Best Day Yet

My morning started with a ½ hour visit to the hotel bar/beach to enjoy the ocean, early morning sunshine, and write my blog entries describing yesterday’s activities. Mackenzie came down and we ate breakfast at the hotel before being picked-up for our day’s tour at 10am. When we arrived at the tour we were pleasantly surprised to see we were the only two in our jeep with a guide who spoke some English, a driver, and some other guy who didn’t do much. We paid for our tour and hopped in the back of an old jeep/truck and drove about 30 minutes around the island to our first stop. Here we rowed a canoe for about 15 minutes, with both of us vowing that at one point in our lives we really did know how to do this in a 2-person team (obviously it didn’t carry over to today). We ended up finding that our best format was me pulling and providing most of the propulsion with Mackenzie steering in the back (reversed away from me, hence the picture) or just taking turns for 30 seconds.
From here we visited one of my two highlights of the day. We got back in the car for another 15 minutes and a lot of mountain climbing (reminded me of going to our HK hostel) and arrived at a path leading to two waterfalls. We hiked to both and took pictures, and then returned to the swimming hole below the bottom one. The water felt cool when convincing myself to get in, but absolutely perfect once I was in. It was so refreshing and cleansing after the hike and getting really nasty. The running water and jumping areas made the hole a blast, as well as climbing up the waterfall. For our first 15 minutes there it was only us before another tour group of 15 came so we headed out.
After this we rode in the car for another 35 minutes back to where we had started for the elephant and monkey portion of our tour. They put us on an elephant in a little seat that didn’t absorb the bumpy ride at all. Mackenzie held onto the strap/seat belt for dear life as she thought she might slip out completely. The ride was fun, but boring after about 3 minutes of the 20 minute journey. Our elephant was quite slow and they made her take us up this big hill and back down. I felt like getting off and walking myself to help her. When we got back to the bottom of the hill they took us over to a little arena for the elephant show. This was amazing!
They had a 3.5 year old elephant named something like Mikael, who was not really cute in looks, but great with her routine and human interactions. First, they ran her through some activities like walking on 3 legs, standing on her hind and then front legs only, sitting down, dunking a basketball with her trunk, and playing the harmonica while dancing (quite entertaining, video but no picture). Second, they had us take turns coming out and getting a massage from the elephant. This consisted of us laying down on the ground and the elephant tickling us with her trunk and softly stepping on us with one foot. I was too busy taking pictures of Mackenzie to give a play-by-play of where the elephant was touching her, but I think I got the worse of it. Mackenzie was told to lay on her stomach while I had to lay on my back with my arms behind my head. The elephant then proceeded to use its trunk to give me a big smooch on my face a few times, tickle me other places on my upper body, and then (how do I phrase this?) take a few low blows. Thankfully, I had on my swim-trunks and a towel they provided, but it was funny/awkward nonetheless. Honestly, from the first “kiss” through the whole time I laughed so hysterically I couldn’t control myself or think. When the elephant was doing the stomp/massage on my midsection and below I was a bit worried, but she barely touched me. It was so bizarre and yet funny at the same time. Mackenzie got great pictures but we didn’t take any video of either one of us which I am sorry for because it would have been a clip I would have laughed at forever.
After the elephant show we caught a monkey show that was pretty good. They kept it short which was nice because we both were ready for home and showers after being slobbered on by the elephant. The monkey spinning the coconut like a basketball with his two and then hands and one foot was impressive though.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing at hour hotel, sitting on the beach, reading, and grabbing dinner at one of the many restaurants on the water front. We had a nice set meal with a few kinds of chicken, curry, rice, and salad. Finally, they gave us this balloon thing that you light up and rises with the accumulated hot air. The day was amazing as I had a blast with the elephant show and waterfall, and yet spent half the day relaxing at the beach doing nothing much.
Our time here in Ko Samui has been so enjoyable we are planning to stay here through at least Sunday and maybe all the way to Monday. Phuket is likely to have rain and we can do many of the same activities here in sunshine and less-developed tranquility.

