Mark & Emily

The End...For Now

2010-01-02T14:53:00.018+08:00

Here we are, at last.
Instead of typing from the 27th floor of the Harbour Plaza Resort City, Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong...I am here, in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada.

Before I carry on with life after travel, I will update everyone on our trip to China's Capital, Beijing.

Once again, China continued to show diversity. Each area of China that we have visited, has been so vastly different from the other. Not necessarily in culture, as they all share pretty much the same values, and government. But in surroundings, nature, and architecture. While Shenzhen is commercial and modern, and Guilin is scenic and humble, Beijing is old and cold!
The architecture in Beijing is quite special considering most of the famous buildings it is known for, were built in the 1400's. So they have very traditional chinese design. The detail work on their buildings was incredible. I just marvel at the fact that they were even able to obtain the materials to create their masterpieces.
Beijing was FREEEEEZING! Mark and I had to bundle up everyday, and it was almost a chore to get outside and walk around all day because of how chilly it was. The wind was bitter cold, and we certainly weren't used to the cold. It took us a few days to get used to the dryness of the air, since we were so used to the humidity in Hong Kong. The temperatures never went below

-10, but it felt much colder than that since were out in it all day long.

Our hotel was located right beside the Forbidden City, so we checked it out on our first day. I underestimated how huge it is! I actually thought it was no more than a few big buildings, but it consists of 980 buildings, and covers 7,800,000 sq ft of ground. Uhm, INSANE! We couldn't possibly see the entire thing, so we just walked by the main buildings to the end. It was a little too cold to hang out for 4 hours. Plus, it was really cool to see, but I get bored of staring at brick and concrete after awhile. I'm not a history buff like some people! But I definitely appreciated where I was. Personally, I just think the emperor was crazy for thinking he needed so much space, considering he was pretty much the only one allowed in it! Him and his servants, and concubines of course.
Each night during our 9 days in Beijing was usually spent checking out the markets, and trying out new food.
The markets in Beijing were pretty exciting, they were all indoor buildings with atleast 4 levels of shopping. Plenty of cheap goods, with good quality items if you know how to find them. Once again, I used my ultimate bargaining skills to buy some gifts for family and for ourselves. Mark tried to help out once, but he just screwed it all up, and he will admit to it. I have it down to an art, if you ever need any advice, ask me!
In the end, I'm almost glad the asia shopping era of my life is over for now, I don't like being so materialistic, but it was difficult to avoid when it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!
My favourite market was the Pearl Market, because it had a wide variety of clothing, electronics, accessories, and most importantly real fresh water pearls! I actually never thought about buying pearls, but I do find them quite beautiful so no better a time to purchase some real pearls than when in China! For my necklace & earring set, it cost me about 11 CDN dollars..The beauty of visiting the country who mass produces nearly everything that exists in this world. China is the world's largest producer of Cashmere, so you can't go anywhere without being asked if you want to buy a cashmere anything. I love scarves so I loaded up on pashminas (which are cashmere mixed with silk). A woman's paradise, I swear!
The day before Christmas Eve, we visited the Great Wall. It was just incredible. We spent a few extra bucks to take a tour through our hotel, as we wanted to keep things easy and fun. Turns out it was just the tour guide, us, and one other Chinese man that was actually from the States. We visited "The Sacred Way" which is a path of statues that were built to guard the Ming Tombs. Each statue had it's special meaning. Then after that, we visited a Jade factory, and a school of Chinese medicine. Mark was inspected by a wise old Chinese doctor. He would check his pulse, his eyes, and his tongue...which is apparently the main procedure for diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine. Mark said it was a pretty cool experience. I would have had mine read, but I think he was intimidated by the fact that I only speak English.
After all of this, we arrived at the Great Wall. The Wall has different sections that people visit and climb due to the fact that it's so impossibly long, you can't walk it all! I did my research before we went to Beijing, and found the best section of the wall (in my opinion) called the Mutianyu section. It's less touristy and known for it's beauty. Of course being there in December, it wasn't lush and beautiful in that sense, but it was very cool and "eerie"-like.
I found it to be so majestic. I felt like I was on top of the world. The climb was pretty treacherous near the end as it was VERY steep and exhausting. But we made it, and we felt great! We had a lot of fun, and luckily it wasn't windy, so we didn't die from the cold.

For dinner that evening we visited the original Peking Duck restaurant called "Quan Jude Peking Duck", famous for serving the emperor his roast duck in the 1800's. I'm not a huge fan of duck, but this was definitely the best I've had. It was very tender and juicy. A delicacy for them is to slice the crisp fatty skin, dip it into sugar and then eat it. I tried it, and it actually wasn't bad, but a little too greasy to eat everyday I think!
On Christmas Eve we visited the Summer Palace. Now this place definitely would have been more beautiful in the summer, considering that's what it was built for. It was the summer getaway for the emperors. It was built on a man-made hill, so it was really cool to climb up and around all of these little buildings built into the rock. Mark and I deemed it as being the world's best place for hide & seek or paint-ball. We also thought that it would be the ultimate location for one of our Stehmeier family reunions, although it would need a few renovations first.

That evening we went to a hotel to watch Chinese children perform Christmas carols, it was so darling! The hotel staff walked around serving apple cider and cookies, so that was very nice as well! Just a little Christmas spirit away from home.
After that we had the most fabulous Christmas Eve dinner. The meal was cheap as always, and absolutely delicious. One thing we both agree on with Beijing, is that it has incredible Chinese food. We couldn't get enough of it.
On Christmas Day we put on our Santa Hats once more, and walked around Tiananmen Square. The coldest day YET, but we powered through it, happily shouting "Sheng Dan Jie Kuai Le!" to passerby's. (Meaning Merry Christmas!) Mark making all of the girls giggle of course, whenever he said it.
We had fun walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. They actually had quite a few Christmas decorations and music playing at a shopping area nearby Tiananmen.

Over the next few days we visited the Olympic buildings from the 2008 summer olympics. I wanted to go inside, but unfortunately no one was allowed. They were really cool to see in person though.

(Click photo to enlarge panda play-by-play)

Mark wanted to visit the Beijing Zoo, which I'm glad we did because they definitely rocked the Panda exhibit. We had seen pandas in Taiwan and Hong Kong, but Beijing had several of them, and all of them very cute of course!
They also had the most incredible Big Cats. We saw some very large and beautiful lions/tigers. Kind of depressing though, they had them in little cement rooms with nothing but some water dishes. I'm pretty sure most of them had gone crazy. But I am in LOVE with wild cats, especially the big ones, so I couldn't help but enjoy watching them.

We also visited the Temple of Heaven of course, a temple built for the emperors to pray for good harvest.
I'm sure you have seen the popular email that was being circulated around the time of the olympics, of Beijing's interesting food markets. Well we visited it several times, just for fun, and also because they make the most delicious candy-coated fruit. It was quite disgusting to see what some people actually eat, but I'm pretty sure it's more for effect than for actual regular consumption by locals.
I was actually willing to try the deep-fried scorpion, but Mark was so unwilling that it kind of freaked me out, and I didn't want to be the only one with food-poisoning again.

By the time our trip came to an end, we were quite ready to return home to Canada. We had seen everything there was to see, and we were yearning for the comfort of home, and family. It was very surreal to get on that plane. It just felt like we were going to fly back to our home in Hong Kong, but this time it was Canada, for good. As soon as we arrived in the Vancouver airport, I instantly felt different. I knew we weren't in Asia anymore (all of the white people around didn't help) and frankly, it was quite sad. I was feeling a little bummed, until we arrived in Calgary and saw our family waiting to welcome us home. It was very nice to see everyone again and it was fun to see Calgary again, with all of it's snow! Beijing didn't have any snow, so it was lovely to see the frosty white city from the airplane window.

I can hardly believe how quickly we adjust to our surroundings, and all the memories of Canada that were once distant, are now back in our lives...and it feels as though we never left.
I hadn't been prepared for this feeling. I figured that everything would seem so strange, after being so used to life in Asia. But we have adjusted so quickly and we're nearly back to doing all of the usual activities of everyday life as a Canadian. Well, not that close, but I'm sure we'll be very settled within the next week. Considering I will be starting school, and soon after so will Markus.
But we've really enjoyed New Years with our families. It was pretty much Christmas since we opened presents from them, as they opened gifts from us. We had a lovely Turkey dinner today on New Years Day, a great american meal!

It's hard to believe that these 4 months of adventures have come to a close, but we continue to be very grateful for the experience we had, and we know that we will cherish every memory forever. We know that we made the right decision to take that leap and it truly is something that could never be regretted. If you ever have an opportunity to just escape and do something wild (a healthy wild), take it! Because it will change your life forever, for the better.

Now as we have much to organize and prepare for in this new year, we look forward to the future and we are curious to see what the year 2010 brings!
Thanks for reading our blogs and supporting us in our travels!

Emily & Mark Stehmeier

So Long, Hong Kong

2009-12-19T22:22:00.011+08:00

Well, we have officially reached the end of our stay in Hong Kong.....

It is so beyond surreal, I can hardly believe it even as I write this. This is a difficult post for me to do because I don't even feel truth in it. I'm not leaving Hong Kong for good, what are you talking about? I'm not picking up and leaving town tomorrow morning, that's just crazy talk!

...But it's true! The bags are packed, they're at the front door. We'll be out of here by noon tomorrow.

I just wanted to wrap up our lives in Hong Kong quickly before we leave tomorrow. I might be able to squeeze in an update while we're in Beijing, but I'm not sure how the internet will work over there, so just hang around until after the New Year, when I will finish up the blog with our trip to Beijing.

Tonight, after packing & organizing, Mark and I went down to the harbour. We wanted to spend one last night soaking in the HK atmosphere. It is Saturday, so the "Symphony of Lights" were going. We just walked along the boardwalk as we watched the lights & the Christmas decorations on the buildings. HK actually goes all out at Christmas time in comparison to other Asian countries.

I can remember feeling like our time here would never end. I used to think that it would go by slowly due to boredom, but I was wrong. I have loved these past 4 months. I like to think that if I were offered another 4 months in Hong Kong - that I would accept it in an instant. And the part of me that doesn't want to go back to reality says that I would, but the part of me that loves home & family says that it's time for us to go. Either way it's a bittersweet moment, but I am extremely grateful for everything we have received and experienced, not just in these past 4 months, but in our lives - for it has led us here.

Mark is very fond of his experience at Lingnan University, and he enjoyed making new friends. He said that it was strange seeing his school for the last time, but he holds good memories of it.

It's difficult to realize that each thing you see or do (which would be so ordinary on any other day) is especially special now because it WILL be the last time, until you return again.

Hong Kong is an incredible place full of diversity in culture and beauty in city/nature landscape. I can't even begin to think of how different things will be once we return home to Canada. I can only guess that everything will look a little bit different to us now. It's as though we have a new section in our brains filled with new knowledge and experiences which we have gathered from Asia.

I am also very grateful that I have had the opportunity to keep this blog, and for the photos we were able to take, in order to document our adventures. If my memory does slip a little here and there, I will always have these things to remind me. I hope you, my blog readers, have enjoyed reading my blog as I have worked hard to keep it going and hopefully to keep it (somewhat) interesting. It has been rewarding for me.

We cannot wait to be in Beijing, China...as it is a whole new world to explore. We will have much to say, and many pictures to display I am sure. Afterwards (A week & 1/2 from now) we will be arriving home in Calgary...home at last.

Until then, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas From The Stehmeiers

2009-12-16T21:52:00.015+08:00

A week away from Christmas Day, and this is our Christmas 2009. No sitting by a warm fire, sipping hot chocolate. No caroling in the snow. No frozen boogers and frosted eyelashes. Just air conditioned hotel rooms, late night strolls in sandals and t-shirts, ice cream runs, and online Christmas music.
My first Christmas away from home, in my entire life. I never thought I would see the day! But it's okay, it hasn't been as difficult as I imagined it would be. We have plenty of things to occupy our time, and we will be busy with travel until we arrive home in Calgary for New Years. We may not be having a cold Canadian Christmas, but we manage to feel the Christmas spirit here in Hong Kong. And as most of us know, it is the spirit of Christ. We went to our last sunday meeting in Hong Kong this week, and it was nice to sing some Christmas hymns in church before we leave. I love this time of year for it's music! I love singing Christmas music.
On Saturday, we had the branch Christmas party. It was a really fun night with some good food. We also visited the temple in the afternoon, so that was a really good experience for us.

This week, we have been busy with packing & organizing, as well as doing some of our favourite things in Hong Kong to enjoy them ONE last time. Last night we went to a popular sushi restaurant in Yuen Long with Mark's friend Ling Ling. It was very tasty. Each thing we do, or sight we see, or food we eat now will be for the last time (until we return again) so we're really trying to savour it. It's a sad thing. But I know that we will return to Asia again later in life, there's no doubt about that.
The other day we went to Ocean Park one last time. As I have mentioned before, Hong Kong celebrates Christmas very commercially, so any big company usually decorates for it, including Ocean Park. They had the whole place decked out in tinsel, lights, and Christmas displays. We also went to the night markets for the last time in the evening, Goodbye Hong Kong shopping!
I cannot believe it....even as I write this, I am shocked that we only have 3 DAYS left in Hong Kong! Seriously??
I was just going over my older posts on Facebook, and I noticed a status of "I'm moving to Hong Kong in 6 weeks!"
What happened?! I'm already going home now? In THREE days? We have had the most incredible experiences, and have enjoyed every moment. But I can't help but feel like we haven't done enough, we don't have enough time, just one more month!
But I'm sure I'd feel this way no matter what. I am very grateful for this time that we have had, and I know I will always look back on this time and remember it very fondly! It will be with us for life, a special place in our hearts haha.

