Tung Ping Chau Island

It’s the end of November, and you can’t tell it here! Today was an absolutely pristine, blue sky day! Perfect temperatures, blue sky, and the pollution level was down to a tolerable level. A day to be out and about.

Way last June Dew wanted to check out this little island we located on the internet. It’s called Tung Ping Chau and is in the furthest point in Hong Kong that you can get to without a passport. If you went any farther you would be in mainland China. So one very hot muggy day last June the Bench’s and the Jackson’s spent the day trying to locate the ferry pier you use to get to this island. It’s out in Sha Tin, and the ferry only runs on week-ends and only one ferry in the morning and one ferry back in the afternoon. If you miss it you are stuck over night, if you miss it on a Saturday, and if you miss it on a Sunday you are stuck for another week.

We found the pier and got what information we could find there, and then Elder Bench bought a book that had a phone number to call to make ferry reservations. So today was the day we chose to try this adventure.

We left early and bused to Sha Tin, then caught the mini bus #26 out to the pier. And to our surprise we were not along! By the time the ferry left it was full. It was very cool on the pier and on the ferry waiting for time to leave. We wore sweatshirts and sweaters, but still it was cold, and we were all about frozen by the time the hour and one half ferry ride was over. It was an hour and a half ride because this ferry was about the same vintage as the Mayflower andtraveled about as quickly.

We were amazed at the clothing we saw on the people on the ferry. They had on ski parka’s, ski hats, gloves, and scarves. We were seriously underdressed! And there was one group that brought along their dogs, all wearing sweaters to!

At the pier we all got off and the group scattered, and before long we found ourselves totally alone. We couldn’t help but wonder where everyone was. So we rambled along the trails, and took a few dead ends, until we finally got to one end of the island, and there they were! There was a great rock outcropping and they were all out enjoying the sun, almost like a group of seals. By this time the air was warm and it was an amazing day.

This little island was inhabited until about the 60's when everyone moved on to greener pastures, and now only a few people live there and they run the two or three very small restaurants on the island. So as a result there are stone houses everywhere in various stages of decay. Some are so old that trees have grown up inside the walls, and some have just been empty a short time an still have various junk items still strewn around inside. We found dishes in one and a huge collection of old Coke bottles in another. We were tempted to carry a few home with us, but we controlled our urges.

There are two temples on the island as well, that are still in very good shape and look like they are being taken care of. But mostly it’s just a week-end playground for those who are willing to take the slow ferry and spend the entire day.

We had a leisurely lunch, we were warned to bring our own food, and then took off to the other end of the island. We went by the times listed on the direction markers and worried that we wouldn’t get back in time for the ferry. So we got to almost the end of the island and decided that we had best head back, we didn’t want to have to call and report that we wouldn’t be back until tomorrow night.

But to our amazement we made much better time than we thought. We could have taken the whole island walk and had plenty of time, but who knew? So we had a few hours to kill, and we spent them having a cold drink, and sitting on the beach on the huge rocks and soaking up the sun and atmosphere.

At 5:30 the ferry chugged in and we all clamored aboard. As we stood in line we talked to a group of students who had spent the day as a school group and they had a great time trying out their English on us. Their English was about as good as our Chinese, so it was rather a Chinglish session.

On the ferry ride back the sunset was a glorious red and lasted almost our whole trip. When we arrived back at the pier we discovered to our amazement that the mini-bus drivers knew exactly what time to be there and that it was a great place to fill up with willing riders. We jumped on a mini and were back in Sha Tin Town Center in a matter of minutes. By then the only thing on our minds was a good hand washing, and something to eat. Triple-O was the quickest and best choice and we enjoyed it. But we were all so chilled that we asked that they turn off the air conditioning! How amazing for a group that couldn’t live without it just a week or two ago.

We arrived back home at 9:00pm, a long, leisurely and very fun day.

Decorating the Church Administration Building

And of course the day after Thanksgiving means Christmas is in full gear! Some things are the same the world over. And so we decorated the CAB the day after Thanksgiving. The employees were off at 4pm so that they could help. The facilities group brought all the decorations over ahead of time and delivered them to the different areas to be ready. They not only delivered everything, they actually set up the big nativity scene the day before and had it ready to be simply carried in through the front door and set up.

