Sunday, April 5, 2009

Over to Hong Kong


Here we are in Hong Kong!!! After we setup our show over the border in Shenzhen, China, we took the subway to the other side. We actually had to go through customs, since HK is separate from the mainland with it's own gov't and monetary system. The city is very populated and after The UK gave it back to China they did not want an in flux of people coming over....

So we had our 24 hours there and it was unexpected. Probably the most building I have seen per square mile. The mountains all around make it seem surreal. We did not even get to see the more natural settings the islands have to offer.

Public transportation rocks! We went from subway, to ferry, to trolley in half a day. Nice to have in a big city, but of course overwhelming! You forget which way you are going. Luckly we had our own tour guide, our friend Kerrie.

As soon as we got off the subway to take a look at the "Mansions" we would be staying in, the city flare was very apparent. People from many different countries trying to sell you things, take you to hotel or mansions, and who knows what else. Since everything is vertical, we had to go up to find a place to stay for one night. It was kind of like the movies were you see these creepy places and low ceilings. The "mansions" were not at all like the name. All had tiny rooms and were very cramped. You knew you were in a city with this kind of atmoshere and living arrangements. I am even more sure I could never live in this type of enviroment. Think God we still have some land left back home to buy and build on! We finally found a place and ventured off to get some local food, dim sum! Yummm!

After that we took the ferry over to the main island and then took a trolley/bus around. This was very cool b/c it started to get dark and there were lights and colors everywhere. Sorry some of the images are blurry! We also ate at a burger joint with some people Kerrie knew and got a couple of things at a store called H&M. Cool store, Kim and I both picked out green shirts and sandles after a half and hour of shopping by ourselves! Weird!

The next day we went to the star alley next to the pier and overlooking the main city scape. We saw Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee there! We even fought Bruce for a minute before a swarm of other visitors wanted a piece of him!!!

More pics are coming so please check us out. More of HK and our ceramic show in Shenzhen. See you then~
























Brad's 30th Birthday















Well I am now 30 years old and I had a great birthday here in China. Kim got all our friends together for dinner and then some fun at a bowling alley. We had my favorite, duck at a local restaruant.

Then came the birthday cake, which we got a cool flower candle. The candle shoots out this flame and plays music, while it "blooms ." We saw this kind of candle at a friends b-day party earlier in our trip and I knew I wanted one on my cake!

After we stuffed our faces with cake we went off to the bowling alley to have some fun! It is a small place with about 8 lanes. Most of our friends had one been bowling once or twice, so we knew they would have fun. Our scores were not that good, but everyone was laughing and trying to help there teams win.

The last picture shows me in my finest b-day gift, the local favorite pj's. The local people think they are so comfortable they wear them around in public! All of us always crack up at how funny they look. I'll tell you what, they are supper cozy on the cold, rainy days here. I told our friend Kerrie I would wear it on my b-day if she got it for me. I only wore it to meet everyone at the studio, then had to take it off! It was to hot! Plus, people were staring at me even more than usual and it was too much!