On Sunday, we leave to Shenzhen where we will be spending a couple of days to explore & check out their famous markets. We've been once before, but we didn't have much time to look around. Then, on Monday we're off to Beijing China! I cannot wait. I never thought that I'd be going to Beijing, and here I am - having traveled around Asia, it's so crazy! And alongside my darling husband, we have so much fun on these adventures together. How I love my Marky!

Guilin, China

2009-12-13T15:11:00.005+08:00

Wow.
Wow is all I want to say, but I know that I have to elaborate.

I feel that I cannot properly describe the experience that my husband and I shared for 5 days. China is...unbelievable.
I can honestly say that the person I was when I left Hong Kong 7 days ago, is not the same returning. And to think how much more of a change it would be if we had stayed longer and travelled further. You really don't know until you experience things first-hand. We always see the travel shows on TV about China and other countries of the world, and we can always get an idea from that, especially already living in Hong Kong. But standing in the middle of it all, takes your breath away.

We will always love Hong Kong and I will not deny that we were once again, very excited to return home. But traveling into true blue China was a very special and enlightening experience for us. We could hardly put the cameras down. First of all, the scenery was beautiful, and unlike anything we've seen before. But second of all, the culture was uniquely China. We noticed many differences from other Asian countries. I will expand on that further as I tell our story.

To start out our journey we of course needed a means of transportation. The flights to Guilin weren't expensive, but for people on a budget, if there's a cheaper route, you take it. The long distance passenger trains are very common throughout China. They will travel to and from the major cities of China, giving the people that affordable option of travel. In order to travel from Shenzhen(city just above HK) to Guilin, it would be a 12-14 hour train ride. Due to the fact that it's so long, the train leaves at night, so you can sleep most of the way. Mark had mentioned this idea to me and at first I wasn't very interested. After realizing that we would be saving $150, we really had no choice but to try it out. It isn't the most luxurious form of travel, but it's better than nothing. So basically, the more you pay, the more comfort and privacy you get. Obviously paying more would defeat the purpose, so we booked the "hard sleepers", meaning 6 beds to a cabin, a very small cabin.
The "soft sleepers" have 4 beds to a cabin, so there's a little more room, bigger beds, and a door that closes. Whereas the hard sleepers are tiny, uncomfortable, and have no doors, just an open doorway into the noisy hallway.
Now, I'm not by any means a "high class" person, and I don't feel the need to live in luxury. But being a North American, we are all used to having certain luxuries that Chinese people just don't have or care to have. Like a toilet, or toilet paper, or soap. Or soft beds, and clean floors.

"Roughing it" was never something I was good at...before I came to Asia. I've already done a 180, in comparison to who I was when we left Canada, but I had a feeling I was in for a complete 360 when we left for Guilin, and I was right.
At first, I was scared, I had no idea how I was going to handle a little train stuffed with people, trying to get a good night's sleep. I hated the idea of having no privacy and not knowing if I could trust it. But by the time we got on the train and settled into our little bunks, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had made it out to be. Mark, of course, made friends with the little old lady who slept above me, and it made for a very relaxed atmosphere. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves, just trying to get to their destinations. Mark and I slept on the bottom bunks, which was weird at first, being next to the little dining table and garbage pail, but we decided that it was better than being any higher, because in order to get to your bed, you have to climb like a monkey to the top. There are no ladders. The ride wasn't quiet, but it wasn't so loud that you couldn't sleep. The only annoying thing was that it would make many stops throughout the night, sometimes startling you awake with weird noises and people getting on and off. On the way back home we were put into the last compartment of the car, so it was right next to the bathroom and the smoking area, where people would continually brush their teeth, fill water bottles, and obviously, use the washroom. It was only for one night so we kept good spirits about it, but it certainly wasn't easy. By the time the morning rolled around, and everyone was up, there was a continual cloud and stench of cigarette smoke polluting our cabin air, up until we got off. Train traveling is not for everyone!

When we arrived in Guilin it was like a whole new world. Especially considering Guilin was C-O-L-D. It was a tad bit of a shock when we arrived. We couldn't believe how cold it felt. We were bundled up in our jackets & mittens everyday. Worst of all, apparently the China government controls the heating, so not only was it freezing outside, but you had to freeze inside as well. They couldn't turn on the heat in our hotel until it was below 10 degrees. Talk about stingy government. It really made us that much more grateful for central heating!
Anyway, we trudged through the cold regardless, we hardly even noticed it half the time due to the face that, WHO CARES, you're in China!

The first day we just walked around and explored the city. We visited the "Seven Star Park", with it's mountains & caves.

There were plenty of street markets in the city selling fresh fruit, and animals for the cooking - something that is not foreign to most asian countries, but the items will vary. Everyday we bought fresh mandarin oranges, which were so delicious and juicy. Better than the boxed ones back home! haha

In the evening we visited the Guilin night market on Zhongshan RD. We had a really good time wandering around the little restaurants and vendors on the street. We tried some of the local food which was delicious. China knows how to add spice to food, unlike Hong Kong. The market was very enjoyable, we bought a few things of course, we really can't help but go shopping-happy in China. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, CHINA IS CHEAP! Guilin is especially cheap, breakfast for the both of us in the morning was no more than $1 canadian. Lunch & dinner was no more than $5 for the both of us. Taxi rides start at $1, you could drive for 20 minutes and not go over $5 canadian. Gotta love it.

Unfortunately something that we noticed almost instantly about China is that it's quite dirty. Men are hawking up phlegm and spitting everywhere you go, the streets are lined with overflowing garbage cans and cigarette buds. And probably a good idea not to jump in any puddles, because it's most likely of the urinary kind, not the precipitation kind. Also, unlike Hong Kong, China has no smoking laws so unless you get out of the city, there is almost a constant smell of smoke filling your nose. Last but not least, there are a lot of homeless, people that will use their children to beg for money. One thing that actually shocked me, was a woman eating out of a garbage can with her baby in her arms. That was very hard to see. We gave out some small bills, but you can't give out too much, or you will be targeted by all of the beggars.

One thing that is most prominent whenever we go into China is that if you're caucasian, you are TRULY the minority. I know that in Hong Kong you are obviously the minority as well, but no one really cares about you, they see white people all of the time as there are plenty of tourists in Hong Kong. But in China, you might as well be wearing a big bright neon sign that reads "Look at me, and even if I look back, just keep on staring". We noticed it when we traveled into Shenzhen, but ESPECIALLY in Guilin. You eventually just become accustomed to having people stare at you 24/7, to the point where you don't even bother looking back to see if they'll look away, because you know they won't. In the end, we realized it was pretty obvious that I was the one grabbing most of the attention. If you're a white woman, that's what happens. The chinese women are always very cute though, saying "hen piaoliang, hen piaoliang" which means, very beautiful. But there were always groups of men yelling "Hello, hello!" most likely the only English they knew, trying to grab our attention. It was always fun though, we'd always wave back and say hello to everyone, especially the little kids that would stare and point.
We were asked a few times by random groups of teenagers or moms with their kids if they could take a picture with us. We met a lady in the park on our first day, and we took a few pictures with them, they just loved talking to Mark. The fact that he's so friendly and speaks their language, everyone wants to talk to him, while I just sit there and smile like a dummy.

Our second day in Guilin was an adventure we will never forget. Upon arriving in Guilin, we met a random man by the train station who kept trying to help us with our trip. I sort of find it hard to trust random strangers on the street, but Mark seems to have no problem with it. Eventually we agreed to book a little excursion with him, and he led us to some random kiosk down the street to book it. When we travel in Asia, there's never a lack of random risks that we take, but everything always seems to turn out somehow.

The next day he had a driver pick us up (although he was an hour late) and he drove us through the China countryside. This was one of the highlights of our trip. Fields upon fields of crops, workers tilling the fields, men guiding their water buffalo down the streets, flocks of chickens running around aimlessly, old women carrying heavy buckets of hay uphill, families gathered around little wooden tables in the streets playing chinese card games. Every little sight was so cool to see, we just sat in awe as we drove through life in China.

The driver took us to the Gudong Waterfalls, which was absolutely breathtaking. December isn't the typical time to visit Guilin, as it isn't as lush and beautiful as it is in the summer. But I argue with that, because the fall setting of the yellow and orange leaves mixed in with the green hues and the frosty air, was something I will never forget. It felt like I was in the middle of a postcard, I literally couldn't believe my eyes. I've very rarely had moments like this. So we soaked as much of it in as we possibly could before we had to move on.

The main purpose of excursion was to float down the Li River, to Yangshuo. It's a very famous scenic tour, as it goes straight through the pillar mountains, and it is seriously beautiful. Instead of doing the typical big boat cruise, we booked a little bamboo raft with just us 2 and the boat driver, floating along the Li River, with the majestic mountains surrounding us. It was so peaceful, we really enjoyed that. Enjoy is an understatement, we LOVED it.

We stopped by a few fishing villages, that brought me back to what felt like the 1600's or something. The people who lived in these villages, lived as though all of the technology we see and use everyday was never invented. Everyone lives off the land, and works together.

The whole situation definitely didn't scream "clean" though. I really had to use the washroom but I didn't want to go, because I was pretty sure, there was no where to go! But Mark asked the boat driver, and he led me to a little brick shack across from people's homes. Obviously a communal bathroom. Honestly....most disgusting thing I have ever experienced. This was truly a test of my "roughing it" abilities. But I did it. Now before I explain any further, remember that China hardly uses toilets. They have what is called The Squat Toilet, or as I call them "squatters". So basically a hole in the ground, that you have to strategically place yourself over and make sure to aim properly, concentration is key, and whatever you do, DON'T lose your balance. At first, I found squatters quite disgusting when we came to Asia, but then you just get used to them because once again, that's all there is, you have no choice, and everyone else does it. But as I mentioned before, it is very rare for the bathrooms to provide toilet paper or soap, so it really sucks when you forget to bring tissues with you.
Now, typically the squatters will be washed down with a flow of water, or some will even flush completely. But you're always expected to throw any tissue or feminine products into the waste bucket conveniently placed in front of your face as you squat.
Well at this lovely establishment in the fishing village, there was no water, there were no cleaning supplies, it was just a dirty porcelain bowl in the ground leading to a dug out hole right below, with no where to go.
...Let me just say that things I saw there....will haunt me forever. And I will forever feel sorry...no, feel IMMENSE sorrow for whoever cleans those bathrooms, if in fact, anyone ever does.

Anyway, that was just another experience to check off the list of things I thought I would never do.
-Pee in dirty shack that made me want to vomit with every passing second - Check.
Okay so, I make it sound horrible.....because it truly was, but that doesn't change the fact that I laughed about it later, and whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I tend to have plenty of little experiences like these, and they're quite amusing after they're over.
Eventually we made our way over to another little village where our boat driver suggested a place for us to eat at. It ended up being some lady's home which overlooked the river. And by home, I mean a cement pad with a couple of rooms built on top of it, and a dingy little kitchen that she cooked out of. It was so funny, we couldn't believe that we were actually sitting in this random lady's house looking out at the Li River and the mountains. There was no menu of course, so she just gave us our options and I chose chicken while he chose fish. At some point we realized that the lady was taking forever, and she was no where to be seen. Eventually we found out that she was down at the river, plucking my chicken, and catching Mark's fish. Doesn't get any fresher than that! After having quite a good laugh over that fact, we waited patiently for our food. It is not like the Chinese to de-bone chicken, so they'll chop it up, head and all, and stir fry it as is. I had an interesting time shoving random pieces of chicken in my mouth trying to divide the meat from the bones and cartilage. Tasted good though.
Once again, I could check another thing off my list that I never thought I would do.
Mark had a whole fish on his plate, and it looked quite delicious, as he claimed it was.
So that in itself was another very cool experience.

Our boat driver ended up going home, so we had to follow the lady to a bus stop where we could take the bus to Yangshuo. It didn't matter what happened, we just went with the flow, and because of it, we had new crazy adventures. The little towns and farmland that we walked through were very cool to see. Everyone's homes were cement buildings, with no tile or carpet, just cement. It hardly looked comfortable. On these trips, you continually learn to appreciate what you have back home. At least they don't really know anything else, so they seem to be perfectly at ease with their circumstances for the most part.

The next day we re-visited Yangshuo, because we had only stayed for an hour the previous night. We bargained with a lady to take us around in her taxi for an hour for about $5 CDN. We drove to a few different tourist spots and took some photos.
She dropped us off at the famous Big Banyan Tree location, so we could walk around and not worry about her waiting around for us. We tried to walk back after that, but it was a decently far walk and it was cold, so we walked until a lady pulled over in her van full of random people and we caught a ride with her back to the city. It was hilarious, another thing to check off the list that I never thought I would do.

On our last day I wanted to have one last horrah, and visit the countryside of Guilin again. We called Mike (our original random tourist guide) and asked him if he could get another driver for us. A couple of hours later we were out in the country again, with the same driver that took us around the first time. We had gotten to know him pretty well by then, so it was pretty comfortable. He took us to these little towns where we visited a Tea Plantation. Tea is a very crucial part of the Chinese culture, so that was very interesting to see how they grow and process it.
On our way back into Guilin we stopped on the side of the road to check out a man selling honey. It turned out he had an entire little bee-farm going, and he even showed us the bees working away, buzzing everywhere. Kind of freaked me out, especially when I found dead bees on my shoes, but it was still really cool. He actually lived right on the side of the road, in the little hut next to his bees. He had his bed in there, his toiletries hanging up on little hooks...very strange. I don't know how comfortable I would be with that, but he seemed to be okay with it. But there you have it, fresh honey from the Chinese honey bees! If my family is reading this, we may have bought some to bring home, you'll just have to wait and see (or taste)!
Earlier in the morning when we were having breakfast at a random little breakfast shop, a man approached me, speaking english. At first I thought he was trying to sell me something, but then he told me that he was an english teacher, and asked me where I was from and such. I started chatting with him and he really wanted to suggest some places for us to visit. He wanted to meet Mark, so I introduced him, and he asked if we would meet up with him later so he could bring us to his sister's tea house.

