Good Morning, Hong Kong!

originally posted on 6/14/10

When I woke up in Hong Kong I looked out of my window at the skyscrapers across the harbor on Hong Kong island. The Samsung building flashed the time and then the message “Good Morning!” Hong Kong was glad I was there and so was I. The art museum was across the street from my hotel and there were 2 women doing their morning exercise, dancing with fans, just outside the museum. The day looked cool and cloudy, but that was definitely not the case.

When we walked outside it felt a lot like jumping in a pool. The air was hot and sticky. Hong Kong is basically a massive sauna. The first place that we visited was the Wong Tai Sin temple. It is a Taoist temple and it is beautiful. We walked around the Good Wish Garden and then we went to get our fortunes told. Each of us were given a container that had 50 or 60 sticks in it. We were to shake the container until just one stick came out. That stick had a number on it that would correspond with a fortune poem that would help to discern your future. The number on my stick was 42. I though that was pretty incredible, as 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything. (The fortune-teller also told me that I would be successful, get good grades on my exams and go oversees a lot.) My overall out look: quite good. I can feel good about that.

After the Wong Tai Sin temple, we went to see the Hong Kong LDS temple. It was closed for cleaning, but we did meet up with a guy named Colin who was also visiting HK before going to the mainland for school. He came to lunch with us and then we all parted ways. When I say ALL, I mean ALL. I was headed to Disneyland, and for some odd reason no one else wanted to come with me.

I can now say that I have been to every Disneyland in the world. I am kind of blown away at this, besides Anaheim none of the trips I made were Disney-specific. I just kind of happened to end up where all of the parks were - and this was my last one. Kinda geeky, kinda cool. I love it. HK Disneyland is just as small as everyone says, but as least the Jungle Cruise ride is in a real jungle. You just can’t beat that.

For the next two days we took the city by storm. We ate chicken feet as part of a traditional Dim Sum breakfast. We walked about 10,000 steps on the day we went to see the 10,000 Buddhas in the New Territories. (Which btw, was one of the most incredible things I have seen anywhere in the world). We rode the subway across all of HK and up to the mainland (even though our visas did not permit us to leave the station). We visited Victoria Peak to see the view of Hong Kong that has been on my desktop at work for the last two months. While there, we also saw the spot where Hong Kong was dedicated for missionary work in 1949.

On Sunday we had church in Mandarin and we went to the art museum and the Hong Kong history museum. I do love me some museums. My favorite part of the art museum was an exhibit of pieces by Wu Guanzhong. He recently donated 30 pieces of art to the museum and I loved, loved, loved them!

That night we had Bombay Delight curry pizza at Pizza Hut and watched the light show down by the river. The next day we just ran around Hong Kong island and went to some local markets. Soon it was time to leave and we headed off to the airport. The flight to Xiamen was only an hour and 15 minutes. On the way I started to read The Piano Teacher, turns out it is set in Hong Kong. How crazy is that?

A group of students met us at the airport, brought us to the university, and helped us get checked into our hotel rooms. I can’t believe I am in China. Real China. Mainland China.

Now it is time for the real fun to begin…