In China
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Saturday, November 6, 2010 We had some scheduled transportation this morning for our visit in Discovery Bay so we wanted to make sure we were up on time. We had set out clothes the night before because being in such a tight room, we have to shift around a lot just to deal with the suitcases. The White Swan breakfast is long gone so it's back to the American "on the run" light breakfast. Starbucks knows all the spots in the world where there are Americans on the run and that's where we ended up. It was bagels and muffins for us, beef noodles for Gemma. Starbucks has no end of hot water to use for the instant noodles. We had plenty of time so we settled in for breakfast. As we sat there in comfy chairs, a couple of ladies introduced themselves. One was visiting from Newport Beach and the other from Austin. Both were born and raised in Hong Kong and were back on holiday to visit. One of them had taken the English name "Marie", but said she thought it made her sound like an old lady. She couldn't have been more wrong for a couple reasons. Marie is a beautiful name. It is of course the French version of Our Lady's name, the Mother of Christ, and it is also the name of my wonderful sister, who passed away suddenly in 2007. Rest in peace Sis. They asked us all about our adoption and talked to Gemma in Guangdong Hua. Marie asked Gemma to write her name in Chinese and upon reading it kept pronouncing it "Gemman". Gemma corrected her loudly with an emphasis on "MA". Marie said the problem is that Gemma was writing in Simplified Chinese versus the Traditional Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan. She called it the "common" writing and said that the word Gemma is difficult to write in Chinese characters. Good to know. We finished up and then decided to head over to Pier 3 a little early for our ferry to Discover Bay at Lantau Island. Our friend Kim had left instructions for us to take a cab there and that it shouldn't be more than HK$25 (I'll explain why in a minute). Pier 3 is located west of Wanchai in the financial district. Driving in, we drove right under the Bank of China building (the black one with the white zigzag pattern) and the IFC buildings, which we just call "Batman" and "Batman Junior". The main IFC building is the tallest in Hong Kong and Batman dove from it in the movie The Dark Knight to land on the smaller one of the same style. It was fun for us to be this close to them. We got our tickets for about HK$93, or USD$12 and decided to head over early and just hang out while we waited for Kim and the kids. Kim told us that the ferry should take about 25 minutes. We boarded a catamaran style boat and sat in comfort. Unfortunately it wouldn't be the best of rides since the weather had deteriorated and the South China Sea was a little frothy. Along the way we passed a sampan that looked like it would flip from the swells. Maybe they did end up flipping, I don't know, but they're built almost like Coast Guard surf rescue boats though so I kinda doubt it. They pitch a lot but always seem to get righted. Still, I bet water rescues are fairly common here. Gemma passed out as usual since we were on public transit of some kind. We tried to see whatever landmarks we could make out through the fog but didn't have much luck until we were passing Disney on the starboard side. The water became calmer and we pulled into Discovery Bay. Two years ago April and I had taken a walk along the seawall behind our hotel at Disney and, looking across Discovery Bay at the condos, we wondered openly what it would be like to live there. At the time we had no idea what it was. Turns out it's an expatriate community full of families from all over the world living there while the husbands do business in Asia Pacific. April had met Kim over the internet after Kim had found our family blog (ourpartyofseven.blogspot.com) a couple years ago. About a year and a half ago Kim's husband Tyler had taken a new role with his company that brought them to Hong Kong and they're now living in Discovery Bay, in the very homes we were looking at. Small world. Discovery Bay has pretty much everything a family would need. There's a central plaza with grocery shopping, restaurants, healthcare, and transit. There's an international school complete with sports fields and an auditorium. You can't drive a car in the community, but you can drive a golf cart. People get around the city strictly via mass transit and it's never a long walk to the bus. Hong Kong's MTR system and affordable red cabs will take you pretty much anywhere you want to go. We also learned that Hong Kong is actually incredibly safe. Kim and Tyler's 13 year old actually treks around the city by himself to church and other activities. Once you know the transit routes, it's easy. After getting off the ferry, we walked a little way into the plaza. Kim showed up a few minutes after with most her kids in tow. That's why she had found April before; they have four boys and a girl as well; all super kids. Kim and Tyler had plotted out the whole day for us which was really nice because they knew their way around and how to enjoy the area. We walked around the plaza for a bit to check it out, even popping