So after driving around the country, we went back to our hotel and met up with him there. He always had the biggest smile on his face and had so much to say. He brought us to the tea house and let us try some flower teas, because we don't drink tea leaves. It was such a cool experience, we just sipped some tea as he spoke about Chinese traditions. Later he brought us to his art gallery, because he was also an artist, and asked if we wanted to buy some of his paintings. I felt awful because they were great, but too expensive for us as we had already bought plenty of gifts. It was a bummer, but he gave us his email so we could keep in touch. He's actually coming to Canada next year, and so you never know, maybe we'll see him again. He was a very nice man.

That evening we went to see the last few Guilin attractions, like the two Pagodas, and we had the most fabulous dinner. Sizzling beef on hot plate, and deep fried egg with sweet & sour sauce, sounds weird, but it was delicious.
After that we were on our way to the train station to go home. It was honestly the perfect amount of time. We had full days, but we enjoyed every minute, and we were happy to go home and be back in comfortable, warm, clean Hong Kong. The temperature difference is amazing, and it was very nice to feel the humidity again. Boy oh boy, how much of a shock Beijing will be, and then Calgary....I'm scared.

But here we are, a week and a half away from leaving our home. It is seriously sad, I don't even like to think about it. Also, very stressful, so much to do. I know we will have another amazing time in Beijing and I can't wait, but I know that means goodbye to Hong Kong, so it will be hard. But we'll be trying to make the most of it!
I love my husband, and we're so happy to be on this adventure together, how grateful we are for it!

Christmas is in the Air...

2009-12-01T15:34:00.011+08:00

Well not really, but it's in the malls.

And it's in our Home.

And it's in window displays.

And they have a beautiful Tree with gifts set up in our Hotel lobby, which looks very nice indeed.
When you're abroad in Asia, you can always find a little piece of Christmas, but notice the difference - They like to decorate it, not celebrate it. It's very commercialized in Hong Kong & China, but it's better than nothing! We manage to fit in a little bit of Christmas spirit here and there which is nice. But I'm still dreaming of a White Christmas, so we'll see if Beijing can grant us that, I would be so thrilled, China is just beautiful in winter.
I've been organizing our plans for China, so we're getting very excited. Not excited to leave Hong Kong, but excited to see Beijing, and the great wall, which will just be incredible. The plan is we'll hopefully go to a concert on Christmas eve, and then go to a Christmas buffet on Christmas day and just celebrate together on the streets of Beijing. And we're going to go caroling, even if it's just the 2 of us! There's nothing like spreading Christmas joy! I'll probably have some interesting videos to upload after that...

This weekend we're going to Guilin, China. It's a beautiful city in Southern China that's famous for it's beautiful mountains and landscapes. It will be amazing to experience real life in China. Mark's last day of classes is on Friday, so we are able to take next week off to go. I just can't believe we've been able to tour Asia the way we have, we are so blessed. But these opportunities are out there people, you just have to go for them! Just get up and go! The world is amazing.

The Blossoms in Hong Kong Winter, So Beautiful!
Anyway, life lately has been wonderful, speeding by like crazy, but wonderful. We are so sad to think that we leave here in 3 weeks! Can you believe that? With our trip next week, and how busy we'll be after that - we are trying to soak up our last moments in Hong Kong because next thing we know, we'll be in the airport.

Mark's school had their farewell party for the exchange students the other day. Some people shared their experiences and pictures, so that was cool. Unfortunately being married kind of puts a damper on college life, but Mark gained some new friendships regardless. Ling Ling, the girl that Mark MC'd the international day with, is this super sweet girl from China, and she was one of the presenters at the farewell. When she started speaking about her new friendship with Mark, she started crying. It was the cutest thing, I was so surprised. Don't underestimate the power of Friendship! Hopefully we'll be able to go out for Sushi or something sometime before we leave.

The Lingnan Exchange Students Fall 2009

Mark & Ling Ling, The MC's on International Day in October

Mark, Ling Ling, and Lingnan Staff

Mark breaking a wooden plank With His Hand on Stage

Lingnan had a little Thanksgiving celebration last week. We drew our own Turkeys and wrote what we were thankful for haha. A girl wanted to take a picture of Mark & his Turkey.

Every now and then on our free days or in the evenings, we'll go downtown to the markets and shop, or trying something different for dinner. Last night we happened upon this little Chinese restaurant that does Clay Pot cooking. The meal is cooked in these little clay pots right outside, and they bring it to you nice & hot. It was delicious. It almost had a "burnt" flavour, for lack of a better word, but I loved the taste.

Mark and I had another fabulous meal today for Lunch. He got out of class early, so he took me to a restaurant that a lot of the students eat at. It's nearly impossible to find bubble tea in HK that isn't TEA, but this place had the most delicious Taro bubble tea (which is my favourite) so I was quite pleased. Unfortunately we are developing "expensive" tastes in these last days of our time here, so we'll have to make sure we don't blow all of our money before we leave. Tonight....we'll be eating cheap.

I won't have a chance to write until we return from China, so until then, Zaijian!

Can I Call Myself A Canadian?

2009-11-20T17:04:00.003+08:00

Hello to all my faithful readers,

I am back within the same week, aren't you impressed?
I've felt the sudden urge to write - most likely because I just finished watching Julie & Julia, which wouldn't be a movie today if there were no such thing as blogging. So thank you internet for supplying a medium for people to share their opinions, ideas and stories. Falling into the creative category, I thrive off of expressing myself literally, so I remember being very excited when the internet was introduced into our homes. I began blogging, before the world even recognized the popular phrase, on what was called an "Online Diary".
But the same goes for me as it does with anyone else, it's much easier to blog when you have something to blog about!

Mmm wasabi chips... Mark hates them, but I quite like them!
Winter has unquestionably found it's way to Hong Kong and it's holding on for dear life. I can't seem to shake the constant feeling of cold. I've called down to the hotel services twice today, because our central heating wasn't working. Not like I need it! Can I truly call myself a Canadian if I'm demanding a heated room on 15 degree days? I don't think so. There's no denying it, Hong Kong has turned me into a wimp. But to give myself some credit, the cold feels different here. 15 degrees may sound warm enough to you, but because of the humidity and lack of sun, it feels a whole lot colder here. Mark always tried to explain it to me, claiming that Taiwan's winters were freezing. I didn't believe him, until I felt it here this November. We were walking around in shorts and flip flops with little Chinese Eskimos scurrying around us - wearing scarves and mittens. I originally refused to give in, but the cold found it's way under my skin, and now I'm wearing jeans and sweatshirts everyday. Luckily enough, Hong Kong's winters have the most sunshine out of any other time of the year. The weather is finally looking up, and by next week we have highs of 24, Yipee!!

My favourite icecream treat! Good ol' Mochi.
Lately I can't help but notice the celebration of our most beloved holiday - Christmas. I'm torn between my heart's desire to celebrate, and my head's logical thinking of "Don't do it, you'll miss home". It is honestly a constant battle! So far the stubborn heart is winning. They have Christmas trees set up in the malls with jolly music playing on the intercoms. It doesn't help that everyone is bundled up in wool and fleece, reminding me of Christmas time. And for a split second today, just for a moment, I thought I smelled the wondrous smell of cookies baking in the oven. But it was just my imagination. What am I going to do?! Do I become a small form of Mr. Scrooge and refuse to let Christmas in to break my heart, or do I throw up some decorations, play the nostalgic music, and risk the chance of me getting terribly home sick?
I have to say, I have never once experienced the feelings of home sickness since arriving in Hong Kong. But I'm afraid that the Christmas season is going to take that away from me, and I just hope I can look past it and enjoy our remaining time here in Asia which we are so blessed to have. I know that you're probably thinking "Oh suck it up Emily, you'll be spending Christmas in China! You have plenty more to spend at home..." But let me tell you something, there is no better a time in the year than Christmas time. Where families gather together to love and appreciate one another and to celebrate a time of charity and peace. It may sound cheesy but it's true, and you know it, and I know it, and everybody knows it!!
Man, if this is what I'm writing in November, what on Earth will I have to say at Christmas?
Anyway, I'm conflicted and I could use your opinion.

Just another random Chinese snack, they sure do love corn.

BUT things are lovely as ever in the world of Asia. Mark is wanting to take another little adventure into China. He's had his heart set on Guilin, 13 hours Northwest of here, by train. The idea of sleeping on an overnight train with random weirdos kind of creeps me out, but Mark seems to think it'll be okay. The cabin we'd be staying in has 4 beds. I suppose it's more likely that it will just be some old couple snoring...but then maybe I'll take the weirdos instead, because I don't think I'll enjoy our 3 day trip much if I'm sleep deprived. Although, I guess I'd enjoy it even less if I woke up to a strange man staring at me, or smelling my hair or something.

The Chinese Chess that Mark kicks my butt at.
I can't believe we are going home in just over a month! It does feel like we have been here for 3 months, but it's gone by so quickly. When I thought about living in Hong Kong, I imagined that it would feel like a lifetime before we could return home. Well that certainly wasn't the case! I look back and remember that it was actually so hot and humid at one point, that we'd be sweating through our clothes at 11 o clock at night! Sounds crazy, but I miss those days. I'm going to miss this place, and I have no doubt in my mind that I will look back through my photos, and my writings, and let out a continual string of sighs. A chapter in our lives we surely won't forget.

A Week With Dad

2009-11-17T12:57:00.011+08:00

This past week was a great week for me! My dad came to visit!
He made the plans to visit us before we even left Calgary, so we were all looking forward to it for awhile. It's a very interesting experience welcoming MY dad to Hong Kong. He's always been quite the traveler (due to work) so he's certainly seen more of the world than I have - but this time I was the one showing him around. I was so happy to give my dad this opportunity, and that just reiterated to me how incredible it really is. It was actually kind of funny, I was a little nervous with how everything would turn out. I really wanted him to enjoy his trip and for him to experience as much of Hong Kong as possible. But throughout the entire week my dad just kept saying how every day was an amazing day, and how impressed he was with everything. I was so happy, I honestly didn't expect he would be so easy to please. The fact that he didn't have to plan anything and just got to sit back and enjoy certainly helped - but he was very thankful for everything, and that made me very happy, so I appreciate him for that.

It was fun for Mark and I as well, because we were able to do all of the major Hong Kong attractions all over again. We went to Victoria Peak during the day. Unfortunately it was a little hazy, but that's Hong Kong for ya. The weather was unusually scorching hot, my poor dad. He hates heat, but he still managed to have a really good time. That just goes to show how awesome Hong Kong is...imagine how much he would have loved it if it was cold outside.

It was a very full week. The first day we went out was actually my dad's birthday! He turned 54, so a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout-out to my Pops! I really wanted to do something special and birthday-like, but my dad reassured me that being in Hong Kong was special enough. We did a lot of exploring Hong Kong's metro areas of course. We checked out the museums, which was a new venture for Mark and myself. That was actually quite fun - museums typically bore me to death, but I enjoyed these ones!
We took him to Monkey Mountain. This time there were even MORE monkeys than when Mark and I went, and there were lots of other people around. The monkeys are hilarious, they are crazy about food. One lady was just throwing bananas at them, which you totally aren't supposed to do. The monkey's will start grabbing food from you, they're not afraid to get close. They kind of freak me out, especially after our monkey scare - but apparently if you just yell right back at them, they'll turn into cowards and back off.

On one of the days we went to the Shangri-La's buffet lunch. We absolutely love Asia's buffets, but they're so expensive! My dad, being the darling father that he is, offered to pick up the bill so we could all experience it. Thanks dad! And boy was it Deliccccious. Once again, we were all rolling out of that place. But it was totally worth it.

They're delivery bikes...if you were wondering. Peddle fast, don't want that chicken to get cold!
We took a day to travel up into China to see Shenzhen! It may sound crazy, but Mark and I live in northern Hong Kong, so we're very close to the China border. That was a new experience for us as well, so it was really cool.
A lot of the people that Mark is dealing with in his importing, work out of Shenzhen, so he had a couple of meetings to go to. It's interesting to see the technology that hasn't made it's way over to America yet, you wouldn't think we would be so behind.
Now here is the number 1 reason as to why I love China at the current moment... this will most likely change once we actually make it into the scenic and culture-rich areas...but for now I'm happy with it.
I LOVE CHINA for it's CHEAP PRODUCTS!! Thank you China, for selling $1 DVD's and $5 computer software and clothing/accessories for under $10. I love you for it.
We all did a little bit of shopping and it was a very fun experience. Shopping in Canada will never be the same again. It will be horrible actually, because I'll just feel ripped off. I already had a hard time with the prices back home, but now it's going to be that much worse...now that I'm getting accustomed to Asia and it's kick-butt shopping. I can't wait to go back and get some more gifts for everyone, and a few things for myself :)

WE WENT TO PARIS!!!
..
..

Just kidding...In Shenzhen they have a little "theme park" I guess, called The Window of the World. They have a bunch of statues and miniature models of various famous landmarks from around the world. They were actually quite good! It was fun to see the different buildings and monuments that random countries of the world represent.

For lunch we went to Pizza Hut. Now, I know you may be thinking, "Awh, pizza hut? You're in China, eat Chinese food!"
Well let me tell you, most of Asia's fast food restaurants, are nothing like what we're used to in America. They have a way of adding their asian flavour, and in China - Pizza Hut is considered a fancy restaurant. The place was all decked out in fancy decor, and twinkling lights. The menu was completely unusual, but very tasty! I made a "vow" not to eat pizza until we returned home to Canada, but I couldn't help but try the Kimchi pork pizza, and the Shrimp stuffed crust deluxe. Interesting but Tasty!

