Friday, April 23
We landed about a half hour ago. The airport is empty but it is about 4am here. I got a few hours of sleep off and on. Each seat had a screen and you could watch a variety of movies.
The meals were yummy - beef, carrots, and mashed potatoes for dinner and an omelet (more like a scoop of egg) and a few potato slices, yogurt, fruit, and a muffin for breakfast.
Very excited to be in a foreign country! Excited to have some good food but we probably won't eat again until we arrive in Hong Kong - around 10:30am. It is Saturday here :-)
Love you all!
Bubba
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| Didn't even know he took a picture... |
Sunrise in Korea
Saturday, April 24
This place reminds me of New York but with lots of Asians! Very tired - have not slept at all since we landed. It is about 7pm here. At a members house with missionaries. Met a wonderful old lady with a great testimony. It is wonderful to see the church here. Will be going in the morning. There is a really foreign smelling fruit here called dur-yun.
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| Mama Poon. Greatest member. We baptized her best friend, only because of her. |
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| The Lau family. Raymond got baptized, then baptized his wife Elaine three weeks later. Then he baptized his daughter, Eve, a year later, then Chris a year after that. Now they are working towards the temple, and Chris is working on a mission. |
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| Lorraine, and the Cheng parents - we went to a ward activity that night. |
I recognize how blessed we are to be living in the States where there is room to own your own home and you don't have to be stacked up on top of each other and you can use a dryer instead of hanging your clothes outside your balcony window to dry.
Yesterday we picked up a SIM card and put some money on it and stuck it in the cell phone. The number is a HK number (8 numbers).
Last night on our way back we took a bus and then a train. Fell asleep for a short while on the bus. Got off the wrong stop and took awhile to get back.
We haven't really had time to get to know Ellie and Noble Coker (Jesse's brother and sister-in-law) yet because we haven't been home with them long yet. They had some fancy dinner last night and didn't get home until really late.
I guess the ward we're going to is several subway rides away. I think we're going to be spending most of the day visiting members. Hopefully I'll have a chance to upload some photos today.
Anyway, going to get ready for church. Love you all!
Bubba
Sunday, April 25
What a great day! My feet are dead tired and I have a blister on the ball of my right foot. Glad I didn't bring church shoes but rather used my black Swiss Army shoes. We did a lot of walking today. We woke up around 6 and got ready for church. We had to take a few subway trains to get there, and then once we arrived at the station it took us about 20-30 minutes to find the church. Luckily I was able to find a hotspot and use my ipod to access the church website to get a map (location) of the building, and that got us closer. I met a brother by the name of Edward Ho - he was the ward mission leader when Tiffany served in that area. Wonderful member - he has worked for the church the past 20 years, in HR and then recently they moved him to Member Statistics & Records. He translated the remainder of Sacrament for me and then Elders Quorum. During Sunday School we took a walk with him to go track down a less active convert that Tiffany had helped get baptize but she wasn't at her work. He gave us $500HK for Hong Kong and also $500 Chinese dollars (can be used in Shanghai). (FYI when we exchanged money yesterday it was 7.7HK dollars to 1 US dollar. It was very generous of him. He speaks English very well. He also brought us four "pork" hamburgers his wife made us for lunch. He has a son that was just called on a mission in HK. The members were very warm and welcoming. It was great!
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| Rock path on the way to Tai Po church |
After that we decided to go to The Peak. Beautiful view. We took a bus ride up (and then back down when we were done) to "The Peak" that gives you an overlook of the harbor/bay.
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| Beautiful Peak |
After The Peak we went and visited a Philipina sister that is a wonderful member. There are a lot of Philippino women that come here to HK to work for people by cooking/cleaning and there is a branch (no priesthood so they join with the International Branch). that meets in the several-story tall building that President Hinckley dedicated when Tiffany was a missionary. It's also where the Church Asia HQ is. Anyway, the Philippina sisters gave us some food and it was good but Tiffany and I were already not very hungry from lunch.