Left to right - Forever, Tony and Leo.

Moving the nativity into place.

Many hands make work light and that is exactly what happened. The biggest jobs were the nativity scene and the main floor tree. We had about 12 white shirts with black badges all working on it at one time. Many of the decorations had broken hangers and someone actually had a glue gun and several of the employees patiently glued new hangers on them.

The Oakes and Sister Ferguson making a plan.

Most of the hard work was finished by 7:30, but a small committee of sisters decided that the tree on the 1st floor was not quite up to snuff and needed to be changed. So after a little measuring and a lot of un-decorating, we took the 6th floor tree down to the first floor and traded trees. We spent way tooo much time working on the lights, but finally it was finished, and was much prettier than it had been.

Elder Smith supervising?

After a quick dinner at the new Burger King (yes, it’s finally open, and only a block from our apartment) we finally made it home - at 9pm. And we thought decorating our house was a lot of work!

Elder and Sister Hallstrom directing traffic.

Thanksgiving Day in Hong Kong

It’s Thanksgiving! Time for turkey and dressing, potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie and whip cream - all the things you find in every shop in Hong Kong! Hardly!

Left to right - Jacksons, Baldwins, and Perkins

Left to right - Elder Workman, and Akis

Elder and Sister Bench

Every Thanksgiving the ex-pats celebrate together. The Area Presidency and their wives cook turkey and dressing and the missionary couples provide the rest. This year we had 38 people for dinner. The tables were set up in the fourth floor chapel area and looked very festive when we were finished. We were a little short on real Thanksgiving decorations so we made up the difference by re-working our flower arrangements from the mission presidents seminar. This involved a washing a few slimy rocks and discarding the really bad parts, but with only a small investment in fresh flowers they were good to go again.

Gibbons and Emily

Dinner was great! It was so nice to have some "real" food and everyone enjoyed it. Dessert was the icing on the cake so to speak. Pumpkin, pecan, and banana cream pie, along with some sour dough pumpkin roll. It was such a hard decision that I finally had to go with a small piece of each pumpkin and pecan. Diet? What diet?

Sister Woolsey preparing dessert!

Tsing Ma Bridge

Tsing Ma Bridge

We finally had a free Saturday. We decided to try another hike. We rode the MTR out on the Tung Chung line to Tsing Yi Station. It’s on the Kowloon side and out where all the container ports are located. We exited into a huge mall - what a surprise - there are huge malls at many of the terminus, this one was called Maritime Mall.

Panoramic View of Tsing Yi

We found the bus terminal and after a short bus ride began our hike. We climbed up hill for a great view of the Tsing Yi and Tsing Ma bridges. Tsing Ma is the bridge that was built to connect to Lantau Island when they built the new airport over there.

Beautiful Flowers Along the Trail

We happened to be there on a day when there were many, many school children running all over the mountain. They were out on an orienteering course and it must have been timed because they were all in a hurry. There were little stations all over the mountain and they all had electronic keys that they clicked into a little gadget and it recorded that they had actually found the place.

Dew and Shirl Taking a Rest

There was a big variety in ages, everything from grade school kids to kids that looked to be in high school. They must have sent them out in a rotation because we would see kids with matching shirts, and then we would see another group in their matching shirts. By about 1:00pm they finished up and it was much quieter.
We got a gorgeous view of the bridge and now we are going to have to go back in the evening and catch it all lit up. It’s the worlds longest double-decker suspension bridge and has two layers of traffic. The bridge was inaugurated by Margaret Thatcher in April 1997.

Looking Down on a Container Port

The trail is all paved and has lots of stairs, but not too bad on the up and down parts.

We got to the other end and caught a bus back to the bus terminal/mall. There was a big Marks & Spencer Department store there, and we bought a good supply of ginger snaps!!!! They had a lot of Brit treats, including my favorite tea cakes. You just have to be willing to pay the outrageous prices for them!

