacked up and down your back. This is a warning to everyone out there. You will be bruised and sore the next day. Stick to the good ol’ Swedish massage we get at home!

PICTURES OF YANGSHAO

Read more!

Vroom Vroom Zoom Zoom

Get your motor runnin’…..Head out on the highway. Picture Lee and Betsy on little electric scooters. The wind in our hair, the sun on our faces, weaving in an out of traffic at lightning speed. Ok, so the lightning speed part isn’t exactly true - our little mopeds only went about 15mph. But they were SO much fun and, at last, we were FREE to see and go wherever we wanted (within a 50km radius before the battery died). We headed off to an old, old little town called Fuli for some lunch, then explored the countryside a little more. We came across a tiny little village that had been named the “modernized village” or something to that effect due to the modern conveniences brought in, the level of education, and the very active branch of the communist party that resided there.

PICTURES OF YANGSHAO

Read more!

UPDATE: All photos in the albums now have captions!

We figured at some point you would all appreciate knowing at least a little bit about what you are looking at as you scroll through hundreds of photos. We've been so busy and without internet in Hong Kong or Guanzhou that it has been tough. However, it's cheap and widely available here in Yangshao so we are taking advantage. Plus, it's raining right now. Anyway, hope you enjoy and just let us know if you have any questions about any of the pictures. We also added a link on the right side-bar of the website that brings you to the main photo album page where you can access all of the photos at once.

Read more!

Fish heads, fish heads eat them up, yum

Our guide, Lucy, yesterday asked us if our markets in the US are like the markets in China. My first instinct was to say yes, but then I realized that we don’t sell live chickens, snakes, frogs, ducks, or pigs in Safeway – unless things have changed in the past couple weeks.

PICTURES OF YANGSHAO

Read more!

Ain't no mountain high enough

The mountains here are much different than the mountains at home. They’re tall and skinny, and covered with trees. They look like giant thumbs sticking up from the ground. In between the mountains is totally flat – not even a little hill.

PICTURES OF YANGSHAO

Read more!

I want to ride my BICYCLE, BICYCLE!

Biking is the preferred method of travel here in Yenshuo. Today, with the help of our guide, Lucy, we toured the countryside surrounding the small Chinese town. We saw all the sights- a 1400-year-old tree, a local Chinese market, and climbed to the top of “Moon Hill” – a natural arch formed at the top of a mountain. We had another, much less authentic, bamboo boat ride down the Dragon River. Picture Lee & Betsy, on lounge chairs, under a big umbrella, floating down the lazy river. Lucy also took us to her family’s little hotel where we had lunch, and chatted with her family.

PICTURES OF YANGSHAO

Read more!

The real deal

Tonight we got probably the closest taste of life in China you can possibly get. When we arrived in Yengshuo, Lee was on another photo mission – this time to capture the mountains at sunset. His idea…….to catch a ride on the river with a fisherman. So, we hopped in a cab (Betsy was a bit reluctant), once again utilizing our stellar signing skills, drove several miles into the country, and ended up in a tiny village on the river. A couple about our age gave us (and our new cab driver friend) our own, private cruise on a little bamboo boat at dusk. When our cruise was over, the whole family invited us in for dinner with them! They bought us beers, and made more food than we could dream of eating. We talked (as best we could) and ate with them until we were tired and stuffed, and we headed home. Definitely one of the coolest experiences we’ve ever had!

PICTURES OF YANGSHAO

Read more!

Mail-order bride mania

We chose an English speaking guide and found that most of our fellow travelers were rather unattractive (ok, we know that’s kind of mean, but true) white men with their Chinese girlfriends/wives who they met on the Internet. Some of them were very bizarre couples – one Australian guy said his first wife was Chinese – and now so was his new girlfriend. We met another such couple who happened to live between Colorado Springs and Denver! He was British, she was Chinese, they had a son together and were living in Colorado. It was great to actually have a real conversation with people other than ourselves!! It seems like our English is becoming very simple – not too many big words.

PICTURES OF LI RIVER CRUISE

Read more!

Collecting seaweed in a Speedo

Today we took a scenic boat trip down the Li River to Yengshuo – a little tourist town surrounded by mountains. A bit like Vail Village in some ways J, and equally gorgeous. The trip took several hours and included a traditional Chinese lunch. Along the way we saw lots of fishermen, kids swimming, and guys in speedos (really, their underwear) collecting seaweed.
PICTURES OF LI RIVER CRUISE

Read more!