Oh yeah, I had been really thirsty earlier in the day and so I wanted to try Chrysanthemum Tea - Tiff thinks it's gross. I liked it! It reminded me of liquid honeysuckle - just enough sugar to keep me interested. Then I also had some Mango juice. That was really yummy.
Just showered and tired. Love you all!
Bubba
Monday, April 25
So on Monday we went and applied for our visas. It cost $315US for both of us and I think we may be able to get a double entry visa so we might go into mainland China on Friday for a massage (three hour massage for $100HK = $13US.
After we applied for our visas we went to a wet market (think I may have told you this) which is where they have live seafood - crabs, shrimp, fish, frogs, lobster, etc, fresh fruit and vegetables, hanging raw meat - pig, duck, chicken, etc. It's interesting to see.
After we applied for our visas we went to a wet market (think I may have told you this) which is where they have live seafood - crabs, shrimp, fish, frogs, lobster, etc, fresh fruit and vegetables, hanging raw meat - pig, duck, chicken, etc. It's interesting to see.
We bought two apples and a dragon fruit. Tasted the dragon fruit last night - really colorful and pretty and then underneath the skin the fruit is white. Very disappointing because it's so tasteless. The texture is similar to a mango, though less slimy.
After that we went home and slept for several hours.
That night we briefly went to Lady Street where we met some members (Lorraine and her husband, and Elma). They took us to dinner at a Japanese buffet. Had octopus, chewy chicken bone, stuff that were in little seashells that you eat like oysters, and some other less exotic items.
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| Elma and Lorraine |
Tuesday, April 27
Yesterday (Tuesday) Ellie took us to Hong Kong Disney! We got something for the kids and we got something for you, Mindy.
It's definitely a small park and the castle looks smaller than the other ones but when I asked Noble about it last night he said it's the same size but looks smaller because of the hills in the background - very pretty.
We saw some cranes and they have good room for expansion. Again, I asked Noble what they are building - Toy Story Land and Andy's Backyard, Mystic Manor, and Glitter Gulch. Mystic Manor will use the latest technology.
It was fun. I will show you park maps when we get home.
It was fun to see the different foods they had at the park. They had "Korean Squid" at the little stands and incredibly amazing Mango Sherbet Popsicles. I would buy a case of those if I could!
After HK Disney we took MTR (subway) to a place where we could take a tram up to see "Big Buddha." He is way up in the mountains and is huge. Lots of stairs to go up. Pretty cool. We went inside and there is a relic (a crystal) that was supposedly left behind when Gautama Siddartha reached enlightenment and became Buddha.
Last night Ellie, Noble, Tiare (11), Leilanie (10), and LD (4 - "Little Dog", Noble Jr.) took us out to dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was yummy and we had good conversation. We told them about us and we shared stories about the gospel and general authorities.
When we got home, Tiff talked to Ellie and I talked to Noble about Disney and work. He shared a presentation he had and has given to several of Disney's partners. I obviously can't get a copy of the slides but there was some fascinating things he shared. Some of it we know but haven't really applied, some of it we don't know or at least haven't realized.
Wednesday, April 28
On Wednesday we went to go see Ten Thousand Buddhas. A lady at Sha Tin Station misunderstood us and gave us directions to a Buddhist temple instead. A monk approached us and tapped with a stick the bowl he was carrying. We could see money inside it but we didn't want to give them any since we have a limited supply so Tiff reached into her purse and gave him a one dollar coin. The look on his face was priceless!
We went inside the temple and there was a lot of incense burning. Several large statues stood around the center and inside the building (to this point everything was in the open courtyard) was a three-story statue of a guy with a sword. It was pretty neat and would have been cool to see it come alive.
After that, we took another bus and got lost. The bus driver told us to get on another bus that would take us where we needed to go, so we did. Eventually we asked enough people and found our way to the Ten Thousand Buddhas. We took lots of pictures of lots of Buddhas. Pretty cool seeing that many statues.