A Slice of Heaven

Bophut is an old fishing village on the north side of the island. It is not the busiest beach/town (Chaengwan on the east side is) but it has a wonderful little commercial street and a beautiful, peaceful beach. Our hotel room (1 of 8) has a balcony out onto the small one-way street at our front door and a private balcony to the beach on the other side. This is easily the best hotel room we have stayed in yet, with hardwood floors, nice decorations, everything is clean, comfortable, and looks new. Even the TV has multiple English channels although I doubt we spend much time watching them (did have the Champions League Final on last night live, went to bed at half-time). The beach reminds me of Mission Bay in San Diego as it is quiet and clean, with clear greenish/blue waters. Last night we walked down the street past many nice restaurants, pubs, little shops, and small-town specialties. We ate an Italian restaurant and stopped at a street vendor for a banana chocolate crepe. This is probably going to be my favorite place so far by the time I leave. My sister Rebecca asked me if we will hit any nice beaches or places she would like and I will say without reservation, that this is a place she would love.
Right now, I am sitting at our hotel’s bar on the beach enjoying the rolling waves and gleaming sun on the water. Pretty soon we’ll grab breakfast and leave for our tour at 10am. Today we will be riding elephants, riding in canoes, going on a jeep jungle safari, watching a monkey show, and a couple other things all for $30US (more expensive than our amazing hotel). We have two full days here and will enjoy.

Buckle Up!!!

(Parental Reading Warning – Friends, Siblings, and Peers will enjoy this entry, parents might not so much)
I woke up Wednesday morning and hit the beach for a walk and to catch some sun (as much as possible at 8am). I got back to the hotel around 8:30 to find myself locked out as the room key had fallen off the keychain during my walk down the beach. Thankfully the resort had an extra key and got me back in pretty quick. We spent the next hour eating breakfast, collecting our laundry, and packing for the journey ahead. Just before we got in the car we saw a couple clocks around the resort an hour ahead of what time we thought it was and got worried. We thought we had six hours to travel 650 kms to catch the last ferry of the day by 5pm.
We hit 7-11 to fill the car up with gas (940 baht!!!, about as much as a night in a hotel) and got back on Highway 4 to drive like crazy. The road wasn’t super busy but had some traffic and made our predicament more stressful than we would have liked. For over an hour we averaged 145 km/hr or so, hitting top speeds of 170+ km/hr, I tried but the car wouldn’t go any faster. Mackenzie was quite entertaining, grabbing her legs, and waving her arms (although thankfully never screaming) when nervous as we passed on the shoulders and quickly swerved/darted in between cars. After a little more than an hour of crazy driving we saw a road sign that said Surit Thani, 205km, and I was like, “Wait a second, that means its only like 350 total, not 600+.” We rechecked our maps and realized we were going to make the boat easily. With this new information we slowed down and went back to 110 km/hr cruising. The road signs took us all the way past Surit Thani to Donsak where we paid 425 baht to take ourselves and the car on a ferry to Ko Samui (about 100 minute ride). We were the last car let on.
When we drove off the ferry we entered a beautiful little island that will be our home for the next three nights. Our hotel room was on the other side of the island so we had a 45 minute drive to get there which Mackenzie made quite interesting. I don’t know if she wanted revenge for my driving or what, but she was adamant about passing people and driving fast. The road was skinny, two-lanes, with potholes galore, lots of traffic and big trucks, and about 10 motorcycles for every car. Despite all the difficulties involved, Mackenzie made it her mission to pass them all, which she accomplished quite well. Finally around 7:30pm we pulled up to our hotel, The Lodge at Bophut.

Another Ding Daeng Road?

