Greg and Lindsey visit, followed by Shauna blue

Greg and Lindsey arrived in Hong Kong May 23, 2013. We took the taxi back to our place and immediately took our shuttle to Central to catch the MTR to Kowloon and venture out to see the monkeys and begin our Urban hiking.

 

 

 

The next day we went to a wonderful little hole in the wall for lunch before going to Stanley. Drop the "wonderful". Yes the background behind Greg and Lindsey was the warm and inviting decor of the restaurant. The kids particularly liked sitting at a table with random people. 

 

 

Lindsey shopped a little at a market while we made our way to Stanley.



Taking in the views while shopping in Stanley.

 

 

Later that evening we went to Kowloon and met David for dinner. The colors of the night were amazing.

 

Next up: The Peak....my favorite.

 

 

And then jet-lag set in......

yet, they kept on going.

David, Greg, Lindsey and I set out to hike Dragon's Back and tour the quaint little town of Shek-O.

 

 

Our favorite Thai restaurant in Shek-O.

And that night Shauna Blue arrived. And everything changed after these two found out they were going to be Sister in Laws!!!!!

Shauna flew in May 24. We all had to act like nothing special was going to happen the next day while Jake and Shauna went to Shek-O. We faked it so well. Especially Lindsey. AND, I'm getting another daughter in law.

Jake proposed, Shauna accepted, and they will be living in Hong Kong!!! A lot went on in one trip. But before I get ahead of myself, I have more pictures of the kids getting to know Hong Kong and the girls bachelorette party to Hanoi, Vietnam.

The next day rained, but not on our parade.

 

We headed to Kowloon on the Star Ferry.

 

There is "art" displayed at the Kowloon harbor. A giant rubber ducky. Jake was happy.

 

And these girls entertained themselves while riding the MTR to Sai Kung.

 

 

And some random cows joined our party.

 

It was a great day!

Our family will be complete September 6, 2013.

Welcome to our family Shauna blue!

David decided to make sure Greg was good and tired on his flight home. They hiked Lantau Peak on Greg's last day.

And the girls and I? Well, we went to Vietnam! First stop for the evening in Hanoi was this darling restaurant. We ate and ate.

 

View of Hanoi from our hotel.

We spent hours at Bat Trang Ceramic village. It was sweltering hot!!! It didn't stop us from shopping until we were dehydrated.

Darling girls spinning the pottery wheel by hand as they worked on their treasures.

 

We traveled the streets of Hanoi and let people cheat us.

 

Just when we were wondering what to do next, we met Rainbow. Don't let this sweet little face fool you. She was a player....and we got played.

She took us to the Prison and learned about the Hanoi Hilton. The Vietnam war was a sad time in history. Rainbow was throwing stories and statistics at us right and left. All of which were contradictory. We found it entertaining.

 

This almond tree was a God send for many prisoners who used it as food, medicine, etc.

The size of the sewer tunnel that prisoners used to escape.

 

Rainbow then took us to the Temple of Literature. It is a temple of Confucius and Vietnam's first national university: The Imperial Academy. The temple is featured on back of the 100,000 Vietnamese dong banknote.

 

Rainbow gave us beautiful fans to keep us cool. When we didn't hire her for the next day, she took our fans away.

 

 Beautiful students.

 

The next day was the high light....and low light of the trip. We headed to Tam Coc. Our tour guide for this trip was Moon. I'm not making these names up.

On our drive to Tam Coc, Shauna asked to stop and see some sculptors (who are only considered labors) work on their "carvings" with electric saws and drills. Amazing.

 

 

 We loved the beautiful mountain formations coming up from the lakes.

 

 

Shauna and Lindsey one with nature.

 

Beautiful area before reaching Tam Coc where we enjoyed our lunch. Sort of.

 

 

 

 

The girls enjoying their meal. The waiter told us the meat was "good". That is the word the girls heard. I heard "goat". I was right. 

Lindsey could not get enough of the fruit Lychee

Our first view of the river that we would travel down.

 

Our boat captain. Sly, sly, little man.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the picture right before I was molested. Not far from the truth. Our boatman was happy and smiley during our boat ride. Through hand gestures (pun intended), he told us he would take our picture. He told me to turn around, I did. That wasn't good enough. He wanted me to completely turn around and sit with the girls. He proceeded to help me. Nice of him. I then felt hands where they should not be. I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he may have been trying to steady himself. After longer than was comfortable, I decided he was not trying to steady himself. When I got back to my seat, I felt a brush against my back. Lindsey saw him take my money from my pouch and quickly drop it when he saw her. He frantically made hand gestures as he tried convincing us I had dropped it. We all started shaking our fingers at him and telling him the only word we thought he knew: "NO NO NO"

I told him to turn the boat around; but I had a change of heart, realizing that I was not going to let him take away from the beauty we had come to see. We traveled on.

 

I could not get over the beauty!

 

At the end of the boat ride he tried to tell everyone that I was trying to accuse him of stealing his money. All three of we girls told our tour guide what had happened. The security officers were convinced we were right because he did not try to defend himself as we told the story. We were told to get in our car and drive away. We did.

On our way back to our hotel, Moon stopped at a roadside cemetery, explaining that the Vietnamese honor their loved ones by burying them in fertile ground with a headstone honoring their loved ones. They believe the bigger and more elaborate the grave, the more prosperity will be brought to them from their loved ones.

We spent our last day shopping around town. We spent two hours in one shop that we all fell in love with.

 

We said goodbye to four days of a wonderful time....minus being fondled and robbed.

When we returned home, the girls took me to a darling restaurant for my birthday. And we headed to Kowloon to see where David works.

 

Riding the trolley and Star Ferry

 

The girls thought they were in Disneyland at the Mattel offices. I could barely get them off of the design floor as they looked and reminisced about every barbie they owned. We all did our best to strike a Barbie pose.

Lindsey flew back to CA the next day. We took as many goofy pictures as we could.

 

After Lindsey left, Shauna stayed in our home the next few days....close by the toilet. The goat may have been to blame.

She regained her strength in a few days and she and Jake went apartment shopping. I'm not sure they had full intention of finding one, but this little gem showed up and they couldn't resist. 

2 Graham Street in a wonderful section of Hong Kong called SoHo

One of the last nights that I had with Shauna we waited in line for 

over an hour with sweat dripping all over our body as we waited for the Peak tram to take us to the top of the Peak. It was worth it. I haven't really been to the Peak at night. Breathtaking.

The trip was wonderful!!! The kids had their engagement pictures taken. Here is a sneak preview.

I have now enjoyed all but Cody and Whitney visiting. I cannot begin to describe the joy it has been to host family in Hong Kong, letting them see and experience all that David and I enjoy while living in this amazing city.