I've been told to blog more about China. Sorry. I just don't want to put up 500 photos here (Facebook is another story). But here's a little bit about my favorite stop: Hong Kong.
I adored Hong Kong. It's like Waikiki and Manhattan with a little bit of English flare (double decker buses speeding around round-abouts? check!).
We spent about a day and a half there, with no company visits and no tour guides, just our trusty octopus cards (aka metro passes) and newly acquired, very poor Mandarin (which did next to no good in a city that speaks Cantonese).
We started our Hong Kong adventure by riding the trolley up to Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is in the center of Hong Kong Island, and it is lovely, forested and steep, with a gorgeous view of the harbor and city below. It's also where a general authority whose name escapes me dedicated China for preaching the gospel.
After exploring the trails, we got a very un-Chinese dinner at Burger King (you have no idea how delicious American fast food tastes after 10 days of Chinese for breakfast, lunch and dinner, even when the thought of Burger King normally makes me gag!), and took some more pictures of the pretty nighttime skyline. We tried to watch the light show in the harbor, but it was so foggy that we didn't see much.
Then we took the very crowded, standing-room-only trolley back down Victoria Peak and took silly pictures of us standing up straight but looking like we're about to fall over.
We took the Star Ferry back to Kowloon (the mainland part of Hong Kong) and went to bed. The next day we woke up early to do baptisms (and a session for the boys) at the Hong Kong Temple. Incidentally, I'd left my recommend in Provo, so I got to experiment with AT&T's international calling to get in touch with Brother Brammer so I could go into the temple. Thanks to Brother Brammer and Johnny Gray for helping me to make that happen!
We took the metro to the temple, getting off on True Light Way (no joke). On our walk to the temple, we passed a van with a license plate reading MAMMON (you can't make this stuff up). The temple is beautiful - it could blend it with the other sand-colored buildings on the street, but the waterfall out front and Moroni on top make it beautiful. The gardens inside the gate were lush with palms and plumeria. Kelsey and I went into the baptistry with a group of young women from Thailand. We were confirmed in a blend of Cantonese and English, then baptized in Thai, for Chinese names from the 15th century. Talk about a multi-cultural experience! Even though I couldn't understand a word the men said, I have never felt the spirit so strongly in a temple. The church is true on every continent. The girls taking their first trip to a temple 2 days away were doing the same ordinances I did every week in the temple 5 minutes away from my office. But I think it meant more to them, and because I was with them, it meant more to me.
One of the guys with us had a friend who works for the Asia Church Administration Office so we went over there after the temple. The office resides in a gorgeous new building in downtown Hong Kong - the most expensive piece of real estate owned by the church. We met with people in the finance, translation, missionary and logistics departments, then had lunch with some of the people who worked there. It was fascinating to see the gospel being spread to an area with 27 countries and 74 languages - we really do have so much work left to do over there!
After lunch, we went back to the hotel to change for the beach. We took a double decker bus to the top of Victoria Peak, then back down to the far side of the island. The very inappropriately named Repulse Bay won me over. The water was just as warm as Hawaii, and the red rock cliffs contrasted beautifully against the surf. Stanley Market bustled with fresh fruit and juices, plus the usual souvenirs. In short, I didn't want to leave.
All too soon we were back on the bus, heading to Hong Kong Harbor for the light show.
I'm not gonna lie, the light show was a little bit overrated - sure, the colors were pretty, but I can only handle so much techno music synched to lasers. Still, the harbor was beautiful and it was just fun to be out soaking in the vibe of the city.
Basically, I could happily live the expat life in Hong Kong. Expats live near Repulse Bay - yes please! I'd gladly take the frizzy hair and constant stickiness (did I mention Hong Kong hovers around 80% humidity?) to live in such a lovely place!