It's a small world after all

Last night in Guilin we took a city boat tour. No kidding, it’s like being at Disneyland. The boat takes you on the rivers running through the city. For miles and miles along the banks of the river, the city has set up scenic walkways and lights on all the buildings, bridges, trees and mountains. In several spots, the boat would stop in front of a stage where people were playing traditional Chinese instruments, or acting out traditional plays. The trip lasted about 2 hours total, and the lights were the entire way. They’ve essentially turned their whole city into an attraction. It’s beautiful.

PICTURES OF GUILIN

Read more!

Guilin the Beautiful

As soon as we got out and about in Guilin, things took a turn for the better. Guilin is one of the nicest, cleanest and most beautiful cities either of us had ever seen. Rivers, mountains, manicured parks, the works. And, we found a travel agent to book our next 5 days (yes, it’s a bit less “authentic” doing tour-type trips, but it was all the sights we wanted to see)

PICTURES OF GUILIN

Read more!

24 hours of pure hell

We woke up and it was pouring rain…..should have been the first indicator that the day was going to be rough. Our last afternoon in Guangzhou was spent running between overhands and store canopies as we tried to catch the last few remaining monuments in town despite the monsoon-style rain. By 3pm, it was time to get a cab back to our hotel, then to the train station to board our overnight train to Guilin. Little did we know, trying to get a taxi at 3pm in the middle of a rainstorm is virtually impossible. After nearly an hour of frantically waving our arms in front of cabs that were already full, we FINALLY got a cab. We were just in time to the train station when - oh &*@% - we have no money for our tickets. Having no clue where we were in the city – Lee took off running like a bat outta hell trying to find the nearest ATM – which happened to be a death-trap motorcycle ride away. A triumphant but incredibly frustrated Lee returns, only to find that no tickets are left for the sleeper cars on the train. And so we embarked upon the worst 14-hours we’ve ever endured. Seats that were hard as a rock and straight up and down. Filthy, dirty men all around us – spitting on the floor (they’re all very phlegmmy here in China) , smoking like chimneys, etc. etc. Bathrooms that, well, we won’t even go into detail there. Each hour, the train would stop, about 100 new people would board our car, and food vendors would run down the aisles SCREAMING – literally – for people to buy food. FINALLY, after counting the grueling minutes all night long, we arrived in Guilin at 6:30 am. Tired and filthy, we found the first travel agent we saw and booked a hotel – just wanting a shower and a bed. No such luck. Our “lovely” room at the Ocean Hotel had cigarette butts in the shower, stained pillows, and so many mosquitoes that we had to set up our handy-dandy mosquito tent and “camp” in our very own room. After numerous breakdowns by both of us, we decided that we were being American snobs, and we could suck it up for one day in our hotel……

PICTURES OF GUANGZHAO

PICTURES OF GUILIN

Read more!

Stopping traffic

Jay-walking is a way of life here. No matter how much traffic there is. No matter if there are 55 motorcyles or a giant bus coming at you. People just walk across the street in front of the cars. And, miraculously, all the cars stop! Everyone seems to drive slowly enough that accidents are pretty few and far between.

PICTURES OF GUANGZHAO

Read more!

It's a walk in the park

Guangzhou is home to several large, and very manicured parks. The people in the city come here each day to hang out and escape city life. Everywhere you look, old men are playing cards, women are practicing traditional dances, mothers are playing with little kids, or young people are playing hacky sack or badminton. The parks are a wonderful oasis from the heat and noise of the city.

PICTURES OF GUANGZHAO

Read more!

And I would walk 500 miles…….

Guangzhou is NOT a city conducive to walking around to see the sights. Within the town there are lots of historic temples, and even a large pagoda. We set out on food, in 100% humidity to see the sights. We walked, and walked, and walked in order to get to the our first stop (it looked so close on the map!!!) Finally, the heat was too much and we gave up and hailed a cab. The cab proceeded to drive about 5 more blocks and there we were at the temple – ugh!!!!

Read more!

