A Weekend In Hong Kong

I have not updated lately due to a combination of procrastination and sick children. The past few days Madilynn and Ramsey have had fevers and runny noses. We are now on the path to recovery and did it without a trip to the doctor, YES!!!!!

Before the kids became ill we took a weekend trip to Hong Kong. It was a fun adventure, the kids and I had our first train riding experience. When we arrived in Hong Kong the kids and I went directly to the hotel pool while Rocky joined a friend at the horse races. Once we all met back up we ventured out to one of Rocky's favorite places to eat, Delany's Irish Pub. I could tell that he had been in there a few times because everyone that worked there knew who he was! After we filled our bellies we took the kids to Temple Street night markets. Madilynn said she wishes that we would have moved to Hong Kong instead of Guangzhou. "It's cooler here Mom". I think she liked all of the princess dolls and cheap jewelry at the night market. The night markets are cool and anyone who goes to Hong Kong should experience it at least once!

Ramsey's 5th birthday was that next Wednesday and we wanted to do something special for him. So the next day we decided that we would surprise the kids with a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland. We loaded them into a taxi and set off for a gorgeous ride across Hong Kong. We went over the Tsing Ma Bridge, it is the world's longest road-and-rail suspension bridge. The views of the ocean from the bridge were breathtaking! I had several "someone pinch me" moments. I never in my life thought I would see things this amazing. The entire car ride, the kids were trying to guess what their surprise would be. Once we pulled up to the gates of Disneyland all the kids could do was scream! Yes, I began to cry ;) We enjoyed the park. It was again hotter than hot can be! Madilynn was able to chat with a few of the princesses, Ramsey was excited that he got to see the real life lightning mcqueen, I always love to see the lion king show and Rocky was able to see his favorite, mickeys philharmonic 3d show. We opted out of staying for the late night fireworks to avoid being trampled by thousands of little people a.k.a ASIANS!!!! Instead we headed back towards our hotel and watched the laser light show on the harbor.

 On Sunday we wanted to see a little bit of nature so we geared up and headed for The Peak. This place is said to have the best views of the city and the harbor. I would say that is more than accurate! We hiked the trail that wraps around in a complete circle. This trail overlooks all of the harbor. Then we went onto the top of The Peak Tower Sky Terrace that overlooks everything. Madilynn wrote a love note to her Gaga and Pa to hang from the peak heart. She also took a little time out to take some photos with a random Chinese girl. (This is something that we do on a regular these days!) It was the perfect ending to a beautiful weekend.

On the train ride back to Guangzhou Rocky and I discussed the weekend and going home. We didn't have that "yes, were going home" feeling. China doesn't feel like home just yet. We did feel grateful to be able to have this experience, to be able to show our children the world. We had the choice of living in Hong Kong or Guangzhou. Many people would have said Hong Kong in a heartbeat. We are glad that we didn't on so many different levels. Just being able to see his face everyday when he comes home from work is reason enough. Other reasons are that Hong Kong is easy, many more people speak english, transportation is easier, buying things that you have in the states is easier. Rocky and I both agree that living in Guangzhou and "roughing it" makes this experience that much better.

Things are looking better!

The view outside my kitchen window

After getting into the apartment life began to settle down a bit. We started by going to the grocery store. The first store we went to was called the Metro, this is where I now purchase most of my groceries. It is sort of like a Walmart with Asian food. Like American grocery stores there is a small area of import foods for the foreigners!

Next we took the subway (on a Saturday!) to IKEA...again! This time we bought our bedding, and other things needed for playing house. We took a taxi home. Did I mention that its hotter than the devils buttcrack here? Well it is and when you go to IKEA and buy four bags of stuff and then attempt to catch a taxi, with two kids, in a city of fourteen million people you soon learn...not to EVER do that again!!!!
The next day I bought huge grocery bag on wheels for future shopping trips. If it doesn't fit in that thing, we don't get it!!!

The kids and I discovered a wet market right behind our compound. It is a street full of fresh fruit, flowers, vegetables, and meat, (we don't buy the meat, something about a pig hanging in the street getting carved and packaged...freaky). This is where we buy our fruit and veggies. We had a funny thing happen with a chicken that we bought from the grocery store. It was half a chicken still on the bone. I brought it home and took it out of the package. On the underside there was a chicken foot, no big deal. As I cleaned it more, more part started to come from the underside, one of which was a chicken head!!! I no longer buy whole chickens and from that day on Ramsey has refused to eat chicken of any kind!

Overall, life is good here! We have two pools in our compound that we go to everyday. I have made friends from everywhere but the United States. Madilynn has two Australian girlfriends that are her age. Ramsey plays with all of the boys at the pool, NONE of them speak english but for some reason this does not seem to affect him, he loves it! Life is simple. We no longer have the cost of owning a car, we walk, take the subway or taxi. I have a driver come on Fridays to take me to the store. We eat healthier, more fresh fruit, and veggies. The bread that we eat is baked fresh every morning and is sold in mini loaves. We play games and watch lots of movies. We have only six t.v channels and none of them show cartoons. We watch a lot of the Discovery channel and National Geographic.  We are being nicer to our Earth...no more gas, plastic shopping bags, and a lot less garbage! It feels so good. The hardest part of all of this has been the language barrier. We have somehow managed on the few words we know but lessons are in our future!

Ramsey with his carrots from the wet market

Our living room

View of the pool from our apartment

The city view to the East

Pearl River Park across the street from our apartment

City view from our apartment to the south west

one of my FAVORITE things to watch, tai chi in the park
 across the street every morning

the view from Ramseys room,
it's a construction site for a school.
The workers live on site in these metal buildings.

the canal from the river runs next to our building.
This lady patrols the canal daily, picking up garbage.

Happy!

The view from our apartment to the North

STINKER!

View to the west

The road outside our house

Sorry for those who have a weak stomach,
this is the chicken!!!

Canton Tower, the view out our kitchen window.
It is the tallest tv tower in the world!!!

Fathers Day! We almost forgot, they don't celebrate it like we do in the states.
We later found out that in Australia and Finland
it is celebrated on different days.
 Mothers Day is on the same day all over the world!!!