Hong Kong

We really wanted to do a fun trip with the kids and so we went to Hong Kong!!! It was a short flight over from Manila DURING the day time so that was just amazing. We get off the plane and get in a taxi line, but when our turn comes and our taxi driver steps out to help us with our luggage I wanted to run. He was SO OLD. Like hunched over, walking an inch a minute across the street old. I'd never seen somebody move so slowly- all I could think was, "How is this guy driving? He must have NO reaction time!" If someone swerves in front of us, there is no way we're surviving because he wouldn't break on time. There's just no way. I was kind of freaking out but wasn't brave enough to be rude and say, "Um . . . no thanks- I'll take this taxi over here." Then it seemed like he didn't really know where he was going- and WE definitely didn't know where we were going! So THAT stressed me a bit too. Eventually we get there just fine- thank goodness. The drive their was surprisingly beautiful. There was green and trees EVERYWHERE. Lots of high hills. It really was just so beautiful. The roads were nice and organized. I kept thinking what a lovely place this would be to hike!

So we arrive, but are early for our check in to our AIRBNB so we decide to find a restaurant to relax and eat something, even though we weren't hungry at all. We just didn't know what else to do. Finding a place to eat was more difficult than it sounds because we recognize nothing. The thing that's hard about not reading another language- is that a store could say, "Laundry Mat or Pet Store" for all you know. If you can't see in a window- you really have no idea what's across the road or even in front of your eyes. It stinks. So we end up walking to this place and before we get there we see this WOMAN hunched over so she is completely bent in half, but her head is looking up. Like her head is at her shins, but looking up at you. And she was moving literally an inch a minute- no exaggeration here. It was insane. I was so mortified at seeing her I just thought, "Is she begging? Why isn't she begging? How could this woman NOT be begging? Where is she going? What is she doing? I need to help this woman this is driving me crazy!!!!!" It was so hard passing her and not doing anything. I was simply shocked. And then when we walk in this restaurant a man cleaning the tables had this HUGE KNOT/LUMP thing right on his shoulder blade. I don't know what it was but it looked like he hand a door handle, right under his shirt. I think I saw a couple other deformities walking down the street and I was so OVERWHELMED at the health and poverty of the people!!!! I just didn't understand how so many people could have no many PHYSICAL things wrong with them. I was overwhelmed.

The food was unappetizing. First we order these lemon honey juices and it was disgusting. Lukewarm lemon sweet water. It was nasty. The woman that served us was really nice but had this Dumb and Dumber hair cut, bleached to white. It was the ugliest hairdo I've ever seen. I just couldn't understand how someone would make their hair that way. There were just so many things around that were unpleasant. I know how judgmental I sound. Then they bring the food and I order chicken that was supposed to be grilled? I think I'm gonna get this nice juicy chicken breast. They bring out chicken with the skin on, but not crisp, just fatty and soft. And it wasn't thick- they cut it in half sideways, if not in thirds. I can't remember. I just remember it was thin. 2 or more pieces of thin meat. It just looked gross. I did not want to eat it, but they would've noticed. We were these exciting foreigners that walked in the door. How rude if we don't even eat a bite? I refused to drink my drink after the first sip, it was so disgusting. I forced down some food, with regret and then we left.

We get to our AIRBNB and it's disappointing- the toilet doesn't flush- like AT ALL. Like it took 7 flushes to get the poo down. The curtains were see through so sleeping was VERY difficult. One of the windows didn't close and left a good 5 inches open for all the bugs to get in- which they did. Oh yeah- and mold was everywhere- and I mean EVERYWHERE. I hated that place. Hong Kong was a ROUGH beginning for me. 

After we got settled in our room we walked around the city a bit.

Greg did a little parkour which was really fun to watch. I love when he does Parkour. I like that the child in him is still alive and wanting to run, jump and crawl on everything in sight and that he's courageous enough to do it. I just love it and I love him!

The main reason we came here is because they have DISNEYLAND!!!!! Since going to Disney Paris we've kind of made a goal to get to all the international Disneys. I just think that would be rad.

As excited as we were Disneyland pretty much sucked. It was horrible. The kids whined. They were afraid of everything and pretty much cried and clung to us on EVERY RIDE. It was nonstop crying and it was just not fun.

We did however enjoy It's a Small World. I think it's safe to say it's our family's favorite ride. We all love it and always ride it more than any other ride in the park.

Sweaty chubby Marius. We love him.

The kids loved the Tea Cups but they wouldn't let us all ride together because only 4 people were aloud in each cup. All I could think was, "Seriously? Our kids our all less than 35 lbs. That is a lot less than another 4 adults in a different cup. I was really annoyed but there was nothing we could do.

Brighton rode with me.

I should mention that the food was awful. It was a nightmare trying to get anything that wasn't horribly bland or just plain gross. It looked gross, it tasted gross. There was fried squid everywhere and everyone was eating it like it was popcorn. Finding ANYTHING normal to eat was almost impossible. They didn't have junk food! Only a couple places in THE WHOLE PARK sold 3 bad flavors of ice cream and I never saw one candy bar. It was awful.

At Disneyland, it RAINED A LOT. When it rained, EVERYONE at the park would SQUEEZE and huddle under anything they could find. It would make certain spots impossible to pass through because the people were so crowded. We weren't afraid to get wet so we just went out anyway and we could here everyone gasp behind us when they saw us. When the rain got so bad, we decided to go home and it was quite a walk back and the rain HURT it was pouring so hard. We were soaked so bad you could just wring out our garments and have the water pour out. It was crazy. Then we hung all our clothes up to dry in the bathroom and there wasn't ventilation so everything got stinky and gross in the apartment.

We rode the metro everywhere and it was really handy, but really crowded.