Budget Rental Car arrived 10 minutes early with our Honda City and proceeded to run me though the full 32-point car inspection. We mutually agreed to every dent, speck, and chip on the car before the lady finally gave me my key. Our 15-minutes of interaction consisted of grunts, points, “credit card,” and “driver’s license.” Then she disappeared out of the store and left us with the keys to the car.
This was my first time driving while sitting on the right side of the car and it surprisingly went fairly smoothly. The only time I drove on the wrong side of the road all day was when I thought we had a two-lane highway and it was really one-lane each way. Thankfully it was deserted and I asked Mackenzie before any cars came the other way. So Mackenzie had spent a good 20+ minutes with our three maps including the English-language Thailand 100+ page road atlas. Rand McNally in America had nothing on us. We had a plan of attack for how to get out of Bangkok and figured once we got on the right highway the rest of the drive would be pretty easy.
We said a prayer and drove past our hotel into one of the busiest streets in Bangkok, Chidlom Road. It was slammed full of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. I squeezed my way in the headed down our planned path. Driving regulations are kind of optional over here, especially signals and lane changes I guess because it was mayhem. Everybody switching all over the place and cutting each other off, even at our average speed of 10 km/h. We made it to the road with the Skytrain and turned left/east towards the highway we wanted. When we arrived at the freeway with great excitement our plan fell apart. There was a wreck or something and a policeman stood in front of us directing us to get on the highway the opposite direction of what we wanted. Not wanting to interfere with the law we obliged and headed north, exactly opposite of what we wanted. Not only that, we got a toll road with exits about every 3 miles or more. All we knew is that we were heading the wrong way and had no idea how to get back.
Mackenzie was flipping through every map of Bangkok we had trying to come up with a new plan and I was trying to avoid an accident. Every time we hit a tollbooth I pleaded for help saying, “South, Phuket” and pointing the general direction we wanted to go and they had no clue what to do with me. Eventually, I would just throw them money and head down the road. Finally after finding a U-turn on the freeway, we got turned around and then moved in the general southerly direction we wanted. After that we couldn’t figure out where we were and what road we wanted to be on, we were just going in the direction we wanted. Seriously, you felt helpless though. Nobody spoke our language and we couldn’t read 95% of the signs on the road. Occasionally, we saw the same roads as before going the other way or on a different highway and still couldn’t find them on the map (hence the Ding Daeng Road title). Thankfully, the internal compass was working well today because we got headed in the right direction and stuck to it as best we could weaving through Bangkok’s big building and crazy freeways.
After cruising around Bangkok for over an hour (we had guessed it would take about 20 minutes), we crossed the Rama VIII Bridge. Within a couple of minutes the highway we wanted started on the road we were already on and we felt pretty comfortable the rest of way (in our direction). The trip was a little worrisome at times because nobody respects lane-lines around here. They all wander wherever, pass on the shoulder, drive at different speeds, and I had to make a few quick moves to avoid incidents. We couldn’t read most of the signs and the ones we could, couldn’t pronounce. We took to calling them English words like Ketchup, Sonogram, and Harry Carey.
On the day we drove about 400 kilometers and were in the car for almost 7 seven hours. One highlight was when we decided to visit the Myanmar border to try to get our passports stamped in another country. Not just any other country, but Myanmar (formerly Burma) which is now totally backward and ruled by a military junta that has decided to shut the country and its people off from the world. We got to the border crossing and was told it was closed and we would have to turn around. I guess they only let Thais and Myanmar people cross at that one. Out of the big cities the drive was nice. We had a four-lane highway with some traffic but not heavy. Out of cities we cruised about 120 km/h and enjoyed the lush, green scenery. In the last 24 hours we even learned both of us are old country fans and enjoyed listening to some songs from back in the day on our iPods and reminiscing.
When we finally got to our hostel after 4pm we checked in and liked what we saw. The place is right on the beach, has nice grass (a true luxury in Asia), a b-ball court and ping-pong table, and little individual cabanas. Our room is pretty nice although no English TV channels are available so we will probably be watching a movie on the laptop tonight for entertainment. We played a game of Horse and rallied on the ping-pong table for a while. Afterwards we hit the pool and beach/ocean (about 50 feet away from our doorstep) before grabbing dinner and relaxing in our A/Ced room. The weather is much better/cooler here than Bangkok and I think our days on the beach will be a blast.
We are at a ferry terminal in Donsak (about 70 kms east of Suritthani) and preparing to ride a ferry to Ko Samui. The internet is ghetto slow so no pictures on this post. We hope to have internet on the island but don't know. Things are good.