On my dad's last day in Hong Kong, I took him to go see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. They have this crazy cable car system that takes you over the mountains, and it's much more elaborate than Ocean Park's cable car. It was beautiful! Definitely a worth-while experience.
I was sad to see my Dad go, and I'm pretty sure he had a hard time leaving us too. But he has another week of vacation to enjoy in Australia, so nothing to be too sad about! He's over there right now, and I bet he's having a blast.

Everyday we have here is worth no amount of money, we treasure it - not necessarily by going out everyday doing tourist activities - but by just going downstairs, walking through the park, just sitting on a bench taking a deep breath in - and remembering where we are. Nearly every evening we do this, and just marvel at the world. Marvel at the fact that our lives are soo different than we would have imagined. Sometimes seeming for the worse, but then the good comes along. And that's life! You gotta take the bad with the good!

Birthday Girl in Taiwan

2009-11-05T17:07:00.023+08:00

Friday, October 30th, was my 22nd birthday! I knew it wasn't going to feel like my birthday so I didn't expect much. Mark was a sweetheart and kept telling me happy birthday to remind me. I had a very good day though. We went to the zoo in the morning, it was nice to just talk and walk around the zoo together. It was kind of in the process of renovating, so it wasn't put together very well, but we still saw a variety of animals.

Actually, before we went to the zoo, we stopped by to see a lady Mark knew on his mission. Ivy owns a salon, and she would always cut his hair, so we went to get Marks hair cut. She did a very good job actually, much better than he's had in the past! She was very sweet and welcoming, she would always hold my hand and guide me as we walked - very motherly.

After the zoo, her and her sister Faith, took us to an amazing restaurant. The entire place looked like a big art exhibit. It works off of the native flavour that Taiwan has, so that was pretty cool. The food was very fancy, and very tasty. It was very nice of them to take us there for my birthday.

There was a big ferris wheel nearby, so we all went on that together. It was a fun way to end the day. When I came home there was a little gift on my bed from the Chen family, I just thought that was very sweet of them!

On Saturday we decided to go check out Yangmingshan. It's a national park in Taipei, high up in the mountain tops. They have a little community up there, and it's quite beautiful. We went to the top to see the natural hot springs and fumaroles. It smelled very strongly of sulfur, which is always lovely. There's a hike you can take to the top of the mountain, but we weren't exactly planning on climbing it. We were about to go home when Mark said that we could just climb up to a lower viewing point. So I agreed with that and Mark, Francis, Lucy and myself started climbing. This wasn't just a dirt path to take you gradually up the mountain.

The 1.6 km hike consisted of stairs of stone shoved into the side of the mountain, creating a very long and daunting vertical climb to the top. Basically one never ending stairmaster workout! It was absolutely exhausting, and I was only wearing flip flops. Eventually we realized that there was no viewing point and that we were just climbing to the top like everyone else. I got quite annoyed that Mark tricked me into it, but apparently he didn't realize it was so high either. But at that point he didn't care, he kept telling me it would be fun to see what's at the top and to keep going. I've never been so out of breath in my entire life. I mean, I can do a normal hike with resting points...but this was just a super steep narrow staircase with no end. I would have turned back but it got to the point where we were too far, it would have felt like defeat if I didn't keep going. By the time we reached the top, I was actually so tired and angry because that was how we started our day-by draining me of all my energy.

I don't enjoy hiking to begin with, so I didn't enjoy the stairclimb of death. Everyone else was having a jolly time though, so at least I was alone in my misery. Thankfully by the time we made it back down, I was in a much better mood - obviously because I was on ground again. After that, we went for some lunch at Mcdonalds, what a way to end it! It was so heavenly though. They actually had a whole wheat bun, can you believe that? Once again, Canada needs to pick up on that!

At the top, up in the clouds!

The main focus of the day was actually supposed to be the National Palace museum. We went to go meet another family Mark baptized on his mission, to check out the museum together.

So I was very thankful that Mark forced me on an exhausting hike, stuffed me with food, and sent me to a dimly lit museum full of old Chinese artifacts to stare at for the next 3 hours. At first I was ready to pass out, but it actually got better as time went on. Luckily the museum wasn't that big. We had fun with the family though, also really good people.

Outside the museum I saw the most adorable tiny little fluffy brown puppy running around, and everyone just slowed down to stare and take pictures. I felt kind of bad for the owners, they must have felt awkward that everyone wanted to crowd around their dog.

Mark asked me if I wanted a picture, but I didn't want to be a creeper. Next thing I knew the girl was bringing him over to me to let me hold him! It was so nice of her, I just loved the puppy!! He was so beyond cute, I just wanted to steal him. Mark took a picture thank goodness, so I can forever remember his cuteness.

Another funny thing was that when we were leaving the museum, a couple of asian boys (probably 18) waved me down and said "picture!" pointing at their camera. So I said "Oh, sure". I thought it was strange that they were asking ME to take their picture, random white girl who doesn't speak their language. I took a couple of shots, then the one boy came up to me with a big grin on his face and said "Thank you, you very pretty girl". It was so funny! They're normally so shy, I was surprised he just told me that, so I just laughed and said "Oh...thank you..." It was cute.

After saying goodbye to everyone, we met up with some OTHER people Mark knew from his mission. Guava, and his family. They took us to dinner at a little local restaurant. Mark had curry chicken, I had some beef with fried noodles. It was a pretty tasty little meal. We just spent dinner with them, and then they went home.

I actually completely forgot throughout the day that it was Halloween. Not as obvious when you're in Asia. There was actually a few little Halloween events going on outside, but we didn't do anything special. Other than KARAOKE!

We met up with Yingcun after dinner and went to one of their famous Karaoke places. I know they have something like it in Calgary, but this place was crazy! You pay a flat fee, and you just go down to the bottom level where they have these long hallways full of karaoke rooms, some were small, and some had like groups of 20 people in them. There were little stations of free snack bars with fries, wings and other sorts of goodies. They also had juices and hot chocolate, it was awesome! So we just had a blast singing with the 3 of us.

But this is where the good memory starts to turn sour. We weren't exactly hungry when we got there, but the food was complimentary so we just grabbed a few snacks to nibble on between songs. I wanted to go see what other things they had so I grabbed a little plate of creamy pasta and brought it back to our room. It wasn't amazing, so I didn't finish it. Just felt like I had to take advantage of it being free. The night went on, and Mark replenished the fries as well as bringing back a couple of fish balls. A very popular snack food among the Chinese. I tried one, but I've never been a huge fan of them. Either way, there were 3 things I ate that night that nobody else had - the beef noodles, the fish ball, and the pasta.

We ended up spending 3 hours singing karaoke, it was midnight and we were tired so we wrapped it up. It had been an extremely long day for us. When it neared the end of the evening I noticed that I didn't feel 100%, but I just figured it was because I had been so tired, and maybe I ate more food than I should have. We made our way over to the train station and Mark just chatted with Yingcun. With every minute that was passing, I was feeling more and more iffy...it was at the point where I still couldn't tell what it was, I didn't feel sick, but I just felt wrong. We said goodbye to Yingcun and Mark gave me the option to try and find a bus, or to take a taxi home. I knew something wasn't right when all I wanted to do was get home, and we couldn't have gotten in that taxi any faster. I knew I wasn't even going to be able to climb up the hill to the apartment, so I asked him to take us directly to the front door. I still figured that I just needed to sleep it off. I was feeling especially bloated, obviously because I ate too much, but mostly because that food wasn't digesting the way it should have.

I'm not going to get much further into this because we all know how descriptive I have been with my stories in the past, so I will spare you the details of this one. But lets just say after we went to bed, it wasn't very long until I was up again spending the rest of my evening/morning in the bathroom. I had food poisoning, and I was not very happy about it. I can't believe how quickly it came on, I don't normally get sick like that - so I knew it was something I ate. We've narrowed it down to those 3 things, but we're not sure which one it was. Clearly the fish ball has the worst reputation but you never know.

Either way, I never want to experience food poisoning again, it was awful. There is nothing worse than going through that let alone in your home, but in another family's home where you're a guest, and their bedroom door is right next to the bathroom. Yea, I felt a tad embarrassed.

It didn't help that I had a little audience, called cockroach #1 and cockroach #2. Good thing I was too sick to care entirely, or I probably would have screamed.

Anyway, that was a very fitting way for me to spend my Halloween 2009!

The next morning I told Mark the whole story (yes I'm that great of a wife that I didn't bother his slumber during my agony) and of course he said he would have helped me, but I'm not sure he could have done much anyway. He was sweet though. Since I was still feeling unwell, he stayed home with me, so we didn't make it to church.

Once the Chen's returned from church, I was feeling a bit better, and we had plans to go to Danshui fisherman's wharf so we decided to still go. I wasn't my usual self, but I made it through. We took a boat ride around the harbour which actually felt quite nice. It was a cool misty day, so that only helped.

It was actually pretty fun. They had a bunch of little shops set up for souvenirs and snacks along the boardwalk. There was this one Turkish icecream shop where a seriously creepy big turkish man danced behind his counter and served icecream to people. He always had a very weird smirk on his face, and would do fancy little things with the icecream cones. He did a little booty dance for me, it was quite interesting. Everyone seemed to love him though.

After hanging around there for a couple of hours we went home and had some pizza. I couldn't eat anything throughout the day, and I still couldn't eat the pizza, so I just ate one of Mark's crusts. Good ol' trusty bread.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting. Their daughter Lucy became a good little friend of ours so it was kind of sad to say goodbye to her. She was so cute, and quite the little goof. When we first arrived in Taiwan, Mark started singing "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" as soon as she told us her name. We explained that it was a song by the Beatles, and it didn't take long for it to catch on. By the end of the trip, this became her theme song and she was always singing it. Actually, it was stuck in all of our heads. The way she sang it was so adorable, too bad we didn't catch it on camera.

The next morning we packed up everything and were ready to go home. We had to leave at 3pm, so we had a morning to walk around for a bit. We had our last Taiwanese breakfast, and checked out some of the local malls. Taking in our last moments of Taiwan!

It was actually quite funny because by the end of the trip, Mark said he was amazed by how much Mandarin I knew as opposed to when we arrived. I knew a little bit from when I studied at BYU-I, but by the end of the trip I was understanding the conversations he would have with people. When he would turn to me to translate, I would say "Yeah, I got that". And he'd say "Oh, you understood that?" and I'd be like "Oh, I guess I did..." It was very gradual. It's amazing how quickly you can actually learn when you are thrown into that environment where no one really speaks your language, and you have no choice but to try and join in. I still know very little, but it makes me realize that I could learn it and speak it one day if I wanted to.

Anyway, my Taiwan experience had some rough times, but I only take the good memories with me. I love Taiwan, it's special to my husband and it's special to me. I hope that we will be able to revisit one day, who knows.

Now we are back home in Hong Kong, and I am SO excited to spend time with my Dad! I will be picking him up from the airport, and he will be staying with us for a week. It will be a great experience for us to share this with him, and I know he will love it. It's going to be great!

I hope you enjoyed reading about Taiwan, and I hope I captured our experiences for you!

And for fun, here's a couple of quick videos from Karaoke.

Taiwan's East Coast

2009-11-05T17:05:00.005+08:00

On Tuesday we went on a little trip to Hualien, a city on the eastern coast of Taiwan which is known for it's beauty.

Xingwen, one of Mark's old members, is a very interesting lady. She is willing to do ANYTHING to make you happy, seriously anything. I was very surprised by how generous and kind she was towards us. Always apologizing for silly little things that didn't matter, refusing to let you pay for anything. Anyway, she was just desperate to do something with us while we were in Taiwan, so she asked if she could drive us to Hualien (About a 4 hour drive). So we'd have to stay overnight, and go back to Taipei the next day. We didn't necessarily want to go with just her, so she mentioned that she could ask her daughter to come along. Mark baptized her daughter, Yingcun, so she knew him. He tried to convince her to come (her and her mom had kind of a falling out) but she didn't want to. We told Xingwen that we wouldn't go unless Yingcun came - so after many phone calls and changes of plans - we ended up in a very interesting situation. It was Xingwen, Mark, Me, Yingcun....andddd...Nai Nai. Meaning grandma. The daughter lives with her grandma so apparently the deal was that she would only come if her grandma could come too. 4 women & Mark.

But that wasn't much of a problem for him, he loved it. The problem lied with me, here I was in a car with 3 random Chinese women I didn't know, and NONE of them spoke a lick of English. I will admit, it was definitely frustrating. It was kind of a bittersweet trip. To be honest, at first it was difficult to keep a positive perspective, and have a good time. But eventually I got used to the 'never knowing what's going on' standpoint, and just rolled with it. There were some upsetting times, but there were also a lot of fun times. So all in all, I can't complain too much. The worst part was just the car ride over. The roads were on the mountains so it was just sharp turns the whole way. The distance is actually very short. What makes the trip so long is the fact that you're going no more than 45 km/h the entire way. I don't get motion sickness, but it wasn't exactly a car ride that you could just sit back and fall asleep in. All you could do was just get frustrated at the big dump trucks that you got stuck behind and couldn't pass.

Eventually Mark learned to translate for me a little bit more so that took some of the frustration away.

The next day we visited a beautiful beach. The waters were so clear and the mountains in the backdrop were breathtaking.

We also went to see the famous Taroko Gorge. The mountains were beautiful. It was nice to see the natural side of Taiwan, not just the cityscape.

When we returned to Taipei we had Vietnamese food which was delicious. Xingwen went all out of course and ordered like 10 different dishes! It was pretty funny.

After that she wanted to take us to get a foot massage! How random is that? I didn't actually think it was going to happen, but Mark was all for it, so we went! It was a fun experience. It probably would have been better if every movement of her hands didn't cause me intense pain, but it was fun! Of course, Mark joked around with all of the women and they just thought he was hilarious. Very typical of Mark. They were a bunch of Vietnamese women actually. They came to Taiwan to work, and they spoke perfect Chinese. They would say to let them know if you wanted it lighter, but I guess I just figured no pain no gain or something. Plus they were just so busy speaking Chinese to each other, I never found an opportune moment to tell her that she was hurting me, it just seemed kind of awkward haha.