After that hike we were pretty hungry so we found a mall. Tiff's feet were hurting so we went to find her a different pair of shoes. They had a deal where you could buy one pair of flip flops for $55HK or two for $75HK so I got a pair also.
We ate at McDonald's - the fries pulled me in. We both got a Big'N'Tasty in a meal and it cost $27.50 each which is about $3.60US, so it was pretty cheap.
After that we made our way to "Monkey Mountain." It is really called Shei Lo Park or something like that. It was really fun to see all the monkeys, especially the young ones. Took lots of pictures. I was sitting by one and then he came closer and took a swing at me but just barely scratched me. They are used to people but they are still wild animals.
We ate at McDonald's - the fries pulled me in. We both got a Big'N'Tasty in a meal and it cost $27.50 each which is about $3.60US, so it was pretty cheap.
After that we made our way to "Monkey Mountain." It is really called Shei Lo Park or something like that. It was really fun to see all the monkeys, especially the young ones. Took lots of pictures. I was sitting by one and then he came closer and took a swing at me but just barely scratched me. They are used to people but they are still wild animals.
After that we realized we were running late. Our plan was to go through the temple with Bro. Edward Ho and his son - who just recieved his mission call to Hong Kong. What a great member.
We made it back to the Coker's by 6pm and we were supposed to be at the temple by 6:30. We hurriedly changed and took a taxi to the temple but the driver didn't know where Cornwall Street was. It was very frustrating. Eventually we made it there and just in time. It was interesting to wear the translation headset during the session. Tiff listened to it in Cantonese.
We made it back to the Coker's by 6pm and we were supposed to be at the temple by 6:30. We hurriedly changed and took a taxi to the temple but the driver didn't know where Cornwall Street was. It was very frustrating. Eventually we made it there and just in time. It was interesting to wear the translation headset during the session. Tiff listened to it in Cantonese.
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| Marvin, Venus, Peter, Jude, Elder Ho |
Afterwards we took photos of all the members there, including Marvin, Venus, her husband Peter, and their son Jude(10). Then we went to dinner at Spicy Temple Crab on Temple Street. Bro. Ho was yet again generous and paid. He had also bought for me (to give to my mom) two Coca Cola bottles that were in Chinese. He bought them while he was in mainland China (work).
We made it home around midnight and by that time all the shops were closed or closing. We were so tired!
Today (Thursday) we are going to take Ellie out for Dim Sum. It's a little after 11am right now. She is meeting with her friend about a photoshoot for LD. The Coker's have been so welcoming and generous to us.
Thursday, April 29
Thursday
Today we went and ate Dim Sum with Ellie, LD, and Ellie's friend. Dim Sum is where they come by with food on carts and if you want some they put a bowl of it on your table. It was pretty good. Cha siu bow - I'm sure that's not how you spell it but that was really good. The mango pudding at the end was superb - imagine a yummy creme brûlée but with the underlying flavor of mango.
After that we went to the pier and took a ferry to Lamma Island. You can take a funny photo because there are three big stacks from the power plant that loom above the beach. It was pouring by the time we got to Lamma Island so we bought two ponchos and an umbrella. It was so rainy and a little bit cold, plus the main reason we went to the island was for that photo so after we snapped a few photos we went back to the ferry and went back. We picked up our visas for China and went home. Tiff took a nap and I uploaded some photos.
Tonight we met up with Dick, a convert (Tiff's friend) and watched the harbor laser and light show. Kind of neat, kind of boring, but the potential is there. Then we went to eat dinner.