The universal art of sign language

Since communication through words, reading, or writing is pretty much impossible here, we’ve mastered the ability to use sign language to communicate. We stick to restaurants that either have pictures on the menus, or where we can see the food being cooked. (pretty much it’s all different variations of meat, veggies and LOTS of rice.). When traveling by taxi, we can’t get anywhere without a map. We get in the cab and point to where we want to go on the map.

Read more!

What is that thing??

Nearly every store we find here sells little individual-sized cakes, called Moon Cakes. Picture a little pound cake with filling on the middle, and a pretty design on the top. The cakes come in small, bright-colored boxes and are totally overpriced compared to everything else here. We decided to try one out, only to discover that the filling we chose was egg flavored. Yes, imagine eating a yummy, soft pound cake with a hard boiled egg yoke in the middle. Very interesting…….

Read more!

It's a big world out there

It occurred to us pretty quickly after arriving in Guangzhou that the ease of traveling in Hong Kong does not carry over into the rest of China. We realized the language barrier was going to pose quite a challenge to us. Somehow, we were able to muddle through and, at the mercy of the one English-speaking travel agent in the city, we found ourselves in an unbelievably nice (and cheap) hotel room. Clean, crisp sheets, brand new bathroom --- it was a little slice of heaven after our shanty guest house in Hong Kong that was no bigger than a closet.

PHOTOS OF GUANGZHAO

Read more!

Hacky Sack with a Feather on top

Again, random guys downtown in the middle of the street doing their thing....

MOVIE (Right Click and "Save Target As" on your computer desktop. Then open the file that you save to view)

Read more!

Macarena!! He!!

These funny ladies were doing the Macarena to no music in the middle of a prominent square downtown for seamingly no reason. Funny stuff :)

MOVIE (Right Click and "Save Target As" on your computer desktop. Then open the file that you save to view)

Read more!

Finding Nemo

On Monday, we headed to the northern part of Hong Kong to the area where all the markets are. The “markets” are actually 1-2 block areas where every store sells the same genre of stuff. For example, there’s an entire block dedicated entirely to goldfish. No kidding. It’s awesome. There are a few pet stores mixed in (we’ve found that golden retrievers are extremely popular here). But mainly, it’s just these incredible fish stores with hundreds of different tropical fish and gigantic goldfish. We also strolled down the ladies clothing market and the electronics market (they have more varieties of cell phones here than you could imagine – but prices on cameras and computers are about the same as home).

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Laser Beams

Every evening at 8pm, if you happen to be on the southern part of the Hong Kong peninsula looking over the skyline downtown, you’ll find yourself watching the “Dazzling display of Light and Sound” (as they describe it). Cheesy inspirational music starts playing, and all of the major buildings downtown participate in a light show. Many have lasers shining off the rooftops, as well as multi-colored lights down the sides. The lights are all timed with the music across the water to create the show.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Yum Yum Dim Sum

One of the best things about being in China is the dim sum. If you’ve never tried it, it’s great. You order small, appetizer like finger food----pork dumplings, vegetable cakes, you name it. We’ve eaten dim sum for dinner for the past two nights and it’s been fabulous. Incidentally, Dim Sum is traditionally breakfast in China. It’s pretty tough to come by eggs and pancakes for breakfast around here. Yesterday we ate at a Japanese fast food place (Tokyo Joes style) for breakfast.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Stairway to Suburbia

Many of the people who work on Hong Kong island live about ½ way up the mountain behind the city. At one point, the traffic from the apartment towers got so bad, that the city came up with a solution. They built the world’s longest escalator to transport the workers between their home and the city. It’s a one-way escalator, going into town in the morning and away from down in the evening. It stretches for miles. We ran into it during the evening rush hour yesterday. Everyone just hangs out and talks on their phones as they cruise home at night.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Oreos for Buddha

Just a quick train ride from Hong Kong, on the island of Landau, is the Po Lin Monastery, home to the world’s largest statue of Buddha. You have to climb a giant, and extremely steep set of stairs to reach him, and there he is, towering in bronze at the top of the hill. Throughout the monastery there were several different temples, with large statues of Buddha and other figures inside. At the feet of all the statues were loads of flowers, fruit and whatever food people decided to offer. In some cases, it was a bit strange – cookies and juice boxes (kind of like Santa Clause?)

PICTURES OF PO LIN MONESTARY

Read more!

