Weekend Getaway to Andrew

Sorry I haven't finished my Hong Kong adventures yet! I've been away from my computer and pictures.

This weekend I am in Washington with Andrew! We will celebrate our two-year anniversary on Sunday (yay!!) and also spend Memorial Day together. We aren't sure of our plans yet, but we might go to Victoria, BC, or the San Juan Islands. Even just going to the beach and looking for creatures would be such a blast!

Since we are spending most of the summer apart, we are both trying to stay busy and productive. Andrew is taking two online classes for his general education requirements (Family Finance and Psychology) and brought his golf clubs and fishing gear. Of course, he is also working at Boeing and is doing Performance Testing (or something to that extent). I am chilling in Logan, and will soon be baking, and working at the Western Historical Quarterly still. Now I am the senior fellow. I am supposed to work on my thesis (which I haven't done too much of) and I am also trying to study Spanish so I can pass the test and get an MA. My friend Tasha and I are doing a garden plot together (pictures to come!). I also hope to hike a lot and get in shape.

But, when we are together we just enjoy each other's company. I love Andrew and I realize how important he is in my life! I can function without him, but he just brings an extra portion of happiness when we are together.

Happy anniversary to us and happy Memorial Day to you all and our deceased loved ones!

Hong Kong Day 7 (Friday)

Warning: A ton of freaking amazing pictures of Big Buddha shrouded in mist are on their way.

On Friday we went to Lan Tau Island.

We rode in these cable cars. Some of them had glass floors but no one wanted to get it. It could have been cool.

That a little cemetery on the mountainside. Lan Tau is a very rural place.



Soaring over the countryside! It was exquisitely beautiful up there. I loved how we went in and out of the mist!
Andrew, me, Heidi, and Julie in front of Big Buddha.


So cool.

And now some pictures to show just how cute and touristy I am. :)


Andrew takes great pictures of flowers. In fact, all the pictures from today are his.



We climbed a huge staircase to Buddha.
Why hello there, Buddha.

High Five Buddha!

Another great picture. I think this is at the actual temple.



The ladies with our fans. :) I sure loved Calvin for giving me his fan! And then they bought matching ones at the store near Big Buddha.

Buddha in the mist again:



And then...
A random cow walked down the street. Whatever cow. Whatever.

Then we rode a bus to a little fishing village called Dai O.


Some tidal wetland.

The village.


My feet really hurt at this point. I think all us girls were happy to sit and wait for the bus while Andrew wandered around and took pictures of the village. We did look at the wetland, but we were so pooped at this point!

In the evening, we met up with Dick and Sanina (we went to their wedding reception) and returned to the Harbour for the light show.


Me and Andrew--ah, love in Hong Kong.


Dick and Sanina. :)

On the way home we saw a frog. I am glad we didn't step on him!

Hong Kong Day 6 (Thursday)

Thursday was Temple Day!


Walking to the Temple and enjoying the beautiful flowers.

I'm glowing cuz I just came out of the Temple. Just kidding, it's the humidity condensing on the camera lens.

I can't decide which of the next two shots I like best. They both have things I love about them. So I decided to just post both of them. You can click on them and look at them really big.


See? Tough choice. Sometimes I take amazing pictures. I love lines.


There it is. It was such a beautiful place. The session we went to was in Thai because a Thai couple was going through and then being sealed. We all had to wear headphones. Andrew listened in Cantonese and I listened in English. I loved being able to spend time in the Temple on our vacation. I love that Andrew and I have done so on many of our trips, like the Kona Hawaii Temple and the Vancouver British Columbia Temple.

We road a crazy green bus to Stanley Market.

And we shopped all afternoon.

Then we met with Chris for food.

Andrew and Chris.

Eating normal Chinese food!

Hong Kong Day 5 (Wednesday)

Wednesday was not my best day. And you will see why as this post goes on.

Andrew and I got up and went hiking to Lion's Rock.

The view from the halfway point where all the old people had already gotten to. They are all super healthy and made it up this steep mountain in way better condition than us whities.


Halfway point. Yes, that is sweat. Yes, I am posting it on the internet. I'm looking at Kowloon below me. I was really happy to get to the halfway spot cuz there was a nice sea breeze from that point on! It was so humid and I have never sweat so much in my life--not even at band camp!


I remember seeing this and thinking, "I hope we aren't climbing to the top of that." And we did.


Andrew and me at the top of Lion's Rock. You want us. Admit it.

That's the Temple from above!

I'm enjoying the view--mostly the wind.

After we cleaned up from the hike, we met up with the po pos (grandmas) and went to meet Brother Chan and his family for lunch.

We went for dim sum. Here, Andrew and Brother Chan chose what to order.

Lily and the lovely Sister Chan. Lily had way too much fun taking pictures of us on the phone.


From left to right: Josie, Lily, Amelia, Michael, and Anne. What beautiful children!

After that, we went to the Hong Kong heritage museum.

Each person on the staff made a person.

A lovely vase.

Part of the exhibit about Cantonese opera. Here is a link, if you want to watch some.

My favorite sign at the museum.


"My grandchildren are going to see this picture, Sarah!"

Then we met up with Sister Choi and Brother and Sister Lo for dinner. They took us to several things around Sai Kong.

Such as a World War II memorial. Being a historian, and one of U.S. WWII history, I was interested in Hong Kong's experience during the war.

Japan attacked Hong Kong (a British colony) on December 8, 1941 (pretty much the same time as the attack on Pearl Harbor). The colonial leadership surrendered on Christmas, and the Japanese brutally controlled the area for the duration of the war. Many people fled or were forced to leave for the mainland (see Source). Andrew said that Japanese soldiers kicked down doors and burst into people's homes and mowed the people down, so even today, the apartments have hard core metal doors.

Yacht harbor. Going here, I began to get quite carsick.

How people scaffold in Hong Kong--bamboo lashed together and then they cling to it with their legs.

We went to three temples for the fishing goddess. This was a nice scene from one of the friezes. It was cool to see the temples. It was also really nice to get out of the car so I wouldn't throw up.


Then we headed to the restaurant.
And picked out the fish, shellfish, and squid we would eat that night. My favorite quote (remember that I was really carsick) by Sister Choi: "You don't like squid?" said as if I had just said I didn't like breathing.


The worker standing on the fish pens.

Holding a giant crab. I'm not in the area cuz that is a huge crab and it didn't really smell that good in the general area.


Us at the restaurant. I'm trying to put on a brave face, and all I wanted was some plain rice. Little did I know that since I rejected the conjee I wasn't really sick in the eyes of our hosts.


Heidi and Julie enjoying their sea food.

Andrew enjoying his seafood.


Sister and Brother Lo, Andrew, me, and Sister Choi. Thanks for taking us out! I'm sure it would have been great if I hadn't gotten carsick!

The view from a mountain. Thank goodness I fell asleep in the car or else I probably would have thrown up (so said Heidi).