Mission Presidents' Seminar

Monday was actually the first day of the Mission Presidents seminar, the first day of instruction at least. The electronic equipment of yesterday had disappeared and we were back to a normal setting.

In the afternoon there was a split session, the wives all went downstairs to meet together and the men stayed upstairs. The sisters had outdone themselves as usual. They had books, bookmarks, bracelets, and theme pictures for everyone.

At 5:30 we jumped on a private bus and headed for the peak. The plan was to have dinner at Café Deco. Everyone was ready and waiting and made my job of counting noses very easy.

Bus Ride to Cafe Deco

Café Deco has big windows with a great view of the harbor and the end of the building is all mirrors which just intensifies the view. Dinner was great, and after dinner we had about a half hour to check out the view, before catching the bus back.

Dining at Cafe Deco

Tuesday was a half day session. Lunch was Mexican food, always a favorite! And then they had the afternoon for just free time. Many needed to do a little serious shopping for things that they can’t get in their areas of the world.

Elder Oaks Greeting the Mongolian Saints

We headed for the temple on the same bus as yesterday. We filled the room. After the endowment session there were around 13 saints from Mongolia, and again this year they lined up to meet an apostle and other church leaders. There were two young ladies about 8 and 10 years old dressed in their beautiful pink Mongolian dresses. Their little eyes just lit up when a missionary, mission president, or sister came out of the temple and they wanted to shake hands with everyone. However, when Elder Oaks and Clayton came out, their countenance just glowed. As Elder Oaks went through the line, he touched of them on their heads and they just beamed.
Wednesday morning Elder Oaks and Clayton flew off to their next assignment and we had just a morning session. After an Italian lunch they were off. Those with early flights left in a hurry, those with later flights were headed out to finish up the shopping they didn’t finish yesterday.

And after everyone had left some of the staff joined in to help finish off the food, and with the job of cleaning up. We took 24 table cloths to be cleaned, and lugged everything else back to where it belonged.

Vivien, Nichole and Jamie

We left early and did it feel great to know we didn’t have to run anywhere! It was a fun few days, but like most big things, it was fun while it lasted but we are more than ready to return back to our dull and boring existence.

Eighth Quorum of the Seventy Meeting

The Eight Quorum of the Seventy meeting is a two day conference. Ashley and Shirl wanted fresh flowers for the table, but went into sticker shock when they priced them. So they bought rocks, vases, plants and fresh flowers and lugged them back. They spent most of the day putting together four arrangements. If they were getting paid by the piece they would not make money.

Ashley and Shirley's Flower Arrangements

At 4:00pm we sprinted over to Ho Choi, each carrying a flower. With the colored flowers and the matching name cards it looked very festive. Elder Oakes and Clayton are the visiting authorities. Ho Choi served 11 courses of food, with just a little bit of food on each plate. We had soup, Peking duck, mango pudding, fresh fruit, vegetables, and other dishes. It was very typical Chinese food.

Ho Choi Restaurant

After the dinner we carried the flowers back across the street. As we exited the restaurant I am sure people must have thought we were stealing the flower arrangements, because we got some very funny looks.

This conference was a bit of an experiment. They kept the Eighth Quorum members from the Pacific Area in Auckland, New Zealand, and the rest came to Hong Kong. It took some serious efforts to re-wire and gather all the needed equipment, but the conference was conducted via video conference and went off very well. They were able to see each other and hear each other and converse. It took an amazing amount of work and sophisticated equipment to carry it off. This could be something we see more of in the years to come.

Ryan our Camera Man

Sunday was a half day session, followed by lunch and they were on their way back home. After we finished the Eighth Quorum Meeting we quickly tore the equipment down and started setting up for the Mission Presidents’ Seminar. By 4:30pm we were ready for the next session and on our way back across the street carrying our flower arrangements again. Dinner included wives and was very successful. Again, we got some strange looks as we marched out carrying the flowers with us!

Ashley, Dew, Shirl and Vivien at Ho Choi

Biking from Tai Wai to Tai Po

Saturday, beautiful Saturday!

