Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
So, we are now back home from our Disney excursion. We all had a great time, as you can see from the pictures posted above. It was a pretty stress-free vacation, actually. Jason and I questioned whether or not our parents were able to enjoy Disney so much when we went as children….they had to drive 13+ hours to get there….find the hotel where we were staying….commute daily to the park….and the lines were crazy!!! (Mom and dad, we hope you had fun!!!) Our experience here in HK was great b/c our transport was train-only (2 hours door to door…and we live on the opposite side of HK from Disney), we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, and rode their shuttle to and from the park, which was so nice and carefree, and the longest we waited for any ride was around 20 minutes…most waits were 5-10 minutes at most!!! We would highly recommend this trip for families with young kids. Ezri has just turned two, and–being a fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse–absolutely loved it. Javi (nearly 17 mo.) is less into the characters and shows on a whole, but still really enjoyed it. His favorite was the Cinderella Carousel. He was soooo upset when we got him off of the horse! And, the only ride in the entire park that a two-year-old cannot ride is space mountain….so that’s pretty family-geared, I’d say.
What else…..Ezri loved meeting the characters…and by the second day of our trip, Javi was recognizing them too—they would both get very excited when the shuttle bus drove up with all the characters’ pictures on the side! Once, while Jason and the kids were waiting on me to arrive at the shuttle stop, a shuttle left without them and Ezri actually began to cry b/c she thought we’d been left…no chance of getting to DisneyLand!!! On our last full day at the hotel, we also went for a swim. We were excited b/c this would be Javi’s first time to swim in a pool! They had these tiny life jackets, so we suited the kids up. Javi was freezing…shivering. He was stiff as a board! He didn’t hate it, but he is definitely not the fish that Ezri is! Next time we’ll try a warmer pool, Jav.
All in all, a great trip and time well spent as a family.
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
View of a town square in Yulin from the restaraunt. Saturday night is skate night
Ezri makes a friend during our after dinner walk through the square.
Ezri gets in the groove to Chinese techno.
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
Riding the bus out to the park outside Yulin.
Walking to the lookout with some kids we met along the way.
View from the lookout spot of Chinese farmland.
Walking past some cows to get back to the bus.
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
So, as previously mentioned, the three of us headed off on a trip to mainland China during Jason’s spring break. We began our adventure early on Wednesday morning of last week, and, about 12 hours after stepping out of our door, we arrived at our destination to visit friends! It took about 1 hour on our local train to arrive at the Chinese border, and then getting through customs and immigration (interesting to exit one country, and take a few steps to enter another…something you don’t really get to experience when you travel by air), and taxi ride to the bus station was another hour, and then we embarked on a 10 hour bus ride! I know, I know…..crazy with a baby, right?….RIGHT!! But, really, Ezri did fabulous. We took along a few of her favorites: coloring book and crayons, books, magazine, blueberries, cheese, yogurt drinks, gummies, and the ever-important dvd player! She slept about one hour each way, and the other nine, we just entertained as much as possible–a full-time job.
It is fun to note that the bus was fully equipped with what we will call a ’squatty potty’, so-called b/c you have to squatty as you go to the potty….unlike a western-style toilet. These are quite common in China….and other parts of the Asian world, as we understand.
As you can see from our pictures (posted earlier) mainland China is quite different from Hong Kong. There are villages surrounding the city we were visiting, so we took a bus ride out one day and took a scenic walk that allowed us to look out on the rice fields and other crops that the people are busily planting this time of year. We spotted some water buffalo, cows, chicken farms, duck farms…..quite interesting. One day we walked around the city and checked out this massive Buddhist ‘museum’…..looks like a temple to me! It was quite impressive. There were brass dragons on the gate outside of it; Ezri ‘roared’ at them out loud!
Of course, Ezri enjoyed the crazy attention of the waitresses at restaurants and of other people we met during our trip. The young girls go especially ‘ga-ga’ over her, and she eats it up! One of our waitresses gave Ezri her pen with which she was to write down our order!….and then actually went to get another one, so as not to upset Ezri by taking her pen back!
Oh, and if you are planning a trip to mainland China, know that there will be no signs or anyone anywhere speaking English (many of you already anticipated that, I’m sure…but it was a shocking reality)!! Luckily, we were with friends who got us around town with no problem…..otherwise, we’d have been out of luck!
