Our trip to Hong Kong - if you don't want to wade thru fam pix - skip it

Us in Hong Kong.....? Who would have thunk.... never would have thought we'd be in such a place. And what a great trip it was. We went with our branch pres from the JB branch and his wife and little daughter and a couple who went to be sealed. Some of their friends joined us there at different times. Spent most of last week there. We understand Hong Kong hotels are extremely expensive, so we were grateful to be able to stay at the patron house across the street from the temple. 75.00 for 4 nights - ladies in one room, men in another. Bunk beds style - We did have 8 sisters in our room one of the nights - most of them only spoke Chinese. One wanted the light on and another wanted the 'air' off. So I guess we kind of paid in other ways. And most of them only spoke Chinese. One lady was having a 'knock down, drag em out' fight with an ex husband, who someone mistakenly allowed in without a key. Fireworks. We were warned that she was emotionally unstable - to be careful. Um... how do you be careful when you're sleeping in the same room. One shower for all of us took creative planning. But it was ok. Laundry facilities and kitchen available and were quite nice. We were very grateful for the accommodations. Apparently reservations must be made well in advance to stay there.
We took a public bus from the airport to the patron house. Hong Kong is 3 major islands and this is one of the bridges we took to our destination. We loved the views. We were on the upper level of a double decker. Swaying corners, fast speeds.
Arrival at HK airport. Nice sign with both chinese and English - the rest of the time - most everything in Chinese.
HK airport is big and beautiful - attached to a large mall. On our return trip, we were at the airport early, so were able to browse many of the shops. World's busiest airport - I believe it.
In front of the temple. We left JB at 3:00 AM. and arrived in HK at noon. After lunch and a little relaxation, we were in the temple for an endowment session and the sealing. So nice to be back in the familiar temple surroundingss. Well as familiar as it can be when wearing headphones and going through the veil with a Chinese speaking person on the other side. Kind of just waited for a pause and then said what you thought you were supposed to say for where you thought you were. Subsequent days, we did sealings, sometimes in Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese and our fav - English - loved to hear their pronunciation of some words - especially husband and resurrection. A great memory .
WHOOPS don't have time to delete this duplicate - sorry.
All temple pix must include a night view... right? Located on Cornwall Street - Very busy street. So many double decker buses, taxis, cars, etc. All zooming along at what seemed like breakneck kind of speeds.
Took this pic from the window of the patron house - looking across the street at the temple. The mission office, distribution center, and church building also located below the housing. We understand the mission and temple president live in the temple building, which is soon to be renovated. Remember, this is the temple where Pres. Hinckley deliberated how they'd ever find a place in HK and decided to go 'up.' It works.
Yup - we were there - loved it.
Branch Pres. Tan and wife, Jessie and little Angela. Foggy pic because I forget that my camera fogs up after being in the air con and then coming out into the hot - and yes... it was very hot.

We were fortunate to be able to do 2 sessions every day and still have time to sight see in the afternoon and evening. Our feet walked a million miles - well, it felt like it.
City of HK is high rise (like 40, 50 and higher stories) buildings. Just amazing - the density of the population.
This was a view from the top of a 100 story building - at night, obviously. Hard to get a good pic. Victoria Harbor - a 360 degree view as we walked around at the top.
A skating rink in a mall not too far from where we stayed.
Many side streets with little 'stall shopping.' Busy, crowded - delicious.
We rode this gondola to another island - Lantau - where we saw the world's largest Budha. This is where a man walked past us and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, this is the last place I thought I'd see more Mormons. You guys are everywhere." We laughed and visited. He was from Seattle and was here with his wife adopting a Chinese baby. She'd ridden the tram up and was traumatized and he'd had to send her back to the hotel in a taxi. We had a fun time talking - he's Baptist - always so delightful to see a fellow, 'English speaking' American. Even though you don't know them, you almost feel like hugging.
We took turns carrying Angela, although she preferred Garald the best. Yes... we had a stroller, but gave it up with the crowds and stairs up and down into the subway system - called the MTR. Great transit system - we think we could find our way around most anywhere - color coding for the different lines, just like Singapore. Called the MRT there. But VERY crowded - sometimes felt like sardines smashed in. Walking back home after an afternoon of sightseeing. The buildings... the lighting... oh my!
The building on the left is the Bank of China and had the most amazing synchronized, lighting at night. Just couldn't even begin to see all the views of the high rise effects.
Oh I'm sure you wanted to see pix of our feet... right? The gondola had a glass bottom. Traversed part of the ocean and up the mountainside - incredible views.
On the gondola
Hanging duck and chicken in windows is not unusual back in JB, but saw lots more of it in HK. Do they ever think about refrigeration for meat? Well, I do, but guess I'm the only one. Everyone seems to survive and so did we. Yummy, actually.
Another of the little side street stalls. You can look, but if you don't want to buy you are abruptly told to 'move on.'

I think these were Hibiscus flowers in the background.
We understand there are over 7 million people in HK. We think we probably saw every one of them.... SO many people. And yes, we did have a plan if we got separated and lost - find an MTR station, go back to Kowloon Tong (our stop) and meet at the patron house. We were able to stay together - not always easy.
Shopping - everything from Prada and Louis Vuitton (sp?) to junky souvenirs. And of course...FOOD!
Through the window of a little eating shop.
I believe I have more pix of food than anything else, of course. I'm all about food - think I brought back an extra 10 pounds. This was our table at lunch one day. Very traditional food - delicious - but different. The orange in front is their version of pumpkin pie - no similarity that I could tell. Always hot drinks - getting a cold drink was sometimes very difficult.
The other half of the table. That's Won Ton soup in front of me - became one of my favorites.
This was my second order one night at dinner. I loved what I'd ordered the first time, but then someone else had this and I wanted it too, so ordered again. Res Tan commented, "Very different couple." Now let's see is that a compliment or an insult? We laughed - a lot. I couldn't finish this and had to take it back to the frig. But it was just yummy. We had planned to do Disneyland one day, but opted instead for more sight seeing in the city.
Our table one night at dinner. Ahh, cold drinks for us this night - lemon ribena - good. I'm finally getting the hang of chopsticks - with many foods here like noodles and rice, it's easier than a fork.
Yes... Angela enjoyed the food too - although this is familiar for her.

I tried to connect with the kids by popping into a McDonalds and using their free computers. But it was on a timer, and by the time I got it switched from Chinese to English, I didn't have much time left. Realized I'm very lost when I'm not 'connected.' But I did get an ice cream cone there. Ahhhh - so VERY good.

We arrived home at 2:30 A.M. Sunday morning - into bed by 3:00. Garald set the alarm for 4:30 so he could get up and hear the BYU football game. Glad they won, but it wasn't pretty. Sunday was a long day - so glad to be back in our own beds. Wait... is it really our own beds...? Well, it felt like it. Glad to be back. Loved the opportunity to go. Memory of a lifetime.