Hong Kong May 2009

Our flight here was very smooth and we were able to sleep. On the flight from LA to Hong Kong they served us two strange kind of asian kind of not meals. We also had access the the movie bank and could watch as many movies on demand for free as we like. I ended up watching Benjamin Button, Yes Man, and 4 Christmases. It was fun. Right now we are at the airport waiting for our flight to Nepal to start boarding. Josh is sleeping I am working on staying awake till we get to Nepal and I think that I will have avoided jet lag for the most part. We shall see!!

We made it safe to Hong Kong and spend the whole day in the city today. Our first stop was to a giant Buddha in the foresty area above Hong Kong. We took a tram ride to it that took about 30 minutes it was so beautiful and lush and the whole way up you could see different shrines on the mountains that are really difficult to get to. We spend a while walking through the small museum in the bottom 1/3 of the statue reading about the enlightenment of Buddah. On the other 2 parts are more museaums and a restaurant. After we finished at the statue we took the tram to the old part of main Hong Kong. The city here is amazing and so different depending on what part of the island that you are on. In the old part it is tall skyscrapers that are older and poorer looking. We had to take a ferry across the water to get to the newer part of Hong Kong were the richer area is. The difference between the 2 areas was amazing. On the newer side of Hong Kong we found the LDS church visitor center and we are pretty sure that the temple is close by. We spent a large part of the day traveling around on the public transportation here. To use the public transportation you have to get an octopus card and put money on it. Then you just scan it on scanners everytime you board and exit busses, trams, and ferrys. The cards can also be used in local stores like 7-11 which are everywhere that you turn. I think that I spent more time on public transportation that I have my entire life (minus traveling to school on trax).

(Sorry the pictures are in a weird place I will figure this out in the next couple of days I am running out of time and energy to figure it out right now.)

Thank you everyone for your love and support. Happy Mothers Day!!

Amanda