During that trip I was asked if 2 parts of my body were real. My hair, and my eyelashes. It was kind of funny, but I told them that yes, they were real - and they would just tell me that I was beautiful. They're so sweet!

On Thursday we made our way over to the Taipei 101. The tallest building in the world.

It was definitely surreal seeing all of these things on TV and the internet, and finally just standing in front of them! I always have to blink a few times to remember where I am.

We had some quick lunch in the food court, all of this food for only 3 dollars! Going back to Canada and spending 10 bucks to get the same thing is going to stink.

After lunch we went up to the top of the 101! It has the world's fastest elevator, it was crazy how quickly it climbed from the bottom to the 89th floor! You have to keep swallowing due to your ears popping.

It had some spectacular views of Taipei. It was really cool to see.

This is where I had my second "no-no" moment. I was chewing gum (heaven-forbid) and I was just walking around the indoor viewing areas of the 101. I was taking pictures when I saw a guard inching towards me. I thought he was going to tell me that I couldn't take pictures or something, but once again, he pulled out a tissue and I knew instantly. I just nodded my head, and put my gum in the tissue and walked away. Mark laughed at me and said "Man, you must chew like a horse!" Thanks a lot darling husband.

At this rate I was just annoyed that all of my gum was going to waste! If they're going to ban you from chewing gum in random places without signs, why don't they just make it a country-wide law like Singapore? Jeesh!

Oh, and here comes my 3rd "no-no" moment. When we were on the outdoor observation deck, I was able to fit my camera between the little slots of metal to get some shots of the view. I needed a little bit more height so I rested my foot on the ledge to give me like a 2 second boost, when I heard this abrupt BLEEP whistle sound. I didn't even bother looking over to see the guard, I instantly knew that probably wasn't allowed so I just laughed and nodded my head and said "yeah yeah yeah". Once again, everyone staring at me. For goodness sakes, by the end of this trip I felt like a rebel for doing the most innocent of acts!

Anyway, that night we went to Shilin market. It's a huge night market with lots of food vendors, something that Hong Kong doesn't have. They had plenty of little Taiwan treats, fruits, deep fried stuff. The most famous is the Jipai. A battered and deep fried GINORMO piece of chicken breast. It was so beyond delicious. They can be a tad greasy though, so you certainly can't eat them everyday. My favourite was the fruit. I found my new love, Mango.

Taiwan has the most incredible mango I have ever tasted in my life, I don't think anything will be the same after this experience. It was unbelievably sweet and juicy and amazing. The size of the mango alone has to show for how heavenly it is!

Mark also let me try their "wax apple" or "lian wu". No apple compares! It is so watery and crisp, and fabulous! I was saying to Mark, no wonder we don't eat as much fruit at home, because our fruit is awful! This is what real fruit tastes like! Too bad it's so far away :(

The market also had an entire section full of puppies and kitties for sale. I just about died when I saw it, I am a huge puppy lover, so it was difficult not to cry when I couldn't take them home with me. Mark had to drag me away from that place.

My final rebellious act for the day, prepare yourselves for this one! I was taking pictures of the puppies, when I received a very stern look from a man pointing to a "no cameras" sign. Okay, so this time there was a sign, but it's not like I was using my flash in their eyes, and nobody else cared! Oh well.

All in all, it was a very fun and eventful day.

Stay tuned for the last installment of Mark & Emily in Taiwan!

The Land of Taiwan

2009-11-04T17:45:00.015+08:00

Due to the extensiveness of our experience in Taiwan, I am going to break it into segments. I will share a few stories with you now, but you can check back over the next few days to read something new :)

So, where to start.

Well, Taiwan was an incredible experience. I couldn't believe how different it was from Hong Kong. It was an awesome experience, just to see another part of the world.

The scenery was beautiful, lush and green. Green mountains and rolling hills. Although, that is quite similar to Hong Kong. It's the city and the people that differ.

I found that Taiwan is generally more "homey" for lack of a better word. Hong Kong is very business oriented, and americanized. Whereas Taiwan gave off more of an authentic Chinese vibe.
The people in Taipei are much friendlier than those in Hong Kong. One of the locals said that it was because everyone's just down to business in Hong Kong, and doesn't want to be your friend. Whereas in Taiwan, strangers speak to each other like they've been friends all of their lives. They just work together. The apartments are all very close and crowded, so I guess they're all forced to tolerate each other.

Our worlds are so different, and it's just very interesting to observe the people and their way of life. Something that is so normal to them, might be insane to us. Since being in Asia I have a new found appreciation for our country. I've always known how blessed we are to live in Canada, but I am just reminded of the opportunities we have. The ability we have to own our own homes. To have backyards and front-yards for kids or pets to run around in. When I return home, everyone's houses are going to seem huge!

Anyway, so I guess I can break this down into days, that's probably the easiest way that I'll be able to remember what happened.

We arrived in Taipei Saturday evening, so we didn't do much. We just went for an evening walk, and purchased some local goodies from 7 eleven. I've always enjoyed trying out their special drinks or snacks. I love their milk juices. They're all about making juices creamy, and it's just so tasty!

During our trip, we stayed at a member family's house, the Chen family. Mark baptized them near the end of his mission.

They were an amazing family. So hospitable, and very kind.

In Taiwan, all of the average apartment complexes are 5 stories high. Mark told me that it's because it's the amount of floors you're allowed to build legally without having to put in an elevator. Thanks a lot! That's what ran through my head every time I had to hike up those flights of stairs. The Chen family lived on the top floor, so they had 2 levels to their apartment, which is certainly considered nice and big for Asia. Most of their kids are moved out, so we basically had the top level to ourselves. They had a balcony that wrapped around the apartment, so we could go out and view all of the surrounding city. It was so amazing to just sit out there and take it all in. All of the buildings in Taiwan look very old and run down. Mostly because they are old, but also because they can't use the materials that we do in America to build homes. It's all cement, so due to the weather, everything looks stained and just not very appealing. But that's just how it is, and it's funny how quickly you get used to it. It's the same way in Hong Kong as well.

So on Sunday, we went to church of course. We visited the Chen's ward. Mark remembered the building, but all of the members had changed. He only recognized a couple of people. But it was still good for him to revisit. After we attended that ward, Mark decided to take me to Xizhi. His first area. BOY was that a fun experience! Instantly, so many people recognized him. The atmosphere was so friendly. First of all, everyone (along with everyone else throughout the week) was just beyond excited that Mark brought his new wife along. I can't tell you how many sweet and adorable Chinese women came up to me and told me that I was beautiful. By no means do I view myself as this great beauty, but they treated me like one, and it was very flattering. While the women just smiled and dished out the compliments, the men just flat out asked how Mark managed to score me. I thought it was pretty funny, Mark did too of course. The Chinese people are just hilarious sometimes, they're very blunt.

Mark had a great time, speaking with all of his old members. Hardly anyone in Taiwan speaks english, it's certainly not as common as it is in Hong Kong. So I just sat there and smiled pretty much. It was really fun to see though. I could tell how great of an experience it was for Mark, and for the Taiwan people as well.

I was very aware of the fact that we would be doing some mission related stuff, and that Mark would want to contact a lot of his old members - and I completely understood that. But I don't think I was fully prepared for how much the vacation would revolve around Mark's mission. Hours went by, and I was still sitting around listening to endless conversations in a language that I didn't understand. It was perfectly understandable at first - but Mark's a talker. So I had to wait it out. I eventually got so bored that I was starting to feel tired, and had no motivation to do anything for the rest of the day. I kind of got a little cranky and explained to Mark that I didn't want the entire week to pan out that way. I needed some fun time, and exploring Taiwan with just the 2 of us. It just scared me a little bit to think that the ENTIRE week would consist of me being a random tag along. But after talking it out for a bit and planning out the week to create more balance, it was all good.

On Monday we had the chance to walk around and see more of Taipei. In the morning Mark took me to a little Taiwanese breakfast shop. The food is actually americanized, but it's so good! They were famous for Mark on his mission. They make delicious Dan Bing, and Zaocan Hanbao! To see what I'm talking about, watch the video at the end of this post :)

In the afternoon we went to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial, which was really cool. The buildings were very Chinese architecture. It kind of reminded me of the Lincoln memorial, but the Taiwan version.

Then we made our way over to see the Taipei temple, and to visit the mission office where Mark could try to track down his old members. We spoke to a lot of missionaries which was fun, just to think that Mark was one of those young men 5 years ago! Mark got some of the information he needed (after a few hours of waiting that is) so that took up a lot of our day. We just took our time making our way back home, enjoying the atmosphere.

After taking the MRT in Taipei, we both realized that the MTR in Hong Kong is newer, and just more extensive. It's not as easy to travel in Taipei. But this is where I had my first "No-no" moment. And by that I mean, Emily getting in trouble. When we first got into the train, we just sat down and paid no attention to anything, we're pretty used to that form of transportation. I remember looking down because I was trying to fix my camera strap. So I was just fumbling around when I noticed some man standing right in front of me, and he was wearing a uniform. So I looked up and he appeared to be some sort of train-law-enforcer man. Instantly I just figured that he wanted to see my ticket, and maybe they checked for that sort of thing here - so I pulled out my ticket. But then he started pulling out a tissue from his pocket and held it in front of me. And I was just thinking.....what the? Does he want me to sanitize my hands or something, because I know they're really uptight about that in Asia. But then in basic english he just said something about the law and that I wasn't allowed to chew gum! I was kind of taken off guard, that was the last thing I expected. So I just kind of smiled and said "Oh okay.." and put my gum into the tissue that he gave me. He asked me where I was from which was kind of weird, so I just told him Canada-with a confused expression on my face. And he started pointing to a pad of tickets in his hand. After telling him it was my first time in Taiwan, he pointed to the phrase "warning ticket" and told me to sign it, just to acknowledge that I knew their law. He was just very to the point, said thank you, and walked away. Everyone was staring at me OF course, and I felt so embarrassed. Mark said that I was just singled out because I was some blonde white girl. Just so long as I didn't have to pay some sort of stupid fee, I didn't care too much. I just didn't expect that, because Hong Kong doesn't seem to mind. And there weren't any signs anywhere that said no gum! Anyway, it was just kind of funny.

That evening we went to hot pot with the Chen family. It was my first time having it, so that was a fun experience. It was quite tasty - not my ultimate favourite, but still good. For those of you who don't know what it is, they give you a plate of raw vegetables, and meats that you cook in a boiling pot of broth in front of you. It's a fresh hands-on way of eating. Well, when we started eating, I just threw everything into the pot. Some things looked weird but I just threw them in anyway. Once they were cooked I started eating them with rice/noodles, whatever. And there was this little square block that was a dark purplish colour...it was hard when I threw it into the broth, but it came out softer and kind of jelly like. It kind of looked like a condensed puffed wheat square - with little white splotches throughout it. Looking back at it, I can't believe I was so willing to just shove it in my mouth. I remember picking it up to eat it when the family started talking to Mark and motioning at me. He told me "Oh you don't have to eat that!" and I was like "Why? I don't mind" I just thought it was a weird vegetable or tofu or something. That's when he said "No it's coagulated pig's blood". A look of horror just washed over my face, I felt my jaw literally drop. Good thing the Chen family are good sports because they just laughed at me. I put it down and laughed it off but on the inside I was like "WHY OH WHY". I was just very grateful that they told me that before I ate it rather than after it was sliding down my esophagus.

Anyway, so that was a really fun experience! Plus, there was free ice cream, can't beat that!

To read on about the rest of our adventures...check back tomorrow :)

Ant Invasion

2009-10-22T15:17:00.006+08:00

Okay, I just want to blog about a particular experience I had today.

I hate bugs.

I realllllllllly hate bugs.

Just so long as we're clear on that?

So the sun came out for the first time in several days so I decided, Hey - why not go and enjoy this bright day over at the pool - great idea. But first, I was hungry. I hadn't eaten any breakfast and it was lunch time, so I figured, ahh - I'll go down to the corner bakery and try some of their little savoury pastries. So I bought a few for 2 CDN bucks, not bad, and headed over to the pool. Me being the super smart cookie that I am, I decided to only eat one...because it was hot and I sort of lost my appetite. So I folded the little paper bag they were in nice and tight and set them on the little table behind my chair. Now here comes the smart part....after going for a quick swim I managed to build up a little bit of my appetite again, so I decided to try another one. After I finished it, I was a tad lazy, so instead of reaching back and placing the bag on the table behind me-I just set them down underneath my chair, so they were out of the sun.

A couple hours went by and I had enough pool time. I gathered my things, and went home. When I got in the door I placed certain things in various places.

Purse - to the chair

Eclipse book - to the table

Pastry bag - to the couch

and so on and so forth.

So I cleaned up a bit, got dressed, yada yada. And I remembered that I had a couple of pastries left in the bag. (Don't worry they're little ones, I'm not a porker) So I picked up the bag from the couch and emptied the last 2 pastries into a bowl, to heat up for a few seconds in the microwave. Now listen in, because this is one of my worst nightmares and I am forever in heeby jeeby mode today because of it.

I started to crumple up the bag to throw it in the garbage, and somewhere along the way I noticed --- Ants.

LOTS and LOTS of little tiny ants. Crawling all over the bag and AHHHHHHHHHHH JKSAJFIFSNIODFJSIiw!!87&#$*! After performing a quick little spastic jig, I shoved the bag into the garbage and brushed off my entire body - feeling like they were spontaneously crawling over every inch of my skin. YUCK!!!

Suddenly it dawned on me..........they were on those pastries (which got thrown out pretty quick let me tell you)........those pastries were in that bag........that bag was in my purse.......that purse and many items that were inside of it were all over our apartment!!!