Today we just announced that we were going biking and if anyone wanted they could come along. Well at 9am we went downstairs to find the Baldwins, the Woolseys, the Newells, the Halversens, and Emily and her sister Rebecca.

Left to right - Newells, Elder Halversen, Emily and Rebecca, Dew, Shirl, Woolseys and Baldwins.

So off we went to catch the 170 bus. It appeared just as we approached, so it was a short sprint, but luckily we had a good driver who saw us coming and waited patiently. As we all got settled on the top deck of the bus we discovered that Sister Halversen had second thoughts and turned back, but the rest of us were a go.

Elder and Sister Baldwin

We took the bus, then caught the MTR out to the bike rental. After some creative language we all got bikes and off we went. My bike had a small problem, it would only go in one gear, so Dew turned back to make an exchange. But he caught up quickly.

Elder and Sister Woolsey

The weather could not have been better. It started out blue skies and then the overcast came, and we had a nice cool breeze. It was a lovely ride.

At the end of the line we parted ways, Emily and her sister headed for Big Buddha and more action, we headed for Sha Tin and TripleO. After lunch it was another parting of the ways, the Baldwins and Woolseys headed for the jade market and the rest of us headed home to do a little grocery shopping and well deserved rests. Great day!

Rebecca and Emily

Bride's Pool Hike

Saturday, and we need to get away for a day. So we decided to check out another of the 2 hour hikes in our "Leisurely Hiker" book. This one was out by Tai Po Market and then farther out to Plover Dam. Plover Dam was built in the late 1960s, they needed a place to store fresh water and the simplest way was to build a dam out in the ocean around a bay, and then pump out the salt water and store fresh water. It’s the biggest dam in Hong Kong, and it saved using precious land area.

Water Fall at Bride's Pool

We took the bus to Sha Tin, then the MTR to Tai Po Market and found that the only bus that goes to "Brides Pool" only runs on Sundays and public holidays. There is a mini bus that goes out, but it only runs every 1 to 2 hours. So the quickest way was to take a taxi. It was out of the city and up a canyon quite a ways. We saw the Brides Pool sign and stopped the taxi there. Then we walked down the trail along the stream to the pool.

Old Stone Bridge

The Chinese are at that stage where they need to get serious about litter, but they are not quite there yet. It was a pretty spot, but full of garbage. It would be really pretty after a good rain storm, as the waterfall would be really nice. It was down stone steps, and a fun walk, back to where we started.

Beautiful Flowers Along Trail

Then we decided to go up on the "real" hike, which was supposed to be 4 kilometers and take about 2 hours. It was another one of Dew’s famous, "just a little uphill" trips. It’s pretty steep and there is a trail of stone steps. We hiked for about an hour and a half and hadn’t gone very far, and it looked like we were in for more uphill. So we decided to turn around and head back the way we came. The only problem with this is that we didn’t know if we could find a way back to town.

Shirl Climbing Pat Sin Leng Trail

The trip back went very quickly, seems we are pretty slow on the uphill, but much faster on the down hill. When we got to the bottom the only bus stop was for the Sunday/Holiday run so we began walking down hill, we didn’t think we were that far from the little town we had passed. About a mile down the hill the minibus passed us heading for the stop at Bride’s Pool. We crossed the street and found a good place for it to pull over and waited for it to come back. We flagged it down and headed back to town, and were we surprised to find out it was about 5 miles before we hit civilization again. Good thing we didn’t have to hoof it all the way.

We caught the MTR back to Sha Tin and had lunch at Triple O. Then headed for home. We had to wait a very long time for the 170 bus, but finally we were on our way. It was a very slow trip home, the traffic was fierce, and the ride through the tunnel was unusually slow. On the other side we discovered the reason, a wreck that was slowing everything to almost a crawl. But we finally got to Times Square and home, and a veg session in front of the late afternoon kids TV shows.

It was a gray day, and looked like rain, but we didn’t see any, except for the section on the MTR on the way to Sha Tin. Couldn’t have timed it better!