There is a place called Chung King Mansion. Once inside you would think you are in India. However, as we were walking in to the building about 5-10 Indian men began sticking business cards (but thick and plastic like credit cards) into my hands, and i don't remember if it was Tiff's hands or theirs on my shoulders. They were swarming over all three of us, but mainly me. By the time we were inside I had two cards in my hand and a third on it's way. I felt so violated and frustrated I just purposely dropped all the cards on the ground and probably groaned or something. Because of all the hands touching me I was nervous that they were going to steal something , but since we've been here I haven't worn a wallet and the only things in my pocket are chapstick, iPod (which has proved invaluable) and Octopus card. We didn't lose anything but wow! Never have I experienced anything quite like that nor do I wish to duplicate that experience. Felt like the doomed souls of Hell grasping onto me to escape their fate.
After our Indian or Pakistani meal we left and went shopping at Lady Street. Didn't buy anything. Don't really want to buy a fake watch unless it's one I really want.
Falling asleep now. Will write more in morning...
12:46AM
Friday, April 30
12:45pm
This morning we got up and took the MTR to meet up with Lorraine to go to mainland China. I have a mild stomach ache that I think may be caused by the spicy aloo ghobi I had at dinner last night. Fortunately it isn't constant.
We took the train into Shenzhen and showed them our visas (inside our passports) at two separate indoor checkpoints. It was kind of fun to see razor wire along the outside fence.
We did some shopping and the watches here are only $200CH vs. $1200 in HK. (oh by the way, mainland China money is different from HK so we had to visit the money exchanger. Exchange rate was only 6.5 vs. 7.7). I haven't bought anything yet, other than some Oakley sunglasses for ¥30 = $4.62, which is less than what we could get it for in Mexico ($10).
Well I just had an unpleasant surprise! I decided maybe I should go to the bathroom to relieve myself and hopefully my stomach ache so I made another trek through a department store to the bathroom but when I went into the stalls - none of them had toilet paper or even toilet paper holders! In addition, most were just holes in the floor that you are supposed to squat over! How do they clean themselves?
Well I had to go so I bought some tissues at a stand and made a third trek. Fortunately there was a stall available that had a real toilet. When I was done I discovered there were no soap dispensers! What a "crappy" adventure (pun intended :-)! So I rinsed my hands and then rubbed them together quickly for at least 30 seconds! (I was told years ago that friction and heat for that long kills most bacteria.)
We are currently still shopping for shoes for Tiff and it is now 2:07pm.
It is now 3:33 and we are back at one of the first stores where Tiff was looking for shoes. I think we are going to go get our 3-hour long massages and for only $20US per person!!!
12:08AM
The massages were incredible! Three hours of hurt-like-hell deep tissue full body massage for only ¥250 for the both of us! Just when you'd think you couldn't take any more pain they would change what location was getting worked. Afterwards, the ache/tired in my back, calves, and feet were gone -rejuvenated- for about two hours.
Had a frustrating time but I finally got my watch - after going through about twenty different people and shops. I bought an Audemar Piquet. The watch below is a $20,000 watch. I got it for $50!!! :-D
http://www.
We just packed up our stuff and are flying to Shanghai tomorrow morning at 11:15. Ellie is taking us to the Airport Express, which I think is a fast subway train to the airport. There is a huge expo in Shanghai and it opened today, so it might be a little chaotic, but I think we are going to the clothing district to get measured for a tuxedo for me and a Chinese dress for Tiff.
Sleepy. Love you all!
Bubba and Tiff
Today (Thursday) we are going to take Ellie out for Dim Sum. It's a little after 11am right now. She is meeting with her friend about a photoshoot for LD. The Coker's have been so welcoming and generous to us.
Thursday, April 29
Thursday
Today we went and ate Dim Sum with Ellie, LD, and Ellie's friend. Dim Sum is where they come by with food on carts and if you want some they put a bowl of it on your table. It was pretty good. Cha siu bow - I'm sure that's not how you spell it but that was really good. The mango pudding at the end was superb - imagine a yummy creme brûlée but with the underlying flavor of mango.
