Home Soon

Only 9 more days and we'll be on a plane to NY, then NC, and later MI.  It's going to be a lot of time flying, and probably some wicked jet lag, but we're so excited to be with family and friends for the holidays.  We're looking forward to catching up with everyone, having yummy holiday foods, and actually needing to wear a coat in the winter.  (And I'm looking forward to having access to a proper oven instead of the tiny, overheating oven we have here!)

Tennis in Macao

Here are some photos and videos from the Venetian Macau Tennis Showdown...Nate's birthday present. We got to see Federer, Blake, Borg, and McEnroe play. It was a relaxed setting, and McEnroe was totally hamming it up to entertain the crowd. At one point, he pulled his shirt up over his face and acted like he was going to play like that. We've seen the matches on tv a million times since we went.

Trip to Macau

Nate's birthday was last week.  I secretly arranged with the principal and Nate's secretary for us to take our one personal day we are allotted per year so we could go to a tennis exhibition in Macau.  Macau is a 1 hour ferry ride away.  Below are photos of some of the sightseeing we did around town on Friday.  I'll add tennis photos later...

On top of one of the forts.

The ruins of Sao Paulo.

A lovely church near the Senado Square area.

Lighthouse on top of one of the forts.

We stayed at the Venetian.  This is inside the hotel, where there were canals and gondolas.

Also inside the Venetian.

Our amazing room.

Luxurious bathroom.  

The room was practically the size of our apartment!

Beaches

These are a few photos from the beaches near us, Shek O beach and Big Wave Bay. It stayed hot enough to go to the beach and even swim in the ocean until about 2 days ago!



This is a poor quality photo because I was zooming in a lot, but notice how the girl is posing and the guy is taking her photo. People do that everywhere here- the beach, in the streets, heck even at McDonalds! Full out posing with no shame, like they're on a modeling shoot. It's very entertaining to watch.


This last one is a random shot of Nate when we were hiking from Tai Tam (where we live) to Repulse Bay (where the school is).

Diwali

Here's a photo of the class last Friday. We learn about Hinduism in R2, so we were doing special centers because of the Hindu holiday of Diwali (which was actually yesterday). If you look really closely, you can see the bindis on our heads and the flower garlands students made. We also made diyas and torans, watched a special Diwali puppet show put on my some parents, and tasted mango lassi.

Peeps

Look what I found, all the way in Hong Kong! Peeps!

Vietnam!!!

So about 10 days ago, Nate and I returned from our trip to Vietnam. We stayed in Hanoi the majority of the time and explored the area mostly by foot. Vietnam was a very interesting place, and quite different from Hong Kong. It really made us appreciate how modern, clean, and international Hong Kong is. I'll let the pictures tell our story. (We took about 120, so I unfortunately couldn't include them all.)A temple in the middle of the lake in Hanoi.


The busy streets of Hanoi, full of honking motorbikes.


Bottles of an unknown liquid that is supposed to be good for you if you drink it...notice the snake and scorpions inside. Eww!


Colorful lanterns for sale in the street.


Many women carry around fruit or other goods for sale in this manner.


A giant embalmed tortoise that is fabled to have saved Hanoi from a terrible ruler. It's in a temple on the lake. I find this very humorous.


The entrance to the Temple of Literature.


Inside the Temple of Literature.


Also inside the Temple of Literature.

The One Pillar Pagoda.


We went to Ninh Binh, about 2 hours away, and were paddled around like these folks on a little boat. Note the man rowing with his FEET! The next 4 pictures were also taken there, from our boat.

A house on the water.

Rowing under the grotto and getting dripped on by the stalactites.

The lovely limestone formations we saw.

A little boy by the river.


An ancient temple nearby in Ninh Binh. The other people in the picture are Erika and Geoff, who are also from HKIS.