Hong Kong

January 15 - 18, 2009

Jan. 15 - Shenzhen to Kowloon
Jan. 16 - attend Hong Kong Temple session in Kowloon Tong
Jan. 17 - inservice meeting for all BYU China teachers @ Asia Area Service Building in Hong Kong
Jan. 18 - attend church services in Kowloon

Jan. 15 - went from Shenzhen, China, across the border to Hong Kong (even though Hong Kong is part of China now, it's an autonomus district and requires a separate visa to go there. The tour bus picked up us from the hotel in Shenzhen and took us to the Chinese immigration. We walked our bags across the border and had our papers checked on. The bus drove to the other side and we got on after crossing the immigration. Several minues later, we stopped at the Hong Kong immigration and again, we had to walk our luggage over to the other side. The bus driver, who sat on the wrong side of the bus, came over and picked us up again. Oh, yes, the British, they drove on the left side of the road and the steering wheel was on the right.

We checked in at the Salisbury YMCA Hotel by the harbor in Kowloon. It's a street over the famed Nathan Street. Jeff Ringer, the BYU Kennedy Center director met us by the harbor and we enjoyed the nightly harbor light show.

Jan. 16: we took subway to Kowloon Tong and found the temple. President Watson spoke to us and it was a happy reunion as we knew him from when he was a missionary in Taiwan.

Jan. 17: We took the ferry across Hong Kong harbor and went to the Asia Area Service Building for our inservice. Each teacher had 2 minutes to present a topic of teaching English in China. Elwin did one on difficult pronunciation, and I did one on "what's in a name". We enjoyed listening to all the various ways English was being taught in China. It was great to have the handouts to help us plan for next semester. Ella-Rene and I went to the Jade market and the all day market and had a great time. We had dinner the Dan Ryan's Western Steak house and had some fabulous western food.

Jan. 18: We took a taxi to Ho Man Tin Chapel in Kowloon and attended the China International Districts Conference there from 9-11:30, with President Toronto conducting. We had some time after church before being picked up, so we had pizza at Shakey's which was delicious. Then we walked over to Kowloon Park and had a stroll. We saw many young Philippino women as it was their day off. Many of them work as housekeepers for foreigners there. They usually have one day off. So church has meetings every day of the week to provide service to these sisters.

The tour bus picked us up at around 4 pm and took us back to Shenzhen to catch a flight to Guilin to start our Southwestern China tour. My sisters Ling and Alice from Spokane and Los Angeles, would be in Guilin before we did. We looked forward to seeing them there. They spent the last week in Beijing while we were in Hong Kong.

Enjoy the slideshow.