So as quickly as I could maneuver around our place whilst checking every two seconds if there were ants on my face, I attempted to rewind and remember where I placed everything. First I made my way to the couch, and BAM little ants having play time on my couch. GROSS. Second, I emptied out purse contents onto the tile floor, and seperated the ant-infested from the non. And third, I made sure the black ink in my book wasn't secretly a bunch of ants waiting to attack next time I opened it.

Now at this point, I'm pretty sure anyone who likes to have a good laugh would have wished for a camera to have been rolling.

Because there Emily was with her skirt hiked up as far as it would go, bending over infested areas, with a black plastic spatula in hand, continually whacking the surface as if she's a crazy old lady.

And well, this carried on for about 30 minutes, until I felt safe enough that the ants wouldn't breed and colonize themselves throughout our apartment.

It was seriously disgusting, and I am only so very grateful that they weren't average sized ants or else this would be an entirely different entry - most likely involving panicky phone calls and more creative home-made extermination tools than a spatula.

Needless to say, I am never bringing food items to the pool again. Or so cleverly placing them on the ground to pick up friends.

Lesson learned.

Big News

2009-10-20T11:42:00.004+08:00

Well this is the first opportunity I have had to blog about nothing in-particular, aside from our big news of course. So I'll just get that out of the way first.

Remember how I mentioned that we were waiting to find out whether we would be staying here until January or until July? Well we were waiting on a certain company in China that had interviewed Mark for an internship. The original plan was that we were going to move up to Shanghai for another 6 months at the end of this year, so that Mark could gain that work experience. We were pretty confident that it was going to happen, so we began planning for it. Well it has been 2 months since Mark had his interview with this company, and it has taken nearly the same amount of time for them to get back to us. They were getting our hopes up, and then delaying their response to us. It was getting frustrating considering we needed to know right away - in order to plan for it. Eventually they got back to us, and Mark did indeed land the job.

But by that time, Mark and I had already been swayed into the direction of returning home, and making plans for that circumstance. We started feeling really good about it, and it was exciting to look forward to the plans we had ahead of us. So after many evening walks, and contemplative conversations, we made the decision to turn it down.

So we are coming home! We will be in Calgary on December 30th, just in time for new years as it works out. We're very excited to see our family & friends again, and we're especially excited to get started with another portion of our lives together.

To expand further on that - I am already registered for my first 2 classes at Sait in January. I will be studying photography, and I am so excited that my husband has pushed me to do this! It is something I have been wanting to progress in, and he is here to encourage me, so I am grateful to him for that. It's difficult to take the leap to do something that you know you might not be able to afford financially, but then you realize the risk is worth the reward in the end.

Mark will be finishing up his degree, so as long as Mount Royal offers the classes that he has left to take, we can expect his Graduation next fall!

As for the internship that his degree requires - Mark has been doing a lot of research over here in China and has been looking into importing products to Canada. After he finishes the winter semester, and consults with Mount Royal about his business plan, he is hoping to finish his internship over the summer. Leading us into the fall where we have high hopes for a really good end to the year! I know that high hopes aren't necessarily the smartest emotion, but I know that if we work really hard to accomplish our goals for next year, we can make them happen. I have no doubt about that.

As for CHINA, we are very excited to travel to Beijing! We will be leaving Hong Kong just before Christmas (which makes me want to cry, by the way) and we will be spending Christmas in Beijing this year! Never thought I would be saying that. So we will be spending a week there, as well as taking a little trip up to Harbin. Never heard of Harbin? Well if you're looking at a map of China - look way way up, because you'll find Harbin near the Siberian border.

It's a fascinating city because of it's Chinese-meets-Russian culture.

Harbin is especially known for it's famous Snow & Ice festival where they basically create a whole little world out of snow and ice! It'll definitely be a cool place to visit, no pun intended ;)

They also have a Tiger reserve that you can visit, to see hundreds of beautiful Siberian tigers!

So we're very excited that we will have the chance to visit China before we leave, it will be an incredible experience. I never thought I would be visiting these areas of the world.

We will be flying out of Beijing and arriving in Calgary just in time for the new year!

Originally everyone was worried that we might go into a bit of a shock, going from warm humid weather into dry bitter cold - but now I'm pretty sure we'll have quite the transition. If anything, we'll go into shock flying from here over to Beijing. We'll be going from warm, to cold, to even colder. Yipee.......I'm certainly going to miss my home here in Hong Kong!!

Anyway, so that's the ultimate update I guess!

This Saturday we'll be flying into Taiwan! I can't wait, I am so excited to see the people of Taiwan, I'm so used to all of these Hong Kongese (not that there's anything wrong with them), I just can't wait to experience the different people, and their culture. I've heard only good things about the Taiwanese :)

It's so easy to just live in a different world over here, I hardly even realize that my birthday's coming up! I will be turning 22 in 9 days! I'm okay with that I guess, I'm pretty sure I'll stop looking forward to my birthdays once I hit that 25 mark. I see how depressed Mark is getting with every birthday, and I don't look forward to that haha.

Things have been pretty great around here, we don't do much other than sit back and relax! We visit downtown atleast once a week, just to see something new that we haven't seen, or to pick something up at the markets. Mark's doing well in school, and I'm just doing my thing -reading, writing, and photography. Not much else I can say about us!

Mark's school is having their International Day tonight, and he was asked to be the MC. He is over at the school rehearsing right now, and we're pretty excited to see the whole program put together. I will be recording it, so I'm sure I'll have a little video to throw up here for everyone to view. Showcase Mark's MC skills. I'm sure he'll do great.

Well I think I've typed enough for today, I'm getting tired of talking about myself, so next time I hope to have plenty of pictures and fun stories of Taiwan.

And for fun, since I have no new pictures to upload...what we do in our spare time. We look ridiculous but Mark insisted that I post them, haha the many faces of Mark & Emily.

Disneyland

2009-10-15T11:24:00.009+08:00

It's so much easier to slack off as time goes on. As I've mentioned numerous times before, this is just our life! Thank goodness we still go on little adventures every now and then or else I would have nothing to blog about for your enquiring minds. I'm trying to keep things informative and fun, so I apologize if I can't always do that.

There was certainly no lack of excitement last week though! We went to Hong Kong Disneyland!

We had SUCH a good day. Honestly, it probably tops the list of fun adventures. There's just something special about the magic of Disney! I like to think that I've grown very mature over the past few years, but it's times like these where I have reason to doubt that. I can't deny the little girl inside of me when I enter into the world that has given each of us so many memories. It has engraved the concept of romance, conflict, heroism into our minds and hearts. But I guess I better stop before I turn into some kind of Disney advertisement. I just can't help but feel giddy when I think about it!

Since I can remember I've always loved theme parks, roller-coasters, carnival goodies - all of it. I have my fondest memories of my family during trips that involved these things, and so I can only feel joy when I think about them.

As soon as Mark and I stepped off of the Disney MTR (it's own train) we instantly felt happy. We KNEW it was going to be a great day. The weather was perfect, it wasn't too busy due to it being a weekday, it was just right.

We like to refer to the park as a mini-version of the original Disneyland. It's quite small, but makes up for it in it's appearance. We couldn't help but notice the small detail that was put into everything, and the respectful attempt they made to create that Disney atmosphere.

And believe me, by the end of the night we were beyond grateful for it's humble size. It was effortless to fit everything into one day, considering it took about 10 minutes to walk across the entire park.

It surprised me that most of the talent cast & park staff were indeed Chinese. We've heard and seen a lot of caucasians living here in Hong Kong that have been hired to work at Disney. In fact, most of them if not all of them, live in our building. They of course hired out these young women to be the princesses, so no, they didn't have any asian Cinderella's. But I suppose the rest of the caucasians we've seen were just hired as dancers and a few of them as singers.

As for languages it was very typical - Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. English was actually the primary language at Disneyland, with no surprise considering it's American.

Due to the fact that Halloween is just around the corner, the whole park was in the "Nightmare before Christmas" theme. It was so fun! They had a halloween parade, and there were Haunted Houses situated around the park. They were actually pretty freaky! Mark had a tickle-him-pink experience. And by that I mean something that he wouldn't shut-up about for the rest of the day he was just so pleased with himself.

To explain - the first haunted house we ventured into, we were at the front of the group. Very typically I was shoved in front, to take on every twist and turn, every dark corner, and every creepy person jumping out at you. I'm pretty tough so I didn't care, but it really did make me scream a few times and that was great..

Well the thing was, I kept noticing that I was being pushed forward, so I had to keep shuffling faster and faster through the hallways, and I could hear the Chinese girls just gasping and screaming at every noise or movement. It sounded like they were just right behind us, so I assumed that they didn't realize how close they were getting. I kept shuffling forward with Mark holding onto me. We were just laughing at ourselves through the whole thing, but once we were out in daylight again, I realized that Mark was laughing for an entirely different reason. With a huge smile on his face, he informed me that the girls I could hear so clearly behind us were actually literally grabbing at Mark's arms, to the point where they were snuggling their heads into his shoulders in fear.

I really just couldn't help but laugh, it was beyond funny that with some white guy they didn't even know, they felt every right to cuddle up to because apparently they thought they were near death or something. It was hilarious. They just skipped off as if nothing had happened, totally ignoring that they just fondled my husband. Anyway, needless to say Mark thought pretty highly of himself from thereon out. Lets just say it probably would have been a different story if they were two hot blondes.

My favourite ride was Space Mountain. I know it exists, but for some strange reason I completely forgot what it was like in L.A. Disneyland so it came as a bit of a surprise when we started thrashing around on a roller-coaster in complete darkness. It was beyond fun, so we jumped on that ride a few times over.

Everytime I look at this picture I burst out in laughter. It just brings back the memory so vividly. After we got off the ride for the first time, we decided to go back on and to make some sort of goofy face for the picture that it takes mid-ride. Well, once we got on we couldn't remember where the camera takes the picture. I knew it was towards the end of the ride so I just enjoyed the beginning, laughing and screaming at every sudden drop or jolt....when I suddenly noticed in the corner of my eye that Mark seemed to be in a very awkward position. I looked over and his hands were held into these perma-claws and he wasn't even making a sound. I just laughed to myself and carried on with the ride. When I thought the camera was coming up, I began to hold my pose when I looked over at Mark again and realized he was still in the exact same pose. Right then and there, the flash went off - lighting his face which looked absolutely ridiculous, and I realized that he had been holding that pose the entire ride. I laughed so hard and luckily the camera captured the moment. He told me his mouth had never been so dry. I will cherish this photo forever...

The day came to a close, as we watched the Disney fireworks paint the evening sky.

It was a good day.

Now in just over a week we will be leaving to Taiwan Taipei! I'm very excited, and I hope that we'll be able to fit in all of the things Mark wants to see in those 10 days. Then once we return, we'll have 4 days until my dad arrives to visit us in Hong Kong which I'm so thrilled about. These next few weeks will go by in a blur I'm sure.

I will certainly make an effort to write another entry soon, and one that doesn't revolve around the MAGIC and WONDER and TWINKLING STARS of FANTASY....and....stuff...

Hello Copy Watches Hello

2009-10-06T13:45:00.007+08:00

Well life in Hong Kong is great as per usual.

We are very settled into our daily life routine, and we are enjoying it.

Every now and then Mark and I will just sit outside and talk about our situation and everything around us. We try to keep a good perspective on things and continually remind ourselves how blessed we are to be here, and how incredible the world is! To think of all the different continents, countries, down to each individual town with different people, languages, culture. The world has so much to offer, and there is so much to learn. I am the first to admit I'm not so much for the history, politics, facts of things...I don't really take the time to learn them like I should. I guess I have a short attention span and I get bored. But seeing these things, and experiencing them is giving me that opportunity...and sort of forcing me to take in new knowledge. Mark on the other hand, is like a sponge. He could watch the Discovery channel for 24 hours straight and never blink an eye. He always throw random information at me, to which my response is "Oh yah...uh huh cool". But he truly finds so many facts about the Earth and everything in it so fascinating, and I look up to him for that.

The other day we had nothing planned so we decided to go for a day at the beach. We're decently close to Golden Beach so we made or way down there and read our books, relaxing in the sun. One little chinese boy came up to us and blew us a kiss, how cute is that? They are honestly the cutest little kids, I just want to squeeze their cheeks. But that would be creepy...

Yesterday we went down to Tsim Sha Tsui, the very famous metro area of Kowloon. It faces Victoria Harbour and downtown Hong Kong, so it's always fun to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. The biggest struggle of 2 young marrieds living in Hong Kong is.. $$$$.

Hong Kong is eeeexxpensive, if I haven't mentioned that before then shame on me.

Because that's one of the first things to note about Hong Kong. Luckily for us, we live in the "suburbs" I guess you could say, so everything is geared toward families and not so much rich business people. Mark and I saved up a certain amount of money to live off of, and therefore we have a decently strict budget. But I'm very excited & proud to say we are doing a lot better financially than I had expected, therefore making other travel that much more possible.

You would not believe how much money people actually throw down here. We were shocked at our buffet cost in Macau, little did we know that that was considered cheap!

We wanted to check out some buffets in Hong Kong, hoping that we could find one similar to StarWorld's. The cheapest buffet I could find was around $220 (translating into about $30 CDN) per person - and that was for lunch. Prices go up for dinner. Nearly every other buffet is listing prices of $280-380 per person (up to $55 CDN). And even then, so many people here consider that reasonable. I don't think so! Our average meal costs us $30. Jumping from that to $300, is a tad bit of a shock. We walked around downtown endlessly trying to find something that was affordable. We ended up going to a noodle/dumpling restaurant (obviously gave up on the buffets) and just ordered a simple meal, still more expensive than necessary.

And believe me, food isn't the end of it.

