Hong Kong

Our week in Hong Kong was our last trip in Asia (for now) and a fantastic finale to our two wonderful years living in this part of the world.
 
Hong Kong is a former British colony. It is now a “special administrative region" of China. In 1997, London handed over Hong Kong to Beijing with some provisions in place for 50 years, at which point the integration of Hong Kong and China is supposed to be complete. So, under China's "one country, two systems," Hong Kong's economic and social systems have autonomy until 2047. China already has control of Hong Kong's foreign affairs and defense. 

From our perspective, this makes Hong Kong a cleaner, friendlier and more urban-beautiful city than those we visited in mainland China. Plus, English is widely spoken, with a lovely British accent, no less. The people call themselves Cantonese, which is also the name of the Chinese dialect they speak. The traditional foods are rice- and noodle-based dishes, and of course tea. 
 

Also noteworthy: Hong Kong is one of the most densely-populated areas of the world with almost 7.2 million people in just 430 square miles.

Hong Kong, here we come.

Our first order of business was to take a tram up to the top of the famed Victoria Peak, Hong Kong's tallest mountain.

The tram's glass bottom freaked out no one. Except me.

At the top of Victoria Peak.

Sight seeing around an old Chinese village.

Kung Fu master.

Buddha.

 

The city had a lot of green space and was remarkably free from litter and yuk in general.

Clear skies in Hong Kong. There doesn't seem to be the severe air pollution that most of mainland China has.

We don't pass a fountain without striping down and playing in it.

We took a sunset cruise on a traditional "junk boat" around the city's Victoria Harbor. 

 

 

 

 

Our boat trolled around the harbor as the city lit up at night.

We took a two-day side trip to Macau, which a small island across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong. It is another autonomous region of China, but Macau was a Portuguese territory until 1999. As such, a lot of its architecture, art, food and, much to our delight, language is Portuguese. We really wanted to talk with Chinese people in our favorite second language (as a reminder, it's Portuguese), but really only immigrants from Portugal living there spoke it. We stayed at a Portuguese hotel, ate traditional Portuguese food and read/understood all the Portuguese street signs. An interesting side note: Macau is also known as the Las Vegas of Asia. Its "strip" is much smaller, but has big name hotel-casinos, like The Paris and The Hard Rock.

At our Portuguese-style hotel in Macau.

Exploring Macau.

Portuguese and Chinese was an interesting mix.

Eri took our picture on Bem Casados street, or Happily Married street. Awwweee.

The Strip.

It's the Year of the Rabbit here, too.

Portugal? Nope, China.

Cheers! Another wonderful trip and lots of memories together.

Grandma Margy and Grandpa Greg Visit Seoul

Much to Eri and Leo's delight, Grandma Margy and Grandpa Greg recently came for a visit. Highlights for the babies included story time, playing cards, playing superheros, eating bunny-shaped pancakes, spa time, and showing off on the playground, at swim lessons and at ballet class. We all enjoyed taking the grandparents around wonderful Seoul, especially the markets, Seoul Tower, the ancient palace and changing of the guard, to the border with the North, and to our favorite restaurants.

Seeing the sights!

At the the base of the Seoul Tower, it's a tradition to write a message on a padlock and chain it to the fence.

Eri is using her best penmanship to immortalize Grandma and Grandpa's visit.

At the top of Seoul Tower.

Grandpa Greg learned the night-time routine fast: bath, play naked, pjs, stall, brush teeth, play clothed, finally get in bed, see how many stories you can talk your reader into.

Grandma Margy checking out the city.

Leo proudly showing Grandma and Grandpa his preschool classroom.

Touring through the National Museum.

Being silly.

Grandma Margy and Eri showing off their fresh manis and pedis.

Ridin' the subway like a couple of locals.

Sampling Korean foods at one the indoor markets.

Back home after a trip to the seafood market.

Clams, scallops, shrimp and mussels prepared by Grandma and Grandpa. (I made the salad and poured the water.)

Thanks for making us dinner!

Eri and Leo with their first mate.

Grandma Margy and Eri at the Korean War Museum.

Shopping!

Street food!

More stories and more ice cream.

Thanks for visiting us in Asia!

China

China Fast Facts:

population: almost 1.4 billion

socio economics: developing country; exports clothes, rice, coffee, anything at any dollar store and pretty much everything else
religion: Buddhism
language: Mandarin Chinese
food: rice and noodle-based dishes, specialties are dumplings, Dim sum, duck
claims to fame: most-populous country in the world; world's leading polluter
people: The least-enthralled by us as caucasians or Americans.
 
We've been around and seen a lot; China was definitely our most intense trip ever. We constantly found ourselves squeezed in the middle of several million Chinese people, regardless of where we were or how far off the beaten path we thought we'd gone. It was crowded, to say the least. The pollution, or "fog" as the Chinese call it, is just as bad as everyone describes it.

After a few years in South America and a few years in Asia, we have become shamelessly accustomed to being special and all the attention this brings. Going to China was like falling from the celebrity A list, much like I would imagine anyone from the original cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 feels today. People still stare, but don't consider you novel enough to want to talk to you, hug your kid or get a picture with you. It stings.

We spent 12 days visiting three places: Xian, home of the famed Terracotta Warriors; Beijing, the capital; and the Yellow Mountains, the country's most-famous mountain region. We had a great time. Here are the highlights:

China, here we come!

Day 1 in Xian, checking out the city sites.

We went to a traditional Chinese dance and music performance.

The Terracotta Warriors! This is a collection of the first Chinese emperor's army; each sculpture is thought to be a replica of an actual soldier. There are more than 8,000 sculptures. They were buried with the emperor in the early 200s and discovered by a farmer digging a well in 1974.

Outside of the entrance to the city's enormous outdoor shopping streets, called the Muslim Market. The stalls sell food, clothes, arts and crafts, jewelry, knock-off bags and more.

And cake, too! One, please!

Geoff and Leo sharing street crab.

As a rule, I don't eat meat when we travel. This eliminates a lot of stomach issues that may arise. (Just ask Geoff.) China's street meats reinforced this rule.

Best not to drink the water either.

Using chopsticks like natives.

Travel buddies.

Continuing our tradition of letting fish nibble our feet in every Asian country we visit.

Taking the lift up to see the Great Wall of China.

We made it!

Eri and Leo on the Great Wall of China!

We took a toboggan back down to the bottom. Eri and I are on one; Geoff and Leo are on the other.

Pandas in China, of course.

Outside of Mao Zedong's mausoleum. Inside, his body is lying in state.

This is the Forbidden City. We were among those thousands of people.

Here's what it looked like inside.

A smooch at the Temple of Heaven.

Pretty much nailed it.

This chef is carving our Peking duck. Only Geoff ate it, though, as Eri, Leo and I adhere to that aforementioned no-meat-no-diarrhea rule.

It was meant to serve the whole family, but Geoff was able to do it on his own.

#icantbelieveiatethewholething

Leo turned 3 years old in Beijing!

Leaving the city and headed for the Yellow Mountains.

Snack break

Even the mountains are crowded.

Really, really crowded.

We were warned by other Americans who had been to China that they had been followed, their hotel rooms had been bugged, their luggage had been riffled through and more. We were prepared for the same, so I couldn't believe I after nearly two weeks that no one seemed to be spying on us. When we were at the airport to fly back to South Korea, Chinese immigration officers asked if we would step out of line and follow them. I could see the "questioning room" sign on the wall where they were leading us. As it turns out, the immigration officers just wanted pictures with us. They gave the kids hats, fans and pamphlets on China tourism, and then let us cut to the front of the security line.