After that we went to the pier and took a ferry to Lamma Island. You can take a funny photo because there are three big stacks from the power plant that loom above the beach. It was pouring by the time we got to Lamma Island so we bought two ponchos and an umbrella. It was so rainy and a little bit cold, plus the main reason we went to the island was for that photo so after we snapped a few photos we went back to the ferry and went back. We picked up our visas for China and went home. Tiff took a nap and I uploaded some photos.
Tonight we met up with Dick, a convert (Tiff's friend) and watched the harbor laser and light show. Kind of neat, kind of boring, but the potential is there. Then we went to eat dinner.
There is a place called Chung King Mansion. Once inside you would think you are in India. However, as we were walking in to the building about 5-10 Indian men began sticking business cards (but thick and plastic like credit cards) into my hands, and i don't remember if it was Tiff's hands or theirs on my shoulders. They were swarming over all three of us, but mainly me. By the time we were inside I had two cards in my hand and a third on it's way. I felt so violated and frustrated I just purposely dropped all the cards on the ground and probably groaned or something. Because of all the hands touching me I was nervous that they were going to steal something , but since we've been here I haven't worn a wallet and the only things in my pocket are chapstick, iPod (which has proved invaluable) and Octopus card. We didn't lose anything but wow! Never have I experienced anything quite like that nor do I wish to duplicate that experience. Felt like the doomed souls of Hell grasping onto me to escape their fate.
After our Indian or Pakistani meal we left and went shopping at Lady Street. Didn't buy anything. Don't really want to buy a fake watch unless it's one I really want.
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| One of the shirts available at Ladies Street. Made me giggle. |
12:46AM
Friday, April 30
12:45pm
This morning we got up and took the MTR to meet up with Lorraine to go to mainland China. I have a mild stomach ache that I think may be caused by the spicy aloo ghobi I had at dinner last night. Fortunately it isn't constant.
We took the train into Shenzhen and showed them our visas (inside our passports) at two separate indoor checkpoints. It was kind of fun to see razor wire along the outside fence.
We did some shopping and the watches here are only $200CH vs. $1200 in HK. (oh by the way, mainland China money is different from HK so we had to visit the money exchanger. Exchange rate was only 6.5 vs. 7.7). I haven't bought anything yet, other than some Oakley sunglasses for ¥30 = $4.62, which is less than what we could get it for in Mexico ($10).
Well I just had an unpleasant surprise! I decided maybe I should go to the bathroom to relieve myself and hopefully my stomach ache so I made another trek through a department store to the bathroom but when I went into the stalls - none of them had toilet paper or even toilet paper holders! In addition, most were just holes in the floor that you are supposed to squat over! How do they clean themselves?
Well I had to go so I bought some tissues at a stand and made a third trek. Fortunately there was a stall available that had a real toilet. When I was done I discovered there were no soap dispensers! What a "crappy" adventure (pun intended :-)! So I rinsed my hands and then rubbed them together quickly for at least 30 seconds! (I was told years ago that friction and heat for that long kills most bacteria.)
We are currently still shopping for shoes for Tiff and it is now 2:07pm.
It is now 3:33 and we are back at one of the first stores where Tiff was looking for shoes. I think we are going to go get our 3-hour long massages and for only $20US per person!!!
12:08AM
The massages were incredible! Three hours of hurt-like-hell deep tissue full body massage for only ¥250 for the both of us! Just when you'd think you couldn't take any more pain they would change what location was getting worked. Afterwards, the ache/tired in my back, calves, and feet were gone -rejuvenated- for about two hours.
Had a frustrating time but I finally got my watch - after going through about twenty different people and shops. I bought an Audemar Piquet. The watch below is a $20,000 watch. I got it for $50!!! :-D
http://www.
We just packed up our stuff and are flying to Shanghai tomorrow morning at 11:15. Ellie is taking us to the Airport Express, which I think is a fast subway train to the airport. There is a huge expo in Shanghai and it opened today, so it might be a little chaotic, but I think we are going to the clothing district to get measured for a tuxedo for me and a Chinese dress for Tiff.
Sleepy. Love you all!
Bubba and Tiff