I guess what's frustrating about the whole situation is that so many people can either afford to spend money like it's nothing, or they just don't care about debt. We may be really cheap because of our situation, but few things annoy me more than how money-hungry this world is, it's just ridiculous!

Anyway, regardless, it's fun to check out all of the fancy hotels and shopping malls.

We spent most of our time walking along the boardwalk, where they have the "avenue of stars". The hand prints of famous chinese celebrities and such.

After walking around for a few hours we went up to the night markets - no surprise there. Seems to be one of our favourite things to do (maybe more-so mine than Mark's). I needed to buy a new swim suit, and bought a really cute Juicy Couture one for only $15 CDN! I'm so kick-butt at bargaining. It's a good thing Mark doesn't leave me alone at night...or I might end up at the markets...with 20 shopping bags in hand. I just LOVE shopping for my family & friends, it's so fun picking out stuff I think everyone will like. So that's something you have to look forward to if you're reading this!!

The reason for my strange & confusing title...as you walk through the narrow paths of the night markets, with little stations on each side, every now and then you will hear the same jumble of words "hellocopywatcheshello". It's the phrase they use over and over again to let you know they are selling brand-name watch replica's. You might also hear the other popular variation "hello copy handbag/watches hello" So just say that really quickly with a Chinese accent, and you'll have it down.

Tomorrow Markus and I are going to DISNEYLAND!!! WOOHOO. We'll be like children again. Actually we'll probably go on one ride, feel sick and go home. That's how old we are now, haha just kidding. I think it will be a lot of fun, it's certainly not as great as California...but I'm quite excited. We'll be sure to take some pictures.

For fun, here's a video of Mark taste-testing moon cake at mid-autumn festival.

Polar Bears in Space

2009-09-29T16:38:00.017+08:00

So the title of this entry is a tribute to Mark for his birthday. He usually suggests very strange titles for me to use, and I usually shoot them down. But because it was his birthday, I will grant him that request. I will also explain the title soon enough.

As most of you know, Mark and I took a little trip to Macau this weekend for his birthday. Macau is a little country bordering China, similar to Hong Kong - but is much smaller, population wise and geographically. While Hong Kong holds a population of 7 million, Macau sits at 500,000.

Although, that is only one of many differences...considering Macau is viewed as China's Las Vegas.

It is only an hour ferry ride on the "turbojet" to Macau from Hong Kong, so we left Saturday morning, and just returned home last night (Monday evening).

We had a great time. It's always a good thing to see and experience as much as you possibly can...so we welcome all of the opportunities we have to go somewhere new.

Although, it doesn't always come easy. Mark and I have had no issues getting around Hong Kong, even from the first day. We're comfortable here, and we love it.

Macau on the other hand, not so much. The first day we arrived, there was a lot of yelling, complaining, and well...2 very tired very dehydrated people.

Let me just say... their transportation systems? They Suck. We weren't pleased with that aspect of Macau.

2 useless bus rides, and 2 1/2 hours later, we finally made it to our hotel from the ferry terminal. Might I add that more than half of that time was spent walking around aimlessly.

Needless to say, we became more reliant on taxis for the rest of the weekend.

Immediately after we settled into the hotel, got some H2O in us, it was like the whole ordeal never happened. We ended up having a really fun night down by the Macau tower (tallest bungee jump in the world) and watched an evening of fireworks.

We also checked out a lot of the hotels and casinos of course. Extravagant! Everything is a lot more expensive in Macau, but it's worth it to have one fun weekend, trying not to worry so much about how much money we spend.

We tried to figure out how the game tables worked so we could watch everyone lose their money, but gambling never fails to confuse me.

A tusk on display in the Grand Lisboa hotel, intricately carved, wow!

One of many plates to come...

On Sunday we had...the most...incredible...buffet...ever! We actually ran into a set of missionaries and asked them where the best food was. They mentioned the Star World hotel's lunch buffet. It was a little pricey for us, so we were hesitant, but decided to wing it anyway. MAN are we glad we did! It had Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and most importantly American. Cheese...how I miss my cheese. Is it wrong that I stuffed a babybel in my purse?

I only took 1. I was too full to eat it.

In the end, Mark and I were rolling out of that place...but it was soooo worth it.

We spent the rest of the day in Taipa (one of the islands of Macau) where the hotel strip is located. The famous venetian, hard rock hotel, 4 seasons.

The Venetian is an incredible hotel/casino/mall mixture and is the 4th largest building in the world by area. Not surprising, considering we spent the entire evening trying to see all of it-which we still didn't.

Looks like I'm outside doesn't it? ...Just the inside of the Venetian.

I've never seen so many high fashion stores in my life. The beauty of China...instead of being glared at for your obvious plain attire - you're welcomed with big smiles because you're white...and white people have money ;)

Okay so that's not always true, but sometimes it is...I think.

Anyway, we always enjoy the evenings just walking around and sight-seeing. The air is always so warm and moist, it's like a big slightly wet hug! It doesn't sound pleasant, but I like it.

We had seen advertisements for Cirque Du Soleil showing at the Venetian all day.

Little did we know that we were very spontaneously going to purchase a set of tickets and get some kick-bum seats and watch very talented people do their thing! Probably the highlight of our weekend. As for the title explanation, in the show there were people in a polar bear suit, floating in front of a space backdrop. Only in Cirque Du Soleil! Such a cool show, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone!

I think Mark should be in the show...

The next day was Marky's 26th birthday! Unfortunately it poured rain the ENTIRE day, but we managed to have a good time regardless. We actually went on a guided tour of Macau and saw all of the famous landmarks and whatnot.

Ruins of St. Paul

I felt bad for Mark because it's difficult spending a birthday away from home, never really feels like your birthday. We would have bought a cake or something, but what good is a cake without candles? And well, that would have been too much hassle. So I just made sure to sing Happy Birthday to him a couple times, and remind him how old he's getting. Which is always fun and games of course.

Went went back home to Hong Kong in the evening which was abbsolutely lovely. We had a really fun time! But it felt so good to be "home". But it truly feels that way, and it was nice to realize that.

Bringing home our goodies, a bakery famous for it's delicate Chinese cookies & candies

I am happy to announce we have booked our flights to Taipei today, and will be leaving October 24th, and returning home on November 2nd. Therefore, I will be spending my birthday in Taiwan this year! Woohoo. I'm thrilled about exploring Mark's mission city, it's going to be another great experience.

Buh bye for now!

When it Rains, it Pours

2009-09-22T11:16:00.008+08:00

Before thoughts of "Oh no, are they okay?" start running through everyone's minds - the title of this entry is not the well-known english idiom.

I'm being literal. When it rains, it really does pour here...especially when there's a typhoon!

I do apologize, it has taken me a couple of weeks to update the blog. As I had predicted earlier, things certainly have slowed down since our tourist stage in the beginning.

One month in Hong Kong! Some things have turned out completely different than I had expected. For one, everyone assumed I was going to be by myself all of the time and kept questioning me on what I was going to do. So I planned it all out...but with Mark's schedule, I'm only by myself for pretty much 2 days out of 7. Which is awesome! But I most certainly can also handle being out on my own, it's fun and I love it!

And for another, I honestly laugh when I think about how many times people tried to shove "Culture Shock" down my throat. Before we left, I started to get a little worried...thinking about how I would handle this experience, and deal with the home sickness. Well that's one thing that has turned out a lot different than I expected-or was persuaded to think. I think about Canada, and sure, I miss some Canadian food, and I kind of miss driving...but I don't want to come home. Mark and I can't believe how quickly our time is running out here, and it scares us! We want to travel more, there's so much to see and do in this world! I'll be excited to come home (whenever that might be) but we truly do love Hong Kong.

The busy street of Hong Kong!

Anyways, the past couple of weeks have been very relaxed. We often visit downtown Kowloon, especially when we need to buy a few things. The markets are always cheaper! I used to get so mad at Mark for haggling like a crazy tourist in Mexico. But here, you just adapt to it. It's the way of life! I partly didn't like it, because I wasn't good at it. I'm too nice, and I don't want to rip people off. But generally, they're the ones trying to rip you off. So I'm proud to say I've gotten pretty good at haggling. You have to be good if you want to do a lot of shopping, it adds up!

We've also been spending a lot of time in the old towns of Hong Kong. We went on a trail, here in Tin Shui Wai, showing us a bunch of old buildings and temples that were built in the 1800's.

I'll be posting some photos I took on the Phlog, if you want to have a peek.

Yesterday we went to Lantau Island. It's still apart of Hong Kong, but it's the island just west of Hong Kong Island...where the floating airport is located. It's famous for Ngong Ping and the Big Buddha. We were planning on visiting it, but the cable car that takes you to it was closed. We could have taken the bus, but we love the cable cars, so we'll be going back to see it....probably when my dad visits us in November. Instead we visited the small fishing town of Tai O. It was very grungy and old, but definitely interesting to see. We took a little boat ride around the island, I just love the lush mountains and the mist in the air, it's so beautiful.

We are enjoying ourselves greatly, trying to soak up every minute of being in South-East Asia, it's just incredible...it takes a pinch every now and then to remind us it's real!

Thanks for stopping by the blog once again!

Special Day

2009-09-10T14:10:00.014+08:00

I can't believe how quickly time flies, we've already been here for 2 1/2 weeks. I guess we've been pretty busy, I know things will slow down after a few weeks though.

Well we've got a pretty sweet schedule. Mark has Mondays and Wednesdays off, so we use those as our activity days, while the weekend's are our relaxation days. Why you ask? Well, it is so that when we do fun things, we don't have to deal with a million other people doing them at the same time! Weekends are pretty busy, so we take advantage of the weekdays. It sure came in handy when we visited Ocean Park yesterday, it was very calm and enjoyable! But before I get into that, I must tell you about Monday.

Mark wanted to spend the day checking out the wild monkeys. I was all for it, the only issue was that it involved hiking through the muggy hot wilderness. It was okay though, it's worth the fun of exploration! We went to Kam Shan country park over in Kowloon. Incase you didn't know, Hong Kong is pretty much situated on a bunch of lush mountains, so you don't have to go very far to reach them.

There are a bunch of paths throughout the park, so we chose the Eagle's Nest path. As soon as we started hiking, we immediately ran into what must have been 10 or so monkeys. It was so cool to see! I was grateful that we didn't even have to hike up the mountain in order to get some action. It was kind of intimidating at first because we've never been that close to wild monkeys before. Apparently they're safe enough to hike around, so we just trusted that. They didn't even seem to care, one old monkey just sat on the steps as we walked past him. They were so adorable! We continued on up the mountain though, to the very top. It had a great view, so it was worth the long trek up!

BUT, on our way back down, we ran into a little bit of monkey trouble. As we were casually walking, we heard a few monkeys up ahead. We saw them jumping through the trees, and one of them was holding a little baby. They didn't seem to care before, so we stood there for a minute, and I took a couple of pictures. Once we began walking again, we turned the corner and very suddenly saw a monkey growling at us from a branch.
Uh oh, that can't be good. So we just SWUNG back around and I just whispered "go back go back go back". It was freaky, but we kind of laughed it off. We waited a few minutes and then forced ourselves to walk back down.
Let me tell you, NOTHING is freakier than walking under a bunch of angry monkeys, in fear that if you even glance up for a second, they'll pounce on your face. We were officially scared at this point, we just walked as quickly as we could until we passed them. The noises they were making were getting louder.
I was walking behind Mark and I could hear them gaining on me. I just kept thinking OH crap they are totally going to attack me from behind! I kept asking Mark "what are they doing, what are they doing?" Then I heard that same creepy monkey growl, and I couldn't help but turn around. There was a monkey walking/running behind me, with his teeth exposed. AHH! I remember just grabbing Mark's shirt and calling his name in absolute panic, hoping he would rescue me from the crazy monkey.
Now, I can't really remember whether we were both pulling and pushing on each other to move ahead, or trying to push the other person back....but I'd say both options are very possible, haha.
Anyways, the monkeys stayed where they were as we walked down the mountain and away from them! Thank goodness.

Quickly taken of the mom & baby before monkeys turned evil!
After that little adventure, we went downtown for some yummy dinner. I also found my new favourite beverage here in Hong Kong, Taro bubble tea! It was so delicious, I haven't been able to find it since though :(

We also bought a camera. We needed a little point and shoot for when we're too lazy to haul around the Canon. So I'm sure we'll be taking a lot of pictures with that, even though the quality isn't great, it's much easier to carry around.

Yesterday we went to Ocean Park on the island. It's kind of a sea world/theme park. It wasn't exactly on par with the california theme parks, but still nice! They had panda exhibits, so that won me over. They are so darn cute!

There are 2 section to the park, the lowland and the highland. In order to travel back and forth they have cable cars that take you up and around the mountain to the other side. What an incredible view! That ride alone will keep me coming back.

Once we entered the park, a lady who was trying to sell us something mentioned it was a special day and pointed to the date. I completely forgot that it was 09.09.09. So I guess it was a good day to make some memories! We ended up having a caricature done of us, which was pretty funny. I didn't think the man would do a very good job considering he was so used to drawing asians all day. Well, I was pretty much right. haha It's alright though, I still love the picture.

All in all, it was another very fun and long day!
Next week- Disneyland!

Goodbye for now :)

The Peak

2009-09-06T20:20:00.014+08:00

There is so much to write about, but please bear with me as I try to cover all of the points!
Today was an incredible day! But before I carry on with that, I'll catch up on the past few days.

On an unbearably scorching hot day, Mark decided he wanted to go check out the Hong Kong wetlands. They're very close to our hotel, in fact we can see them from our room. I don't necessarily care for a bunch of ponds and plants, but I went anyway of course. It was interesting enough, but the heat was insane! We were consistently passing signs that read "Extreme heat warning is in force". Thankfully they had little stations to hide under when you needed shade. But apparently insects had the same idea because under every roof, enormous armies of big black ants were occupying all of the foot space. There are few things I hate more than bugs, so I chose to bear the slow death by sun. Better than ants crawling up my pants.

