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.

Benjamin's First Three Weeks

My youngest brother, Benjamin, is in Hong Kong with us. It has been so much fun having him here! We have done a lot of sight-seeing and a lot of eating! (15 year old growing guy and I'm pregnant - of course we've been eating a lot! :)
Ben will be here for six weeks total, but we only have three weeks left!! The time is FLYING by. In the next three weeks, we have so much to do that we are worried about fitting everything in. We will be going to Guangzhou, China on Monday for three days and then we will end his stay in Asia with a visit to Beijing for his last eight days.

But, don't take it from me! I'll let Ben have the floor now! Take it away, Ben! -----

I went to Disneyland Hong Kong. It was fun. Cinderella asked me if I would be her prince! I went "ahhh...."

I have been in Hong Kong for three weeks so far. I am just now updating the blog because we have been so busy. This will be a short update because early tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou, China for three days. In the three weeks I have been to Disneyland, ice skating in the mall,

(Allison took this picture while drinking her Ovaltine in the restaurant overlooking the rink).

took the ferry to Macau where I saw casinos, bones of dead people in St. Paul's ruins and tasted egg tarts (4 of them!).

                       
                               ( A video of the longes buffet line in Asia. We didn't eat there
                                        because it costs $40 per person. We ate at a different $20 buffet!!)

In Macau I also saw Giant Pandas.
I've been hiking twice on Lantau island, where John Paul and Allison live. Here are a few pictures from my hikes:

( A buffalo was following us. We were so close I fed him some grass!) 

and on a different hike to Big Buddha we saw:

It is quite windy up there...

( As you can see, the trails here don't have switchbacks - they go straight up the mountain with stairs).

The Wet Market!!!!

This is the way a lot of local people buy their food. There are butchers cutting pigs up and selling

the pieces. There are a lot of fruit and flowers. And as you can see, the fish they sell are very fresh!

They cut them open and leave the guts in them with the heart beating. 

(Next to my finger you can see the heart beating).

Here is a special fruit they sell here named Durian!!

It is nicknamed 'stinky fruit' for a reason.

From my experience trying this fruit I would say it smells like used gym socks and tastes like it too!!

Well that's all I have time for right now.

I will leave you with a video of a very funny ride at Disneyland ' Jungle River Cruise.'

His attempts to make the ride a little more scary ( and trying to fight his boredom )

turned out to make this ride more amusing in a different way.