Sunday, November 5, 2006

After 14 long hours we finally made it to Hong Kong! The flight was long but the service on the plane was wonderful and we were both able to get some sleep. This has been such a long journey that everything seems surreal. I don’t think it really hit us until we got our first glimpse of Hong Kong. It is absolutely beautiful here! The pictures that we have seen do not do it justice. The hotel sent a Mercedes to pick us up at the airport (I could get used to this pampering) :) We enjoyed a scenic 30 minute drive to the hotel filled with fun and interesting tidbits from our driver Fred. The Renaissance Kowloon is a beautiful hotel and the staff is very accommodating.

After freshening up, we met up with one of the families from our travel group (the Kawadas) and had breakfast in the hotel. Our tour around Hong Kong wasn’t scheduled for a couple of hours so we walked around the famous Nathan Lane. Hong Kong is definitely the shopping mecca. Too bad we couldn’t actually buy things in many of the stores that we saw, but it sure was fun to window shop.

Our tour around Hong Kong took us to the Man Mo Temple (built in 1847, it’s the oldest temple in Hong Kong), Victoria Peak (we took the World’s steepest railway to reach the peak), Aberdeen Fishing Village (old traditional style fishing village of Hong Kong) and the Stanley Market (outdoor shopping market).

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed all of the sights, but our favorites were Victoria Peak and the Aberdeen Fishing Village. The view from the Peak is breathtaking. The Hong Kong skyline is incredible and words cannot do it justice. At the Aberdeen Fishing Village, we rode on a Sampan (old fashioned fishing boat) around the harbour. Again, great views of city but it also gave us a clearer picture of how drastic the line between rich and poor are here. From housing to transportation, it appears that there are only the very wealthy and the poor. Many of the sights we viewed made us appreciate how truly blessed we are.

We will be meeting the rest of our travel group in the morning and then we will fly to Guangzhou.

We want to send a big thank you to Grandma, Papa, Patty & Frankie for taking care of our Mimi while we’re in China. We miss you all so much. We love you Mimi!!

Thank you to the Cross family and Auntie Remy for the warm sendoff and thank you to Razo’s for driving us to the airport and getting us there in record time (and in one piece :0)

Congratulations to the newly married Mr. & Mrs. DJ and Agana Niven! We’re sorry we missed the big day but will be sure to celebrate when we return.

Stay tuned for more updates. Less than 48 hours until we meet our Mylee!!