After visiting the wetlands, we went downtown to the "ladies market". It's famous for clothing and accessories.
It doesn't disappoint! Mark and I had a fun little shopping spree and bought the following items:
2 Chinese robes
Pair of converse shoes
6 T-shirts
Rolex watch
All for the great price of around $100 Canadian. :)

We have to admit that indeed, shopping in Hong Kong is cheap. Especially at the markets. So we were very happy about our purchases, and are planning on going back tomorrow night. It's just so much fun!

Finally, after the market we headed over to Tsim Sha Tsui, where the ferry ports are located so we could travel over to Hong Kong Island for the first time. The island is INCREDIBLE! I cannot describe how beautiful it is.
We took the Star Ferry across the Aberdeen Harbour, and just sat in awe at the lights and skyscrapers of Hong Kong.
After we got on the island, we headed over to the Peak Tram. The tram takes you straight up a mountain to the famous Victoria Peak, which overlooks the bustling city. I had been looking forward to this for a long time, so it was very exciting!

The view was breathtaking. I've never seen anything like it. Such a cool experience, and certainly unlike anything in North America. We chose to go at night this go-around, but we will be re-visiting it in the daytime as well.
By the time we finished up at the peak, it was around 10 pm and we were exhausted. We didn't make it home until after 11, and let me tell you...we slept great that night! It was a full day, but defintely worth it.

Hong Kong is a totally different atmosphere, with different people, and most evidently a different language.
The language barrier can be frustrating at times. The annoyance is that we just find ourselves wishing we could speak Cantonese. At first you don't really care because you can get by on English. But only so much interaction/conversation can be made on English alone. But oh well, you certainly learn the power of body language.

The MTR.
Looks like a mirror right? Wrong...it just keeps going!
If you're sitting there wondering "what are things like in Hong Kong?" Well let me enlighten you. I've noticed many little interesting facts about Hong Kong, so let me list a few for you...

-Generally much cleaner than people believe
-Women dress very modestly
-You can purchase skin-whitening cream
-Mosquitos are sexist (seriously)
-Anything caucasian related is almost always Australian
-They have grocery aisles dedicated to soy sauce and ramen noodles
-Apparently complex carbs mean nothing to them
-Sunblock is ridiculously over-priced
-and flat out, there's a lotttttt of people!
So there's my list for now, maybe I'll mention some more Emily-gathered facts later on.

Today was a very good day. I never thought I would enjoy 5 hours at church, but today was an amazing experience.
We decided to attend an English-speaking ward at a chapel on Hong Kong island. It wasn't difficult to find (thanks once again to the amazing MTR system). Since the building was downtown, it wasn't your typical chapel. The church owned all 10 or so floors of the building. It was different than any chapel I've been to, and it was beautiful! I can't imagine how expensive it was.

But anyways, we were expecting to see a bunch of ex-pats (white people living in hong kong) but it turned out the whole ward was filled with Philippine women, and of course a few american missionaries, and senior missionaries. We were a little bit confused but after speaking to a few of the older couples that were serving there, they explained everything. Apparently hundreds of women come to Hong Kong to work as domestic helpers. They leave their families in the Philippines to come and live in these strangers homes and basically take care of their children. They send money home to support their families, seeing them only a couple of times in a year. Their lives become very lonely being away from their homes, where their husbands are finding new girlfriends to replace them.

The most amazing thing about these women is that even though they are in the most unfortunate circumstance, they are the most friendly, up-beat, kind-hearted people I've ever met. We were there for one day, and by the end of those 5 hours...they made us feel apart of their little family. After the normal 3 hours of classes, we ended up staying for another couple of hours to have dinner with the ward, and enjoy everyone's company. It was a lot of fun.

Not only did we feel the warm spirit that comes with just visiting the lord's house, and the members there, but we specifically felt the unique love in the ward we attended today. It was different than any other meeting I've been to, but such a good experience. I am extremely grateful for God's love for each of us, and the way he manifests it through us, so that not only can we turn to him for that love, but we can find it in others as well.

In the end, the ward that meets at 9am is actually the family ward with all of the ex-pats, so we will probably be attending that ward from now on, which I'm sure will be a great experience as well!

Until next time!

Not Suitable For Weak Stomachs

2009-09-01T18:43:00.005+08:00

Well I thought I'd just come on and give a quick update before the day is over.

Things have been going very well. Mark started school yesterday, he seems to be enjoying it so far. He had a very long day today, so I'm excited for him to come home.

I went out on my own for the first time today. In Hong Kong there are quite a few options for transportation. Most popular being the trains - MTR and Light Rail. MTR is pretty much the mother of all transportation. They make C-Trains in Calgary look like little toy cars.

Light Rail trains are much smaller.

There's a Light Rail train that goes around in a circle around Tin Shui Wai, so I played it safe and took that route today. So that was a nice little adventure. I like these less populated areas, but going downtown where all of the action is can definitely be more exciting. Mark and I are going to the island tomorrow, I'm definitely excited, it's going to be awesome!

The other day Mark and I checked out another shopping mall. The malls usually consist of the following things:

Mcdonalds, 7-Eleven, A few restaurants & little food shops, a grocery store, lots of weird specialty shops.

Every now and then you'll find these really busy, kind of dirty, farmer's market type areas built into the mall. Now here's where the title of my post comes in, consider that my warning.

I'm not grossed out very easily, so I actually found these things quite funny. But I won't deny that I find it mind-blowing that people actually buy this stuff!

Pig leg anyone? No? Perhaps some tongue, or some intestine?

Now I will admit that this made me quite sad, try not to cry.

Yes they were certainly alive, and staring at me I might add. Whether it be fish, turtle, frog, the butcher's just grab them while they're alive and chop their heads off and start ripping them apart right in front of you. Then they just throw the bloody chopped up parts into a bag, and the old chinese ladies happily go home to fry up their turtle. First of all, that's just gross. Second of all, it just seemed very unsanitary. But I guess this is the norm here!

One of the chinese women seemed to think it was pretty funny when I very noticeably flinched while a man chopped off a fish's head right in front of me. I'm lucky I didn't come home with fish guts all over me.

Anyways, I suppose that's enough graphic writing for today! Sorry if I made you gag :)

Well I haven't eaten dinner and it's getting late, so I must go back up to the room.

Love you all back in Canada!

Until next time!

Changing Continents

2009-08-28T15:40:00.008+08:00

I apologize to those who have been following the blog thus far. I finally have a chance to sit down and take the time to update.

It's not that the week has been overly busy, but more-so that we just haven't had the energy to do everything. Let me say one thing...

Jet Lag is underestimated!

The flight was long. To be honest though, it actually wasn't too bad. Thanks to in-flight movies!

I believe in the end, I watched a total of 5 movies, and a few TV shows. The flight was just over 12 hours if you were wondering. I've heard of worse, but it was still a lot longer than any flight I've experienced!

So of course, plenty of people warned me about the jet lag, and how to go about it. Everyone had mixed reviews on what works best. The flight left Calgary at noon on Sunday, and arrived in Hong Kong at 6:30 pm the next day. So I just made the decision to not sleep at all, so I would be ready to go to bed with the rest of Hong Kong. Once we arrived at the airport, an LDS family took us to their home for the night. I was pretty groggy, so I gave in and went to bed around 9 pm. Want to know how it worked out? Well, it didn't.

I ended up waking up at around 1:50 in the morning, and could NOT get back to sleep. I don't know what was going on, but apparently my body was like "What on earth do you think you're doing? I'm not that stupid".

Anyway, my body's been suffering from Jet Lag ever since, but now I'm finally back on track. The trick is to go to bed as late as possible (11-12) so you sleep the whole night through.

It was just something I hadn't expected would be such a problem. Big surprise for Emily, and Mark considering he's been doing the exact same thing.

Mark in front of his school in Tuen Mun.

Another thing I must say...Hong Kong is HUMIDDDDD as heck! I walked out of the airport and nearly choked on the water content in the air. Definitely hotter than Mexico. I've never sweat so much in my life. But as crazy as this may sound, I love it! The constant feel of dirty isn't exactly pleasant, but it's sooo nice coming home and taking a nice hot shower and just lounging in the cool air-conditioned room. Plus, my skin is so soft, I never have to use lotion. (Aside from sunblock). But Mark and I have already found our bodies are getting used to it. You know it's possible when you see the locals wearing skinnies and black t-shirts. I'm not quite there yet, but good on them I guess!

One of Hong Kong's main convenience stores, who knew Circle K still existed?

The food is...interesting. I've had the authentic stuff before back in Calgary, but this stuff is TRULY authentic. I know we're all brought up with certain foods and so we love them...but I just look at some of this stuff and wonder how on earth it could taste good. I'm not sure, but I think because we are in a "lesser" populated area, there aren't as many options for food.

We went to downtown Kowloon last night and found more of the pan-fried and wonton soup type items. None of the gristly pork, and boiled pig knuckle with rice.

Contrary to what many people believe, they actually do carry a lot of american (mostly australian) foods in the supermarkets. Usually you'll pay through the nose for it, but can be worth it I think. I bought some peanut butter & jam, cereal, bread...just to give us a taste of home when we're desperate. In the mall right below us, there is a Mcdonalds of course, as well as a KFC. So I'm sure those will come in handy at times as well.

Our view from the 27th floor.

I forgot to mention where we're living. We're in a hotel for long-term stays in Tin Shui Wai. We rent our room monthly, and it's just as expensive as a regular apartment, but with a lot less hassle! It's furnished and has a little kitchenette with a fridge, so it has everything you need. Mark was swooning the booking manager over the phone before we arrived, but HATS OFF to Mark because we ended up on the top floor with a spectacular view of Hong Kong! I was so excited! Let me tell you, it is SO nice having maid service 3 times a week :) We also have free access to the pool, fitness centre, and tennis court, woohoo!

I was definitely stressing out about finding a place to live, but we are very blessed to have this arrangement.

And view to the left. Not an uncommon sight in Hong Kong.

We went downtown last night to a night market. We woke with aching feet this morning but it was worth it of course. Lots of cool asian trinkets, handbags, clothing, etc. We'll definitely be going back many times, as well as visiting the other markets on the island and such. There's SO much to do and see, so we're excited for that. It's difficult not to go into overdrive. I was getting a little overwhelmed with how much I wanted to do, but Mark reminded me that we will be here for 4 months, so we've definitely got time. Silly me, I guess I'm just used to 1 week vacations where it's go-go-go.

This is CRAZY! I cannot believe I am in Hong Kong. As soon as we arrived I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. It's one thing to see it in pictures, but when you're actually standing in the middle of it, It's indescribable. It's a totally different experience moving to the other side of the world when all you've seen is North America. Needless to say, Mark is loving it. It brings back memories of his mission for him. I'm sure once we visit Taiwan, it will be even more special for him.

I don't think I mentioned it in my first post, but I am keeping a Photo Blog while we are here.

I'm so excited for the photography opportunities I will have due to the different culture and scenery. You're welcome to visit the link on the top right panel of this page. I'd love to share with you all of the things that I find interesting about Hong Kong!

Well I suppose I've written enough for now. It will be interesting crossing over from being a tourist, which is how I feel right now, to being a temporary resident. I'm in vacation mode, and eventually this becomes life.

Love you all, and I am sending my best wishes back home to you!

Until next time :)

"Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans."

2009-08-20T15:38:00.000+08:00

Ever since our marriage began this famous phrase gradually made more sense.

For as long as I can remember, it was always stressed to me that we can't plan our lives. There is no telling what is written in the books for us, take it a day at a time. Yada yada.

More importantly, I was advised that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Unique to each of his children here on earth.

I've always been aware of the fact that I can't control everything, and at some point my life will veer a little bit in a direction I won't anticipate, but I never expected how UNexpected these little directional changes would be.

Mark and I's marriage has been the sole teacher on this subject, as NOTHING has gone according to plan since day 1.

Even though it is easy to be stubborn and selfish when things don't go our way, we have to be mindful of the future, and how the change will benefit our lives and who we are as people.

I am proud to say that through moments of frustration and confusion about what's next, Mark and I have made it to another unexpected but exciting part of life as we pack up our bags and move to Hong Kong in 3 days! We are very grateful for this opportunity and at least with this surprise in life we can see the benefits immediately!

To give a quick break-down of what we're doing and why...

Mark is studying at Mount Royal here in Calgary, for his International Business Degree.

Mount Royal offers a variety of exchange programs all over the world. Originally we had planned on spending a year over in the Netherlands, but we were too late for the deadline. Of course Mark has always wanted to go back to South-East Asia, (after his mission in Taiwan) so then we started looking at possibilities over there. It didn't take long for Hong Kong to pop up, and sure enough, we had time to apply. So here we are 3 days away from our flight, and we're actually going!! Mark will be studying at Lingnan University in New Territories, Hong Kong. After the semester is over, he is hoping to work for a company in Shanghai, China for another 6 months on an internship. We won't be able to finalize this until he has had his final interview within the next month. This would bring us back home to Canada in July 2010, instead of January. As soon as I know these details I will be sure to let everyone know.

We are very excited and definitely curious to see how we adjust to this lifestyle change. Thank goodness I have a husband who is somewhat used to the culture and can speak 2 of the three languages they speak in Hong Kong! I think we'll get by just fine...

Aside from Mark, I'm VERY anxious to get over there and figure things out. I honestly have no idea what to expect, I picture it in my mind, but in the end I don't think my imagination is doing it justice. I've always loved traveling and more-specifically...spontaneous travel. For someone as organized and as OCD as I am, I surprise myself with the crazy things I want to do sometimes. I guess that's what happens when all you do is organize stuff all day. Sometimes you just need to do something different!

Well, I delight in the idea that next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in a very hot/humid tropical place with a lot of short dark-haired people. And one very happy husband.

Wish us luck!!