Karen Visits Hong Kong

Ah, it is great to be home. I am not much of a long distance traveler, so I like to go but I like to come home again. My bed, my shower, my food. All good.

Rather than bore you with all the nitty-gritty details of my trip, I will just tell you the highlights.

Seeing more of China. Like the United States, China is a huge country with many different landscapes. I loved being by the ocean and seeing all the different cities. Plus, it was much warmer. Even though I had to wear my coat at times, I didn’t have to wear two or three layers and my ugly, clunky boots. Both Shenzhen and Hong Kong are huge, modern cities. Shenzhen was a small fishing village 30 years ago; now it is a thriving metropolis with residents who have an average age of 30. Hong Kong is full of skyscrapers and flashy lights, as most of you know. There is still some green space left but that is shrinking by the day. At some point, someone needs to say, “Stop!” to all the unconstructive construction.

Going through customs leaving China and entering Hong Kong. We took a bus from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, stopping at the border to go through customs. We had to take all of our belongings and enter a huge building similar to an airplane hangar. First, we stood in line to show our passport and departure papers at the Chinese side. The officials inspected our paper work quite carefully checking to see if we truly were the people pictures in the photos. We also ran our bags through a scanner. Then we walked about 100 yards into the Hong Kong side (same building) and stood in another line and had our passports and papers checked again. We walked out of the building and into the world of freedom. It was that tangible.

Taking Chinese medicine. I had some trouble with the food on the trip and neglected to take the necessary American medicine. (Silly me!) So on Thursday morning I went to a pharmacy and got some little round black pills that smelled nasty and tasted worse. I put a few in my purse and soon my purse and passport were all contaminated with the disgusting smell. I decided that I didn’t need to take the medicine. All I had to do was get a whiff of it and I would feel better almost immediately.

Riding the subway. We rode the subway to the temple and back. We rode on one train for three stops then switched to another train and rode three more stops. So easy. On the way over, it was not crowded so we had seats. On the way back it was standing room only. However, it was still a fun experience.



The temple is located on a residential street in an older and quieter part of town. This is the entrance to the temple grounds.



Landscaping in front of the temple.



The temple sign in English.



The temple from across the street



The Church building across the street which houses the distribution center, a chapel and other offices.

Attending the Hong Kong Temple. That was probably the highlight of the entire trip. It has been over five months since I attended the Ogden temple and I miss it very much. The temple and grounds were beautiful. One of the current BYU teachers painted two pictures for the temple when it was first dedicated, and I was able to see one of them in the foyer. Across the street is a small Distribution Center. I was also able to pick up a Bible and a Triple Combination, so I have scriptures again. YES!

Learning about the LDS church in the Asian Area. After attending the temple session, we walked across the street and had a meeting with Elder Carl B. Pratt, the Second Counselor in the Asian Area Presidency. He showed us a power point presentation about the Church in this area of the world. He said that the Asia area has one-third of the world’s population with the main religions being Hindu and Buddhist and the rest claiming no religion at all. Even so, the LDS Church is growing in Asia. He showed pictures of couples getting married in the temples and second-generation members with their families. It was very interesting.

These are all pictures I took at the China Fold Culture Village. The Chinese visited the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii and got some ideas from the LDS Church. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked. We took a train ride around the park and the driver drove rather quickly and only stopped at assigned places where they sold souvenirs.I took some of the pictures on the run. 

This is the entrance to the park itself. Notice all the Chinese lanterns. They are everywhere in China, a symbol of the Chinese New Year celebration coming up on February 3rd.

Village vegetation and people. Chinese babies are so cute!



More vegetation and statue



Leshan Giant Buddha statue



Huangguoshu Falls. Notice the shaping of the hedges and trees. They do this all over China.

Miniature pagodas



Big lake



Village

Landscaping

Water village



Huge Bell with ringer and me (below). It made a wonderful gong sound.


Being united with friends. It was fun seeing the people from BYU again and hearing about their teaching experiences in their cities. We all agreed that we worked harder than we thought we would, but we enjoyed the Chinese students more than we thought we would. On Saturday we spent the morning sharing teaching ideas that have worked for us. I am excited about second semester and plan to use many of the new ideas.

Riding the bus to Stanley Market. Saturday afternoon we took a bus over the mountain to the market. The scenery was breath-taking. The vegetation was beautiful and the view of the harbor was gorgeous. Those drivers are so used to the hairpin turns that they drive very fast on the winding roads. What a thrill!

Eating American food at Dan Ryan’s. We had dinner on Friday and Saturday night at an American restaurant near our hotel. It was so good! The menu warned that the portions were large and they were not kidding.

Getting back to the Shenzhen airport. Our tour guide forgot to tell the four of us Xi’an people that we had to find our own way back to the Shenzhen airport because the rest of the group was flying out of Hong Kong and heading for southern China. He apologized in the Chinese fashion (by not apologizing) and gave us $100 in Hong Kong dollars to pay for the shuttle. We checked out of the hotel at noon, so we had plenty of time because our flight didn’t leave until about 7:50 p.m. We got a taxi, climbed in, and we were off to the races--literally. This guy was squealing around corners, jerking to a stop at the light, and driving like a maniac. Thank goodness we had seat belts on. I wasn’t sure whether he didn’t like Americans or he was trying to make extra money by getting us to the Kowloon Station in just under three minutes on a normal ten-minute run. It was with shaky knees and thankful hearts that we stepped out onto the platform at the station.

We had a quick lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, water, and bananas and climbed aboard the airport shuttle. The second time through the border was a little more adventurous because we had no one to guide us. The Hong Kong side was fine and we breezed through. I guess they don’t really care if you are leaving. Then we walked across the building to the Mainland China side. First, we were so clueless that we stood in one of the lines for the Chinese Nationals. You would think that one of the Chinese people would tell us that we were in the wrong line but no such luck. I finally looked up and realized our mistake. We hustled over to the line marked Foreigners and waited patiently for our turn to return. The weird part was that the people in the foreigners line looked just like the people in the Chinese lines. We were the only Americans that I could see. This official was extremely careful. He scrutinized my passport numbers, he compared my face to my picture very carefully (I tried not to look scared.), and then he checked to make sure I had all the right stamps. Without so much as a nod or smile, he handed me back my passport. I guess that was his way of welcoming travelers back to the land of harmonious relationships. As before, when I walked out of the building, I had a different feeling. This time I knew that I was back in Mainland China.

I would love to go back to Hong Kong; it is such a beautiful place. However, I am glad to be back in Xi’an with its freezing temperatures and polluted air. I hope this finds you well and content. Write when you can.