Benjamin's Visit

As I write this post today, I am a little bit sad. Ben left on Monday, and it is so quiet around here now! I'm very lonesome for him. I still can't believe all that we did in just 6 short weeks. We toured all around Hong Kong taking in hikes, church, youth group for Ben, tourist sites and local favorites, plus visited Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau, Beijing and a town south of Beijing in Shandong province.

I can't begin to give you a full description of our last few weeks. With a couple hundred pictures, I can't even show you half of them, but I will give you an idea of the last few weeks at least.

Guangzhou. This city is about 3 hours from our house by bus. We explored some of the city, visited an amusement park call "Chimelong Park," and had dinner with some of our friends (a friend back in Birmingham, Yao, introduced us last time we were in Guangzhou).

Xiao Min, Ashway, Ben and JP. We had an AMAZING dinner! Canton food! Yum!

The Chimelong Park has five parks: paradise park (rides), water park, crocodile park, circus and safari. We took Ben to the Crocodile park, the Circus and JP and Ben went to the Paradise park.

The crocodile park was fantastic! We saw so many crocodiles as well as many other animals. They had various shows and exhibits.

Here is a video clip of Benjamin feeding a crocodile:

On our last day in Guangzhou, we explored the city a little bit. It was neat seeing the crowded streets, all the bikes, and the little shops along the street.

We saw the "Three Goats Statue" which is representative of Guangzhou.

We visited a tomb of a man who was buried before Christ was born! It was eye opening to see several concubines and servants who were killed when this man died so that they could "go with him" to the after life. They were human sacrifices. How sad.

 We stayed at the China Hotel in Guangzhou, which is a Marriott property. Because John Paul has gold status with the Marriott hotels, we were able to use the executive lounge on the 17th floor to have breakfast and snacks. Ben was very impressed! (Especially with the "Get Smart" - like door! :)

Back in Hong Kong, we had a few days to show Ben a few more of the sights in our city.

We took the tram up to Victoria Peak:

                                                          


                                                      Took him to Monkey Mountain:

Went shopping at the night market for gifts to bring back to his (and my!) family:

Took a bus to Tai O and then a boat ride around the village. (Ben looks sick here because he got pretty sick on the bus ride over. We paid for a taxi back so he could see out the window and not get as sick going back over the mountains).

Through the crowded subway stations:

To Ocean Park (an amusement park in Hong Kong with an aquarium and pandas):

(I am 23 weeks here...and growing).

JP and Ben went on many rides like this:

While I did this:

Until it rained and we all got DRENCHED!!

Back on the crowded MTR (Mass transit railway) to head home. (JP and Ben are in there...you can see the tops of their heads!)

We enjoyed meals out with church friends:

 Showing Ben what temples are like:

Eating out at one of our favorite fast-food chinese restaurants (Fairwood):

Playing Air-soft with friends from the church youth group:

 And having a haircut in Hong Kong!

There is so much more, but I will stop there for now. Be sure to keep an eye out in the next few days - I'm going to try and post pictures from our Beijing trip!!! That was Ben's last week in China.