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
Our second full day in Beijing on the 11th I wanted everyone to experience the markets. First we headed to Panjiayuan, but ended up at the antique market, but I was smart enough to realize that was not what I had seen on the internet so we asked around and were told that the “dirt” market was about a 10 minute walk away from the antique market. We stopped and had lunch ad Mickey D’s and then headed over to the market. Being that it was not the weekend the market was only about a quarter full with vendors, but it still presented a nice warmup for Hongqiao Market. After we finished at Panjiayuan (which was unbelievably cold by the way) we headed to the world-famous Hongqiao market where mom, Donna and Melanie lost their minds bartering for deals. I was able to snap some shots of them with their spoils, and they left the market like I imagine fishermen do after a good catch. All was right with the world until Donna dropped her vase and broke it into pieces. She remained pretty bummed out for the remainder of the trip until we got home and Melanie lost her purse with our passports in it. Praise God that someone at the airport turned the purse in and it only cost us an extra bus ride back out to the airport to pick it up. We did have a few bumps along the way in Beijing, a taxi driver gave us a 5 cent bill rather than a 5 dollar bill one time in change, and we got in an argument to get a sufficient taxi for the ride out of Beijing back to the airport (they wanted us to take two), but all in all, we couldn’t have asked for a better trip. Ezri did wonderfully, and the trip gave us a deeper appreciation of the beauty, ease, efficiency, weather and class of Hong Kong.
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
I hope to post two updates detailing the 4 days of our trip. As we first arrived it was cold!!! It was below 32F the entire time we were there. Our taxi driver was at the airport waiting for us, thankfully, and took us to the hostel. The first thing a visitor should learn about Beijing is that the taxis are very reasonable. The ride to our hostel was about 30-45 minutes and only cost about $20 USD. Trips to most places in the city are less than $5 USD. We got settled into the hostel (Jade International Youth Hostel) about 2-3pm and then decided to walk over to Tiannamen and Forbidden City. We got there just as it was closing (4pm). We snapped some pics, mom & Donna got their first taste of the Beijing hawkers and we caught a taxi back to the hostel. We had an Internet cafe at the hostel so we decided to conduct research ourselves as to a bus that rides out to the “Great Wall”. We found out that bus 919 leaving every 5 minutes from Deshengman Bus Station rides out to Badaling, the most popular tourist destination. Another big thing to know about Beijing is that noone speaks english so you need to have your front desk fill out the addresses of your destination for you, in potonghua so you can then present the card to the taxi drivers. The trip was about an hour and a half out to Badaling and cost about 12 yuan a person ($1.50 USD). Melanie did an excellent job of nursing Ezri to sleep on most our longer trips. Badaling is in the hills, practically in the middle of nowhere, as we headed up to the entrance, what did we find but nothing other than good ole Starbucks, our little slice of Americana right that in the Chinese hills. Mom, Donna & Melanie were able to hike to the highest point of the “Great Wall” in Badaling, check the pics. Ezri and I decided to ride the Chinese bobsled back down to town (as did mom, Donna & Mel later). Ezri got to see some Black bears, and absolutely did not want to leave them. We hopped on the bus back to Beijing, everyone wore out.
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
On December 6th, Mel, Ezri, Wayne & Karen made it to the south side of Hong Kong Island to visit the infamous Stanley Market. The trip was shorter than expected. It was about 1 hour from where we live (we thought it might be up to an hour & 1/2), they took the MTR downtown and then took a Double Decker bus to the opposite side of Hong Kong Island. They passed Ocean Park, one of the top tourist attractions for families (oceanarium, theme park & pandas), and Repulse Bay on the way out there (one of the best beaches in HK). Wayne proclaims, “This is a flea market lover’s paradise!!!” They enjoyed their time in the open market, bartering and trying to make some deals. They note that it is MUCH more laid back than the city. The treated themselves to some gourmet hot dogs (they love them here), a Chicago-style hot dog stand would do gang busters. Mel purchased some very reasonably priced paintings to decorate our walls, then they headed back home to rest up for their next adventure!
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
Here are the previously-promised, and I know, long-awaited clips of our day trip to Macau. Hope you enjoy.