Our kids surrounded on the metro . . .

The hilight of the trip was definitely the Aqua Park- if that's even what it was called. It was a Theme Park/ Aquarium. The exhibits were WONDERFUL and we just LOVED looking at all the animals. We only left because it was the end of the day and we were afraid of traffic- but our family just LOVES things like this.

We all loved the Panda Exhibit.

This is a Red Panda. The exhibits were awesome. We felt really close to everything.

We couldn't get enough of the penguins. It was cold in there but they were so active and jumping and swimming everywhere. It was really fun to watch them.

Asia is obsessed with our children. This is us escaping a crowd of people swarming us and taking the kids pictures. That's why the kids are covering their faces. They point and touch them, laugh and just stare at them even when the kids start crying. It's really sad for the kids, but it's hard to be nice while saying, "Leave my kid alone- don't you see they're crying?"

I loved the Walrus. I just thought it's tusks were AWESOME. I'd never seen one before.

Greg really wanted to walk the markets. The food was AWESOME. It was all big and clean and good quality. I just love looking at fresh fruits and vegetables. It made me think, "I can definitely live in China!" Of course it was fun seeing fruits and things that we had no idea what it was.

I can definitely do without raw meat hanging out in the open street.

Walking to our AirBNB.

We couldn't believe how it wasn't that big of a deal to be in another country. We'd never been to China and been to a place that had chinese writing everywhere. But it wasn't a big deal. Usually when we move to a new place we can't stop looking at things and saying to one another, "Did you see that? Look at that!" because it's all so new and different. Even though there WERE differences, we didn't go through that "culture shock/excitement" at all. It was surprising.

I always think our little family is so cute when we're riding the metro together. The kids are just so little.

The greatest surprise was the great big Bronze Buddha. It's the largest bronze buddha in the world. We decided to go and had THE BEST TIME!!!! We only planned one "non kid" thing to do because we were worried the kids would be bored and whine and ruin everything, but we decided to go for it and it was AWESOME!!!! First, we rode on these glass box things that were high above the ground for 30 minutes! It was awesome!

The bottom was clear which was really freaky at first, but it was so cool and so beautiful. You could see the trees and plants so much better. There was this long trail that went all the way to the Buddha and I thought, "What an amazing hike that would be". We saw multiple waterfalls along the way and they were amazing!!!

Then the clouds came . . .

Slowly the trees were fading away below us.

And then we were consumed in WHITE NOTHINGNESS!!! It was kinda strange! As much as it was a fun experience to be in a cloud, it was sad because everything was so beautiful and then we couldn't see it at all. 

Then we arrive. Time for a snack. Seriously, my kids are small. And they're really really cute. I seem to notice this when we go out in public. People stare at us, I realize what we must look like to everyone else. I'm sure it's a little shocking to see so many little people in one family. And to us, it's shocking that it's shocking :)

On our way to the Buddha!

There were a lot of stairs. It looked really intimidating and I didn't think the kids would make it without lots of crying, but it went by really fast and the kids had a great time!

Marius and Greg took a slower pace behind us.

Again, such a shame at the misty weather! As cool as it was in the mist, it would've been really neat to see with a clear sky behind it.

These giant statues surrounded the whole thing. We walked up to the top, right at the base of the Buddha and a whole bunch of people were walking around it together singing a song- like a prayer to the Buddha. It was WIERD. It really weirded me out, honestly. I think worshiping rock is strange. I don't understand worshipping something that man made with his hands and is essentially dead. I think it's weird. 

Walking back.

It was neat to experience the Chinese culture. Up until this point, we'd just been in theme parks so we really had seen anything "local" or CHINESE. It was REALLY neat, actually. We loved it. And so did the kids. We thought they'd be bored and we'd be fighting them the whole time, but it was the best day for all of us. We were happy and just walking around- it was great!

Burning incense . . . it was pretty intense and smoky, actually.

China definitely has a LOOK. I liked it. It made me want to live in China, just to experience something new.

A little ice cream . . .

I love this face. It is such a Brighton face. He rarely lets me take pictures these days, unfortunately.

I love my man. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be seeing these amazing things!

Oh Scarlet, she's such a cutie.

I bought some Christmas Ornaments (now I have some from China, Peru, Kyrgyzstan, The Netherlands, Philippines, Germany, Cambodia, USA), Scarlet bought a little Chinese Box and the boys bought swords.

Going back. We just couldn't get enough of looking around. It was so beautiful. I just kept wishing I was on that trail beneath us. Next time . . .

Looking through the floor. Notice the trail.

All the buildings in Hong Kong were narrow and straight up like this. They really all looked the same. They looked cool, but it was pretty boring because they literally ALL looked like this- no matter where you were in the city.

We went to see this light show and it was a WASTE OF TIME. Turns out we were on the wrong side of the river (on the Kowloon side) and need to be on the Hong Kong side. Who knew?  Strangely there was still a crowd, so we thought we were in the right place.

The boys were sleeping in the stroller.

Hong Kong at night.

Hong Kong was not that awesome. Definitely the worst trip we've ever been on. But we had some good moments. I guess just the FOOD, the place we stayed and Disneyland sucked. But the Buddha and Ocean park were great. After talking to a friend who LOVES Hong Kong, it makes me think we just stayed in the wrong neighborhood (it definitely wasn't a tourist spot).

Back in the Philippines. Our good friends, the Hiatt's invited us to their Village's little Kid Party and we went. It was fun! This was a little craft the kids did.

Then we headed back to their place for dinner and hanging out. We LOVE the Hiatts. Our kids love each other. Tom is now our Bishop. We've never been friends with the Bishop before. That's the first thing I thought when I was called. It's really changed my perspective of Bishops! Not for the worse, just changed.