South-by-Southwest

Tomorrow morning we venture out of Bangkok into the great unknown, literally. Budget Rent-a-Car is dropping an “economy car” by our hotel tomorrow at 9am, probably a Honda Jazz although we asked for a Toyota Vios or Honda City if they can scrounge one up in time. The next week will be a real adventure. Now that is it upon us I am way excited but a little nervous. We planned this week of having a rental car to see the countryside and experience Thailand/Asia in a different way than the usual downtowns and touristy stuff. Tomorrow we drive about 300km to a hostel on the east coast of Thailand in a city called Prachuab Khirikhan. We cut our stay there to one night so we could add an island that came highly recommended in Mackenzie’s travel book. Kho Samui. To get here we drive our car an additional 400 kilometers to Suritthani. From here we catch a two-hour boat ride to the island. It is supposed to be a blast with amazing beaches, zip lines, go-karts, scooters/motorcycles (we have to leave our car behind) and lots of other fun things to do. After spending three nights here we catch an early morning boat back, hop in our car, and drive 300 kilometers to Phuket with a stop in between for kayaking and sightseeing. In Phuket we have two more days to hit beaches, sight-see, and relax. One other thing is most of the places we are staying don’t have internet, so I probably won’t be posting as much or online near as much. I am looking forward to our adventure, please feel free to pray for our safe travel as this is one occasion I thinks those prayers could be especially warranted.

Hanging in Bangkok

Today we woke up to eat breakfast together and then bid adieu to our beloved friend Fernando. It has been a blast having him join me on the trip. We only met in January but I could tell pretty quickly that he was a great guy. Thankfully when I told him of my plans for a trip to Asia and invited he jumped at the chance. We got to visit his mission country Japan, and he was invaluable in teaching me about technology and shopping. He will be missed!
For the rest of the morning, Mackenzie and I reorganized plans for our remaining days in Thailand. After grabbing lunch at the local mall’s food court (Caesar salad and slice of pizza for me) we hopped on the Skytram to visit the next mall and look into buying some things and entertaining ourselves. We purchased a headset so we can call home with Skype, a mapbook and highway map of Thailand, and some trinkets. We bowled two games in the mall’s alley and caught an IMAX about an African Safari. My bowling was even worse than last time, but I did keep my pride by scoring about 100 both games. The movie was a little short for the price (under an hour), but good when I was awake. Rain was coming down when we left the mall but we made it home alright before heading out to McDonald’s for dinner. We found a cheap DVD store (probably pirated) and picked up 4 shows for future viewing. I view it more as rentals since they each cost less than $2 and will be watched once and left somewhere in Asia.

A Nice Afternoon in Bangkok

Following Church in the morning and taking a break until after 2pm we ventured back out into Bangkok. We took the Skytrain to the waterfront on the south edge of the historic district and then caught a ferry heading north to our destination, the Wat Arun temple. We missed the exit as they gave you about 5 seconds to jump on/off the boat and we didn't know what was going on. Lets just say the guidebook didn't mention important little details like that. The temple was a big stone structure with lots of spires and cool colored figures/statues. Just as we got off the boat to visit it, the heavens let loose with our first downpoar since Singapore, and all we had for cover was a small pavilion at the local tourist booth. This temple was a small preview of Angkor Wat, the famous massive ancient stone temple in Cambodia we will be visiting in two weeks.

After waiting out the storm and visiting the temple we hopped on another ferry to the north end of the historic district and got off at a stop near an old fort and searched for an Indian restaurant (today was river crusing day). The place was called Roti Motaba (sounds like a scary virus out of Africa or something), but the food was delicious. I had the chicken curry with rice and some roti, or nan-like bread with butter and sugar on it. It was probably the best authentic meal we have had of the trip in my opinion. Mackenzie's travel book recommended it and we loved the food and relaxed atmosphere where you would just call out to the waitress your food additions and new items you wanted. And the bill came up to about $3US a person. Can't beat that!

We came home after that to get Fernando packed up for his departure tomorrow and for my fellow travellers to go to bed early. For some reason I have been doing great on the trip with less sleep than everyone else. It makes for a lot of alone time in the hotel lobbies to blog, read news, or generally waste time. The one downside is getting locked-out like in Kuala Lampur when Fernando slept through my 5 minutes of pounding on the door. Luckily, he woke up on my 3rd attempt with breaks in between.

