Sunday, August 19, 2007

Beijing

While Angela was in town we all had the opportunity to go see some of the sights in Beijing.


Wes and Angela check out "night food" street. They passed on the fried scorpions and snakes and settled for some pan-fried dumplings.



The next morning on the Mutianyu Great Wall, the gang encountered a martial arts group. Wes challenged a group of seven year old purple belts and was belted purple.



Wes and Annette on the way up the wall.



Guarding the rampart.



"Oh no! I dropped my keys!"



Angela makes the final push up a VERY steep ascent.



View from the top.



Whew! Angela is smiling more now that she is on the way down.



At the Temple of Heaven Park



Annette and Angela flashing peace on the place where emperors used to worship the heavens



After the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven, the girls were ready to do some shopping at the Pearl Market. Here they are bargaining over a nice silver and jade necklace.





On day two we headed for the Forbidden City. Much of it is under scaffolding; preparations for the 2008 Olympics are in full force.


Wes and Annette at the FC.


We had planned to etch our names into the walls at the Forbidden City, but then we saw this sign - dang!


Wes in a big pot that used to hold water to extinguish fires.


Angela and Annette relax in a quiet area of the Forbidden City.


Wes and Annette at the lover's tree. Awww...

Shortly after we left the Forbidden City, we were stopped to do an interview for BBC news! Angela was the big star, Annette looked stylish on the side, and Wes got cut out of the frame (eh, who needs fame?). You can see the report HERE.


Next we hiked up to enjoy the view from the White Dagoba. Not to be confused with the White Pagoda (or the similarly named planet in Star Wars).


After hours of wandering around the city and hiking up the steps to the Dagoba, our feet were tired! We decided to get off them for a while and cruise around in an electric boat. We were evidently quite the attraction, since the locals in passing boats couldn't resist taking our picture.


On our final day, we decided to check out Lamma temple.



They own the Guinness world record for the biggest Buddha statue carved out of a single tree.


Here are the knees of the Buddha. It was pretty impressive.



Not much headroom in there for the deity.


Wes spins a prayer wheel. Always remember to turn counterclockwise!


A&A pose with a lioness statue.


At the Beijing airport, Angela was nearly arrested after she decided to dump out this huge pot of flowers!


Ah! Home sweet (temporary) home back in HK. This new countdown clock has been installed in the terminal. Hong Kong is apparently hosting some of the equestrian events.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Angela arrives in Hong Kong

On Angela's first evening here in Hong Kong, we walked around the neighborhood and then went to Kowloon to see the light show. They have added pyrotechnics to the show for Saturdays until the end of August so we were lucky enough to catch it (it was a nice surprise!). Wes was not able to join us for the outing because he was working on his school project.



Angela photographs herself on the Airport Express. Not bad after so many hours of travel!





Man Mo Temple











Taipei

Annette had to go to Taipei this week to teach some training. Here are pictures from her first venture to Taiwan.



Taipei 101 - The tallest building in the world (until they finish that new, taller building in Dubai in 2008)





Inside the Taipei 101 shopping center - all designed by a feng shui master. Can't you just see the positive qi?



The national museum





View from the viewing deck of Taipei 101 on the 89th floor



Taipei 101 has the world's fastest elevator. It was a very smooth ride.



Friends from the airport

Around Hong Kong - July and August

Wes has been back in town since early July. Here are some pictures of what has been going on around here.





The weather was very clear for weeks in a row. It is because the winds were blowing in from the South China Sea instead of from China. Of course, the Hong Kong authorities see it as proof that their work against pollution has had a huge impact.



Sarah and I went hiking with one of her coworkers up in the New Territories.















We made another trip to Ocean Park. It was hot, but we still had a good time seeing the pandas, sea lions, and the new sea jelly exhibition. Jelly fish are definitely better to look at than to eat.



Riding the tram through Central.



A view from the Peak.