In search of THE shot

Hong Kong is a small island with massive tall buildings on the northern shore, nestled against a lush mountains covered with dense trees. There’s an old-fashioned cable car that takes you close to the top of the highest peak. At the top of the tram there’s, what else, but another huge mall with a bunch of observation decks to catch the view of the city. We headed up there at night, with all intentions of resting our tired feet after nearly 10 hours straight of walking. But, with a view that incredible, there HAD to be an even better spot for Lee to get the perfect shot of the buildings. So, we started hiking up the steep road to the top of the mountain, despite our aching feet. We huffed and puffed our way all the way to the top and what did we find? Trees everywhere in the way of the view. So down we headed. About 90% of the way down and what did we come across – the REAL trail we were supposed to take to catch the view. So back up we headed……...

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Putting Cherry Creek to Shame

A brief comparison of the average mall in America to the average mall in Hong Kong. America: Gap, Banana Republic, Express, Nine West, etc., etc., etc. Hong Kong: Prada, Gucci, Armani, Tiffany, Monolo Blahnik, Fendi, etc. etc. etc. (and that’s not one particular mall, that’s EVERY mall, and individual stores on the street). People here have a lotta moolah to burn.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

The Ladies Brigade

To all the single guys out there, we have found the perfect place for you to meet someone. (Jumin - THAT'S YOU..hahah) Head to downtown Hong Kong island on any given Sunday and you’ll find thousands, yes that’s right, thousands of young women. Why, you ask? We were baffled for most of the day as well. Everywhere you looked, groups of women had laid out small picnic areas where they were having picnics, gossiping with friends, playing cards……you name it. Were they waiting for something, we wondered? Big concert tickets going on sale maybe? No, on the contrary, we learned that Sunday is the day that all of the Philippine housekeepers have the day off. So, these women come in droves downtown and spend the entire day – literally, just hanging out on sidewalks, under building overhangs, even in the middle of the street. At the end of the night, there is an entire crew of city employees to clean up all the mess left behind.

MOVIE (Right Click and "Save Target As" on your computer desktop. Then open the file that you save to view)
HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Meandering

Now this is coming from an admittedly slow walker (Betsy), but people in Hong Kong walk unbelievably slowly. Forget trying to hurry anywhere, because you’ll inevitably get stuck behind someone shuffling along at a much slower rate.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Cartoons and fuzzy bunnies

We actually have a television in our 7’ x 7’ hotel room. When we turned it on last night, every single channel was showing a cartoon. Also, people here have an interesting take on car interior decorations. Dashboards and rear windows are overrun by mini dolls and stuffed creatures.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Lights. Camera. Action

Up until now, we naively assumed that Hollywood ruled when it came to movies around the world. Apparently we were wrong. Hong Kong is actually the largest producer of movies in the world. We spent the afternoon on their “walk of fame”. Actors have their name on a star, just like at home. Unfortunately, the only name we recognized was Jet Li. One night walking downtown, we actually saw a scene from a movie being filmed. Take a look (the annoying sound is beeping is the sound of the crosswalks beeping to tell you to stop or go)

MOVIE (Right Click and "Save Target As" on your computer desktop. Then open the file that you save to view)
HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

When it rains it POURS

We read that the rainy season here is in the spring. However, if the forecast calls for “showers” here, forget the idea of a light sprinkling. No, no, picture instead torrential sideways downpours. The kind that pretty much stop everyone in their tracks because there’s no hope of staying dry, even with an umbrella.

Read more!

Delicacies

Ok, so not everything is exactly the same as at home. The Chinese certainly utilize an ENTIRE animal for consumption. Chicken heads ---- neck to beak-----are apparently quite normal snack food around here. Also, if you enjoy eating intestines or stomachs, you’ll find a variety of animal guts to choose from at restaurants here.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!

Just like home, sort of

Just like home, sort of: I guess starting off in a major city (and one that happened to be British controlled for so many years) eases you into a traveling. In many ways it doesn’t even seem like we’re in another country. It’s not as if Hong Kong is overly “Americanized”, however. But city life is city life no matter where you are in the world. People sightsee…..they’re VERY into fashion and art….. everyone must be either talking on their cell phone, checking messages, or at least carrying the device for all to see at any given time……the vehicles consist of a mix of cabs, buses and ridiculously nice cars……in many ways it’s not unlike an American City.

HONG KONG PICTURES

Read more!