Clear Day in Hong Kong

Last week we experienced something new for us in Hong Kong - a clear day. In fact it was almost a full week of clear days. We have wondered where all those blue sky pictures of Hong Kong came from, and now we know. There is a week every summer, and you better not miss it if you want good pictures.

Unfortunately, we missed it! We planned on going to the peak on Saturday to get that "prize winning" shot, and by Saturday the haze was back, and we didn't even bother going.

And this week the haze has turned into full blown smog. It has been in the 90's and the air is so thick you can almost cut it.

It has been a year of extremes. This year we have had one of the longest cold snaps on record, the wettest June ever, and now the air pollution index has hit its highest mark ever.

We can't wait to see whats next!

Couple's Outing - History, Culture and Shopping

Another fun couples day out. We went out to Sha Tin and visited the Che Kung Temple, then to Tsang Tai Uk, which is an unusual village that doesn't match the surrounding area architecture and then to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. It rained as we started out, just enough to frizz/straighten our hair, then stopped and got hot.

The museum was nice and cool however and we enjoyed it. Then over to the Sha Tin town center for lunch. Some went for pizza and some went for burgers. Then we took the MTR two stops away to Tai Po Market and caught the 64K bus over the mountain to Yuen Long. It was a lovely ride. Of course we had to stop at the Brass shop which is conveniently right on the route. We spent quite a while there, there is a lot to see, before heading into Yuen Long where we hit McD’s for ice cream and drinks. We were all hot and tired by then.

Then caught the bus back home. We didn’t get home until almost 7:30pm. It was a long day, but we covered a lot of territory and had a great time.

Family Home Evening with Island 2nd

The first Sunday of each month the Island 2nd branch gets together for entertainment and food. Elder and Sister Jackson's Home Teaching group was responsible for the entertainment this month.

It's lucky that we have a group of sisters (and two brothers) who are talented, and willing to share their dancing and singing abilities. And we are especially happy that they didn't ask us to join in.

Hope you have as much fun watching this video clip of them in action as we had watching them in real life. (And we loved the Bee Gee's music!!)

Senior Couples to Nan Lian Gardens

A Saturday away - we rode the bus out to Diamond Hill and toured the Nan Lian Gardens and the Nunnery. The garden is absolutely beautiful and the nunnery has all been re-done in gorgeous woods. It was a warm rainy day, but everytime it rained hard we seemed to be under cover, how lucky is that?

We then headed to the far eastern end of Kowloon and spent the remainder of the day at Sia Kung, a fishing village. We split up for lunch with part staying at a seafood restaurant and four sisters and Elder J. all going to...you guessed it – McDonalds.

After lunch we hired a sampan for an hour and went out touring the islands. The cost was only $HK60 per couple or about $US7.50 - what a bargain. During our tour we had a few downpours but we never felt a drop. After the sampan ride we caught the bus back home, arriving around 6pm. Another great day.

Farewell to the Garns

The office held a Farewell Devotional for Elder and Sister Garn, both Elder and Sister Garn spoke and then we had lunch with the whole staff. After everyone was served the senior couples sang the song Sister Baldwin had written for the Garns and then we presented them with a gift and a memory book with messages and photos of the whole staff. After lunch we had a picture marathan, with each department posing with the Garns. It was a fun good-bye from the office and staff.

Mother's and Father's Day Celebration

We walked around Stanley a while and over in the large pavilion they were celebrating the Dragon Boat holiday, along with mother’s and father’s day all rolled up in one. They had two women singing Chinese Opera, we quickly moved over to the galato shop. Then out came the acrobats dressed in costumes and two of the costumes had the horses built right in. They were much more fun to watch, much better than the Chinese Opera!

Black Rain in Hong Kong

We woke up early to the sound of rain and thunder, and to a very dark sky. It was raining so hard that you couldn’t see the water in the harbor. We got a call, did we know it’s flooding downstairs?

It was "black rain", the worst kind. I looked out the window and thought, "oh that doesn’t look too bad", and it was just about then that a bus went by on Hennessy and I noticed that it sent out a wave that went right into the 7/11 across the street. It was a lake down there, and and there was all kinds of wonderful stuff floating in it, like styrofoam boxes, paper, even a wooden pallet. It gradually got worse and worse, until the intersection looked like a very large lake. By the time we got downstairs water was coming in under the front doors. By then all the traffic had moved to the center of the road where the ding dings run, it’s the highest part of the road. People were wading across the street in water up to their knees.

We had to leave by 10 a.m. to get to the temple by 11:30 a.m., so we "dressed" for the occasion. Dew had his white shirt, tie and suit coat on with his hiking pants and croc’s. I had on a polyester skirt with elastic around the waist that I could roll up and my shower thongs, and off we went. We had our dry shoes and his suit pants in a back pack to change into when we got there.

We waded in and it was almost to my knees. We slogged out to the middle of the road, with the rest of the brave souls and walked down the middle towards Times Square to catch the MTR. By this time there were no cars, buses, or ding dings moving at all. As we walked we were laughing and taking pictures. One Chinese couple walked by and said, "wonderful". Wonderful indeed, a real once in a lifetime rain for us.

As we went east we discovered that the worst part of the "lake" was at the intersection of Marsh and Hennessy - our corner. You could see the water lapping into the shops on both sides of the road. By the time we got over to Canal Road it was deep, but nothing like our corner.

We made good time on the MTR and found seats. Everyone else with any common sense were at home, watching it rain. We got out and Dew asked if I wanted to take a taxi to the temple, about a 3 block walk, uphill. I said, "heck no, we might as well continue to hike in the flood". The going wasn’t as hard, but water was bubbling up from all the storm drains along the way. When we got to the temple they were squirting down the front area which had a layer of mud where the water had brought down dirt from the surrounding hills. On the last of our trip, just doors away from the temple a taxi decided he simply had to pass a bus, and we were not paying attention. Result - he soaked us (what wasn’t already soaked anyway). Well, at least we got a little wetter from the waist down.

By the time we left the rain had stopped and the water was quickly draining away. We rode the bus back to the office, where I had left my croc’s. From now on I will keep them close at hand, they are easier to walk in than flip flops when you cross the "River Hennessy".

We spent the afternoon grocery shopping, 3 stores in all, two of which had been flooded. We went to Prizemart which is on Wan Chai road which is fairly up hill from our corner. They were still mopping up water. Dew asked them how they took on so much water when they are uphill. They simply pointed to the back room, which of course would have gotten all the run off from the hill behind them. By the time we finished our shopping the whole area was busy throwing out wet boxes and carpet and drying floors and cleaning up all the "garbage" that had been floating in the water.

I certainly hope we don’t get some exotic disease from wading in that filthy water!!! Actually it was rather fun!