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention about the movie. So in the middle of the previews we are sitting there (I'm watching Office and Fernando and Mackenzie are suffering through some horrible previews in Thai) and then all of a sudden the whole audience gets up like the prophet walked in the room and stands at attention silently. We jumped up like everyone else and looked up to see a minute-plus infomertial about their King and all the good he does. It was bizarre, but entertaining in a way. The King has been monarch for 60+ years and is widely respected. He doesn't have much direct political power, but he is looked upon as a wise, guardian of the people with a lot of influence on the country.

So here are picks from our Indian restaurant and McDonalds. Today we didn't have a full meal at McDonalds, but I got a McFlurry, Fernando two hamburgers, and Mackenzie a chocoalte sunday. The others are pictures of me on the river across from the temple we visited and a nice rainbow that greeted us around sunset after we got done eating.

Shanghaied Twice and Lost in Bangkok Once

Saturday morning we headed out around 9am after eating our free "American breakfast" (eggs, toast, bacon, bad juice). Bangkok reminds me of Manila in many ways. It has big buildings in some areas but they are spread out throughout the city too. The transportation system is a little bit better as the roads aren't as clogged, but the air is still nasty dirty and it is hot out, peaking around 100F degrees with some humidity. Our hotel is really quite good, with great internet, daily room cleaning, a descent sized room and a good location between downtown and the historical areas. We got a taxi to the Grand Palace but learned when we stepped out that supposedly it was closed until 2pm for some Buddhist ceremony. I say supposed because we learned throughout the day that Thai businessmen and drivers can be a little sketchy. A "nice" guy hooked us up with a dirt cheap taxi that was a 3-wheeler with a a back seat that the three of us squished into to go visit the giant golden buddha and the Golden Monument, which provides a nice hill to get a panoramic view of Bangkok. Both of the stops were enjoyable although walking on the marble floors that were in the sun without shoes was very uncomfortable. We would dart out to take pictures in the right spots and then go back to hugging the six inches of shade on the edges. When we got done visiting the Golden Monument we walked outside to find our taxi driver gone as he had already taken us to the shops he needed to to get his gasoline vouchers, some program to get tourists to buy local goods. We grabbed another free taxi and he proceeded to take us to the same stores again and left while we were inside. These cabbies we totally just grabbing us for the free gas, never intending to return us to the Grand Palace. Finally we grabbed a real, metered taxi and made our way back to the Grand Palace. We did the full tour and saw all the cool buildings, statues, etc. The colors were awesome, bright and regal looking. Thailand's temples and cultural sights are much more vibrant and exciting than HK's or Japan's. The Grand Palace was really nice. Some of the buildings go back hundreds of years and all looked amazing. I took over 80 pictures on the day so I have plenty to show for anyone interested when I get home. Also, we had to put on pants for the Grand Palace as they don't allow shorts, which made it a little warmer but not near as bad as Mackenzie's wool-feeling skirt.

Around 3pm we got done touring the Grand Palace. Mackenzie and Fernando seemed near death of dehydration and exhaustion so we caught a cab home, ate a late lunch, and relaxed for a few hours. We went back out in the evening for dinner (another trip to the designer mall foodcourt) and to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. I ate some sticky rice and grilled pork that came with this amazing sauce. It wasn't full-blown local food, but close enough for me and tasty really good. The movie was entertaining, but long and rediculous at the end. Our taxi drive home was a complete disaster as our driver got lost twice and didn't really have a clue what he was doing. I gave him our hotel's business card with map and the big cross-streets a couple blocks away and he still had to stop 3 times to ask people outside for help. I knew where we were and where we were heading better than he did as I had my Bangkok map out and have gotten familiar with a few places/landmarks. Now I just need to assert myself and point/grunt for our drivers to go certain directions. The drive home took 20+ minutes more than it should have and cost an extra buck (rediculous how cheap taxis are here, and A/Ced too, we love them).
This morning we left 50 minutes early for Church to try to avoid our previous problems. I had spent almost an hour yesterday trying to find a local church on the internet and mumbling/grumbling/pointing with our hotel staff over maps of Bangkok. They couldn't really read English addresses and I had no idea about Thai. And the addresses were small streets so nobody really know the exact location, just general areas. Between scouring the internet (found a Thailand mission alumnus website's blog that gave some help) and using Google maps, I found the exact neighborhood and gave us a good idea of where to go today. Our taxi took about 15 minutes to get us to the neighborhood and then we wandered on foot for another 15 minutes and surprisingly found the place. I was very excited/relieved to see the familiar spire and Church marquee. Luckily, it worked out for us that we attended the Bangkok English Ward and it is a real ward. They have over 200 a week in attendance and families from all over the world. All of the graduating seniors spoke today which was good but also very entertaining. They have some good kids who were pretty funny. I'm sure most will be headed for BYU in the fall and the usual Utah thing. When the Youth Choir sang I counted 32 kids which blew my mind. I don't think my home ward has that many and this is in Bangkok.