into the central grocery store since her kids wanted to show us the freaky fish they had in their seafood market. Lunch was the first order of business and Kim had made reservations at Zak's, a great restaurant with international variety. April went Tex-Mex with fajitas and I went Indian of all things. Gavin went with his standby: a cheese pizza of very generous proportions. Gemma ordered noodles. I tried to explain to her via the translator that they were Italian noodles (spaghetti), but something got lost in translation because she said she wanted them and then didn't like them. While the girls headed back to the house in the golf cart (and out of the rain), the boys and I walked along the beach. This beach, like all other swim beaches in Hong Kong, had shark nets draped around the swimming area. Sharks are apparently an issue here. Kim said the sharks are probably ticked because of all the shark fin soup served in China (HA!). Kim's boys had a fun time telling Gavin and I tales of their daily activities, skins and scrapes, and general life in DBay. What an awesome experience for a bunch of kids! I knew that before the day was out April's wheels would be turning about how to live in Hong Kong for a while. At the house we met up with Kim's husband Tyler and another of her sons that had been at a soccer match. We also met their full time housekeeper Jocelyn, who works here in Hong Kong to provide for her family of 7 back in the Philippines. She was such a sweet lady and they are very lucky to have her. It is common for expats to have house help in DBay, and equally common for Filipinos to come to HK for work. The kids kept themselves entertained by drawing or playing the Wii for a bit, then it was time to go visit the Tian Tan Buddha further east on Lantau Island. Tyler showed us the way with a short walk to the bus that would take us to Tung Chung. Tung Chung is a community located adjacent the airport, marked by high rise, super dense apartment buildings just like you'd see back in the city. The bus ride took maybe 10-12 minutes and then we were walking across to the tramway that would take us up to Muk Yu Hill and the Tian Tan buddha, in the Ngong Ping village. It first crosses back over the highway, then over a causeway up into stunning hills covered in dense foliage. Below the tramway a path snakes its way up the mountain. It is sometimes dirt, sometimes wooden, and sometimes concrete, but clearly it took a lot of work to blaze that trail. While we were over the causeway, the kids entertained us with stories about Tai O, the original fishing community further east that first settled Hong Kong, and the pink dolphins that swim in that area. In Tai O, the homes are simple shacks propped up on poles. It sounded like a photographer's dream and I immediately wanted to go there. That however will have to be for the next trip. Maybe then I'll don a pith helmet in true British explorer fashion and do some of the grittier activities like Tai O or the trail leading up this mountain, or maybe fish off a sampan in rolling seas. Maybe I'll do something really crazy and go mountain biking with the water buffaloes (that was for Tyler). There are apparently tons of wild water buffalo in the hills, in addition to snakes and little packs of chows. We saw several chows on the way up next to a tram tower.

Our ferry to Discovery Bay Kim and April meeting face to face for the first time The protected beach Lunch at Zak's Playtime for the kiddos Buddha Express Almost there Tian Tan Buddha Way too slap happy Spongebob SquareGemma

We gained more altitude and had now just become a floating cable car in the cloud. The kids were saying that we had made it to Heaven. Their kids are every bit as imaginative as ours and being around them was really making us miss our own. They have four year old twins that are absolutely adorable, a boy and a girl. The boy is a little redhead with a wild imagination and we're certain that he and Keaton had been separated at birth. It was uncanny to be sure. As we floated silently through the mist, it began to look as if we'd lose out on seeing the big buddha. Right about then the cloud seemed to form a wall just to the right of the tram cable and the whole valley where the buddha and monastery is was clear. Gemma hadn't yet known where we were going. When the clouds parted she pointed at the buddha excitedly and said "NO, NO, NO…YEH SO (Jesus)". We had to contemplate how we were going to say that we are Christian and that we don't believe in buddhism. We were there to see the spectacle of this enormous statue and the artwork, nothing more. We eventually convinced her via the translator and she relaxed about it. The neighbor back in Guangzhou that took her to church must have been particularly strong in her faith to have given her such a foundation amidst a dominate buddhist culture. That will serve her well. It was a very enjoyable tram ride and allowed us all to get to know each other better. On the way up we were thinking we weren't going to be able to see a thing but the break in the clouds actually made for some spectacular photos. The village of Ngong Ping has a look and feel of ancient China, with walls of white and ornate, dark wood trim on all the windows and doors. I didn't