This week’s main adventure–including this week’s main difficulties, disappointments and dilemmas–occured just yesterday. The three of us set out for Macau yesterday morning around 10:30 am. [What and Where is Macau?-->Macau is another island located about 35 miles west of Hong Kong across the Pear River delta. It is just over one hour by ferry from HK. Macua, like Hong Kong, is a Special Administrative Region of China. Settled by the Portuguese in 1557, Macau was assessed as vital in the European-Orient trade route. It became, then a Portuguese colony, much like Hong Kong was a British colony, and in 1999, Macau was given autonomy as a Special Admin. Region of China.] So, our reason for going on this little trip was not for mere joy, although it was nice to see some place new, but rather in order to activate our new HK visas (as Ezri and I originally entered on 90 day tourist visas, and acquired new visas, but had to leave the country and re-enter HK in order to activate those new visas). We got to the ferry ticketing office, and found that the earliest available ferry would be 1:30pm (and at the time, it was 11:00am)….so, we bought the tickets, a bit disappointed about the wait. We went on over to the boarding area and waited in standby–and we got on! We were among the last 4 people they let on the 12:00pm ferry; the doors literally closed right behind us! The ferry ride was fine–about 1 hr 15 minutes in length. Upon arrival we found our way through the maze of customs and immigration, and finally, were out into the world of a whole new country…..you could literally feel the difference. Hong Kong has this tremendously fast-pace about it that you just sense, and this place seemed a bit less intense. We found our way out to the bus station and to a bus that would take us to the historic town centre of Largo de Senado (Senado Square). First observation: Saturdays in Macau are nuts!!! There were people everywhere…tourists, locals…people, people, people. But the square was really nice and the Portuguese architecture was fabulous–a nice change from the super-modernity of Hong Kong (which is also characteristic of many parts of Macau). We ate lunch at a Portuguese restaurant that was a bit overpriced and disappointing, but the atmosphere was fabulous–outdoor, shaded patio seating in a quite spot. After lunch, we made our way through the maze of streets to St. Paul’s Cathedral ruins–it’s ‘ruins’ now, as the facade of the building is all that remains. But, it is quite a staggering sight as you begin your way up this hill amongst the crowds and noises, and you see this massive Cathedral frame, quietly seated on a hill. 
It was surreal to say the least. There was some sort of festival going on, so we enjoyed sighting stilt-walkers dressed in bright colors and people in costumes as we made our ascent to St. Paul’s. We continued on up to the Fortaleza do Monte. This is an old fort sight, complete with steel cannons–with amazing views of the city. 
We enjoyed walking around up there for quite some time, and just sitting, enjoying the green grass and park benches…flowers and trees…oh, and Ezri’s press-conference! When we were leaving the fort, Jason took Ezri while I went to the restroom. I come out of the restroom to find Jason and Ezri sitting on a bench with about 7-10 people all around them–cameras and cell phones in hand–taking pictures and oohing and ahhing over Ezri! She was eating it up. I grabbed our camera, and tried to catch just a few seconds of this Ezri-craze–hopefully I got a bit of something and we will post it asap–it should definitely make you smile 
Post-paparazzi, we began to make our way back down to the square to catch a bus back to the ferry. We caught a bus that we thought was going our way. Sat down and enjoyed the ride. We arrived at the port and went right along with the crowd of hurried people–”departures”–that’s where we went. Anyway, after an hour of waiting through customs and getting our passports stamped to stand in another line, we came to the immigration officer who hands me an extra paper to fill out to apply for a visa. I was so confused…so I am trying to explain to him in English that I need to get back to Hong Kong–all the while, he is telling me I need to “go back to Macua and apply for visa there”….I nearly began to cry as we were nearing the departure time marked on our ferry tickets back to HK….”how do I apply for a visa?”, I asked, “Do I need a visa for Macau?”….He explained that I did not need a visa for Macau…but that I did not have a visa in my passport….Confusion was now at a whole new level until he said again, “You have no Chinese visa. You must go to Macau and apply for visa there.”——–Ding Ding Ding—You are about to cross borders into the real CHINA!!! No wonder the lines had been staggeringly longer than we’d expected…no wonder people were taking loads of goods with them back to CHINA from Macau! That’s correct–> we were at completely the wrong port, and had actually successfully passed through one line of immigration–”leaving Macau”– and were at the Chinese ’barrier gate’ leading into Guongdong Province, China! We back-tracked and found an officer who took us back through where we had to “re-enter” Macau and then found a police officer who said we were far away from the place we needed to be. “Far…take taxi…too far…taxi”, he said. So, we found a taxi, and showed the driver our ferry tickets. We arrived at the correct port–considerably more familiar–and found our way to the ticketing office–showed them our tickets (showing that we’d missed our scheduled ferry) and they said to proceed to another desk to ask them about it. Amazingly, as a staggering line was beside us in standby, the attendant shook his head and let us on through customs to board the 7:30 ferry!!! We got through customs, walked through the many corridors, and onto the boat–at last, we sat down to enjoy the ride. The waves were quite choppy on our way home, and several passengers took advantage of the “vomit bags” (as they were appropriately labeled). Ezri enjoyed talking to and playing with a nice lady from Korea who sat next to us. — Arriving back in Hong Kong, we accomplished our initial mission of activating our new visas when we passed back through immigration in HK. Oddly, an attendant checked Ezri’s temperature with a temporal thermometer as we passed through customs..hmmm, dunno why?? —doesn’t matter, b/c she didn’t have fever anyway. All in all, it was the most exhausting day we’ve had in a while. It was quite the adventure, though, and if God’s plan is for us to depend on Him and bring him glory in our weakness–i.e. His strength–by all means, to God be the glory! (We’ll be posting some “Macau video clips”, so keep a look out).
–Mel, for the Cases