After relaxing and catching up on the world and my blog, we will be heading out this afternoon to visit some more sights, eat some food, and do the usual tourist stuff.

Thursday - A Lot of Much Needed Sitting Around

Sorry to disappoint, but no pictures with this post. We started the morning by going down the hill at 7:30am, checking our luggage at the in-town check-in before 8am (awesome, you can check into your flight and leave/check your luggage up to 24 hours a head of time and everything arrives like normal in your destination), and then hurried to the Temple to catch the 9am session. It went well and I did the whole thing in Cantonese, of which I understood enough to know what was going on. From there we got lunch at McDonald's, bought me a new power adapter in Mongkok, and caught the train to the airport. Our flight was supposed to be a little over 2 hours but turned into 5 as our plane had some wing/mechanical problem. Honestly, I didn't mind as I just read/sat there. After all the running around the last couple days, sitting was a nice change.
When we got to Bangkok we got through immigration (a while) and negotiated a ride with a taxi driver to our hotel, about a 1/2 hour away. When we were driving down the road it hit me for the first time that we are really in a foreign country now. English is not spoken that much (at least where we have been and who we have interacted with), the local language is totally nonsense to all of us (verbal and written), and we are totally winging it now. No formoer missionaries or British colonial history, now the true adventure begins. When we got to our hotel it took them like 20 minutes to confirm my reservation on their end even though I had the right paperwork on our end (admittedly in English) and the lady was really nice but communication could be a problem. One nice thing is that our hotel seems very good and should be an enjoyable stay. As always, we have a McDonald's a block or less away and 7-11 two doors down. I won't starve (same weight roughly as departure actually).
Check out Fernadno's blog for more detail on today and most days (http://www.blog.mladineo.com/). Mackenzie started one as well so feel free to check that out at www.kenzinasia.blogspot.com. OK, it is 12:30am here (1:30am in HK) and I am caught up on the blog. Totally tired and off to bed.

Just Like the Old Days

After visiting the Church's new building we went to grab lunch at one of my old favorite spots on Kowloon side, Ruby Tuesday. Much to my dis-appointment it is gone from the mall now and we ate at some random restaurant with a nice view of downtown. We took the subway up the peninsula from here and visited Mongkok, one of HK's many notorious shopping districts. Fernando and I both got 2 ties while Mackenzie picked up a belt for roughly 30 cents. We hopped back on the subway and went to Kowloon Tong to visit the Temple and look into doing a session and staying in Temple housing in the future (we ended up deciding to stay at the Salisbury YMCA where they have hostel style dorm rooms for a little more than our current accomodations but in a much more convenient location). While visiting the Temple I decided to go upstairs and see the mission home and had a very pleasant surprise. A then-19ish young man, new member from the Causeway Bay Ward (I served there for over 4 months) who was taught and baptized by my trainer is now a full-time missionary and I ran into him unexpectedly. He couldn't go on a mission then because his mother was old and in poor health, disliked the Church, and depended on his income to provide for them both. He was/is the nicest, humblest young man and I was so happy to see him serving. That was definitely the highlight of my day and I need to tell his trainer the good news. Since we were beat from the day's adventures we headed home a little earlier than expected around 8pm.