read up on the history of the place so it might have actually been ancient, but it also had a decidedly modern and touristy feel because of the 2nd rate Parkour exhibition that was going on and all the trinket shops and restaurants. To get to the statue, you walk through the village, make a left through the new village gate designed to look like an old village gate, then a right, then climb eight thousand stairs. Once the defibrillator brings your heart back online, you're good to go exploring at the top. The Tian Tan buddha is the tallest sitting buddha in the world. In Guangzhou, we had seen the tallest standing buddha in the world, which was the Lian Hua buddha on Lotus Hill. That one stood 160 feet and was painted solid gold. Next time we're going to see the tallest buddha swatting a fly or the tallest buddha doing dishes. We haven't picked yet. It is quite the sight. It is a hollow shell formed from wood and then casted in concrete, and there's a museum in it's belly. At the base of the buddha there are little mausoleum rooms where a family can pay an extraordinary amount of money (something like $20,000 USD according to our hosts) in order to purchase a tile and display the deceased's urn. There are several sets of stairs around the base within which you can buy ice cream and other treats. All around the base outside there are smaller statues paying homage to the central statue and the trees on the entire hill are very exotic looking. The views of the valley and surrounding mountains were breathtaking to say the least. The monks in the monastery below were chanting and it was audible throughout the valley. It was time to descend the 8,000 steps again (just kidding, it's only like 7,000). At the bottom we turned right toward the original village gate and into the monastery. The chanting had ceased and the first thing we noticed was an immense amount of smoke as we walked by a prayer area where incense had been burning. Instead of burning incense, there were smoldering embers where incense once was. There was now just a worker hosing them down. The first thing that came to my mind was that the people who had been praying just had their prayers extinguished. It was a very odd juxtaposition and we wondered why they didn't just let them burn. There are things that happen in this land that defy logic. To illustrate, Tyler told me a great story about one of his China trips. He'd booked a non-smoking room at his hotel but when he got into his room the smoke smell was definitely evident and there was an ashtray on the table. Calling the front desk, they said they'd take care of it. Soon after, housekeeping showed up to remove the ashtray and slapped a "no smoking" sticker on the table. His room suddenly became non-smoking and that was that. Pretty much sums up China. We pressed on through the monastery and saw more gold statues adorned in the most gaudy way. The amount of gold leaf in the monastery rivals Saddam's palaces in Bagdad. It's over the top. We'd lingered long enough and headed back down the mountain. As we descended the tram, we learned more about each other's faiths and churches, our kids, and family traditions. The bus ride back to DBay was a packed one, standing room only. We got off just above the international school and took a route through the school grounds to the house where Kim had already prepared a delicious meal for us of lasagna with spinach salad and all the trimmings. Kim's daughter was great at showing Gemma around and took her downstairs to draw with her. Sooner or later they all ended up on their trampoline and Gemma had a great time. There may be language barriers, but playtime is universal. Kim's kids were gracious hosts and made sure Gemma and Gavin felt at home. With parents like theirs, it's no wonder. They're a class act. Dinner was pure bliss. Homecookin' after living out of suitcases and restaurants always tastes the best. I had asked Kim how it was that she'd been so precise on the transit to get to Discovery Bay. The day prior while we were in Times Square, she had taken the same route in reverse to deliver our peanut butter and other goodies, and had it all mapped out for us perfectly. How awesome is that?!? We talked and talked about all kinds of things while the kids played downstairs. We talked a lot about Chinese adoption and of course expat living in Discovery Bay. Sure enough, April's wheels we're turning and now I have to figure out how to get a job that takes us to Hong Kong (long shot). April and I remembered that they had church in the morning and would need to get the little ones to bed. We said our goodbyes and Tyler taxi'd us to the Ferry on the golf cart. We are indebted to Kim and Tyler for making this a special day and will always remember their hospitality and generosity. We didn't have to pay for thing all day. The only thing I regret is that in all the excitement, we forgot to get a group photo! Back in the room we got a little goofy. Gavin put one of the giant pillows on his head and we all got into the act. We went to bed pretty tired and reasonably early knowing that we were once again transferring hotels in the morning. We had a certain little surprise planned for our little girl…

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