The title of this blog derives from what we do all day, walk around and travel around HK. It reminds me of my mission because I became so tired and sweaty/dirty from just walking around and seeing the sights. It was great to be back but I think I make a lousy tour guide as that was never my interest in the past and I don't really know what to do to entertain others. Hong Kong for me means mission I guess and it probably always will.

Thursday Morning Wanderings

Thursday was our HK day. We had the full day to run around and see the sights. I never really thought about this as a missionary, but HK isn't really the best tourist spot other than its skyline and enjoying the insanity or crowdedness and activity that characterizes "Asia's World City" as their Tourism Department like to call it. There is more cultural stuff in other countries, more natural beauty in other places, and a lot more relaxing environments, but HK is good for a day or two. After venturing down from our mountain outpost we caught the subway across HK island to the Shau Kei Wan area. Thursday was the 2551th or somethingth anniversary of Buddha's Birthday and also a day of celebration to the local fisherman/weather God. They've got lots of revered figures overhere and it is impossible to keep track of them all. So the festival/parade in Shaw Kei Wan was pretty cool. We got to see a Lion Dance and some other cultural stuff. After the festivities we ventured around the neighborhood (I used to live on the street) and I showed everyone the local fresh market, a little too fresh at times with chickens lacking heads jumping around in buckets and pig's legs hanging on the rack as a delicacy. From here we walked through the Victoria Park and Causeway Bay areas, kind of a ritzy, shopping locale.

Our next stop was the new Church building in Wan Chai, one of the big building commercial districts. The land was purchased while I was a missionary (rumored to be in the neighborhood of $30,000,000US) and the building was dedicated in 2005 by President Hinckley. It is 13 stories, has three chapels, the Asia Area Offices and living quarters for the General Authorities presiding over the area. The building was amazing and really blew my mind in terms of cost and location. The picture of me on the bridge with all the tall buildings in the background is about a block away on the exact same street. This is probably the 3rd or 4th most exclusive street in HK and the Church has some prime real estate there now.

My Old Stomping Grounds

So we woke up in the morning and caught a quick cab to Changi Airport, rated #1 in the world last year. We have visited 4 of the best airports in the world on our trip already, although I think from here it will head downhill. For me, the quality of the airport is determined about 90% by whether or not they have free internet. This makes HK, Kensai/Osaka, and Phoenix great airports, while Singapore and LAX bad airports. So our flight was great between Singapore and HK. It was about 3.5 hours and featured cheese ravioli as the meal with HaggenDazs (however that's spelled) vanilla ice cream as the desert. The ice cream was totally frozen solid but that didn't deter me. I attempted to dig right in and proceeded to fling my ice cream 3 feet into my shirt. Thankfully it was so frozen it didn't leave a mark.

After landing in HK we took the Airport Express train to Central and hailed a cab to go to our hostel. Our hostel is the only one on HK Island and was described as remote but that didn't begin to explain it. It is near the top of Mount Davis at the west end of the island and a near impossiblity to get to without a vehicle. Taxis are about $8US to get there so that was our plan anytime going home or a 40-minute hike up a steep trail full of switch-backs. The hostel itself was very bare-bones as our room had two bunk beds and that was it besides the wonderful A/C. We do have a great view off the west end of HK Island so I took a nice picture of the sunset and boats on Wednesday. When Mackenzie arrived she said it seemed more like a jungle military camp and that we were in North Korea than a hostel in Hong Kong.

After setting up shop in our room we got the hostel minibus back to Central/Sheung Wan to eat dinner and prep for Mackenzie's arrival. After showing Fernando around the neighborhood we decided we'd like PizzaHut for food and set about finding one. After trying in vain for about 10 minutes amongst the 40-story buildings I remembered one about 15 minutes up the hill near a Church building that missionaries operated out of in my mission. We walked through the nightlife district on the way (looked pretty happening, never got a chance to visit in my 2 years there) and used the Mid-levels escalators to reach our destination. The picture of the old mansion is the old Church. We sold it a couple of years ago when the Church opened a new building but I was happy to see it again. We grabbed our pizza and ran back down the hill to minimize our lateness for Mackenzie's arrival.

We got there just a few minutes after our scheduled meeting time but learned her plane had arrived 1 hour late so we had time to kill. We ate, relaxed, used our iPods, and the like. When she finally stepped off the train Fernando was passed out and I was in the middle of an Office episode. Thankfully I looked up in time to sight her and welcome her to Hong Kong before she walked off to our planned meeting spot. From the train station we walked out into the night tosee Hong Kong lighted up in the dark and visit Victoria Peak for a panorama view. It was great being back and looking over HK remembering days of my life I will always treasure. HK will always be a land of miracles and joy for me. The memories of long days wandering streets and knocking on doors have melted away to all that I remembering being the happy times.

After taking the tram back down to downtown we walked a bit to try to find a supermarket to purchase breakfast in the morning but ended up settling for a 7-11. Upon walking out the door I walked up to the first taxi I saw and we hopped in. I told him where we were going and he had never been there before and grew more mystified the longer we climbed up the hill in the dark. He kept chatting with me in Cantonese and I was surprised at how well we carried on. When we arrived at our destination he pronounced, "F...ing Crazy" and suggested we find somewhere else to stay next time. On that note we headed off to bed.

Finishing Singapore

So I am three days behind on the blog again so entries will be short until I catch up. Tuesday started in disappointing fashion as we had to switch resorts because there wasn't a room available at only one for all four nights we were in Singapore. My plans for the day were upset too when I learned that both the water and amusement parks we had free tickets to were closed on Tuesdays. So I decided to meet Fernando after he picked up his suit in town and we visited the Business District for the first time. While not as impressive as Hong Kong, the area had many big buildings and was very clean and organized. Fernando left to take his suit back to the hotel so I decided to visit the National Museum again and see and exhibit about the history of Singapore. Just my luck, it had closed 15 minutes earlier, so yet again my day was busted. I am learning all over again that planning helps. To kill the nearly 2 hours until we met again I tracked down the National Library and looked up some great books about the history of Singapore. I hope I can find one or two back in the states because I want to learn more about this area now that I have been here. In the evening went to the Night Safari at the zoo which was pretty good, but we missed the Creatures of the Night show which was a bummer. After that we went home and packed for our flight the next morning. Picture 1 = Raffles Hotel, pretty much the only traditional/old/colonial commerical building in Singpore left; Picture 2 = Downtown Skyline; Picture 3 = me petting a snake at the zoo. If I don't look like I'm enjoying it that's because I wasn't.

Singapore Continued...And Input Needed

Monday morning I continued my swimming regiment as the resort's pool was so nice I decided to start each day with a nice dip in the pool and a dozen or so laps. I have never been a fan of running at all, but for some reason swimming appeals to me and my mind doesn't get stuck on the question of "Why are you doing this you fool?" like it does when I'm running. So after the morning swim and relaxing around the hotel, we headed into town. We visited Orchard Road again so Fernando could have measurements taken for a suit and some dress shirts, and then headed into the original areas of Singapore to see some sights. Most of our afternoon was eaten up by the "Battle Bunker," a historic sight about the underground bunker where the British commanded their Pacific forces from during WWII until Singapore's surrender on Feb. 15, 1942. They wouldn't let us take pictures underground so I got one by the exit. The picture with the Lion above is from the Legacy Country Club or something like that that now is housed in the old building of the British Military Headquaters. Afterwards we visited the National Museum briefly before heading home to drop off stuff and eat food.

In the evening we visited Mui Jan Sing, or Janson, a friend from my days as a missionary in Hong Kong. He is working in Singapore now doing IT for a law firm. We met him at the Yui Ko Cho Metro Station near his house and then went to play tennis at his complex. He lives in a nice apartment on the 5th floor of a 15 story block. All together in his complex there is about 500 units with a really big, nice communal pool and jacuzzi, tennis courts, a fitness center, and other amenities. For 21, I must say he is doing pretty well. It was sad how much I was sweating for how lethargically I played, but that was the effect of being 80 miles from equator I guess. It was great to hang out and see him again even though it had been four years since we last saw each other in Hong Kong I had a great time and plan on keeping in touch. On our way home we

used the subway as always and I got an amusing shot of Fernando's and my reflections on the glass doors they have seperating everyone from the tracks. Hey, you get bored when you got 5 minutes to kill before the next train comes and you are between episodes.