After a 2 month hiatus, it's time to get back to blogging... :)
My parents were here to visit around the birth of their grand-baby (baby will be a separate blog entry all together). I was over 9 months pregnant and had limited energy and mobility, but they still seemed to love the city and get lots of touring in (some with and some without me).
I wanted to do an entry of their impressions of Hong Kong. I wrote an email to them, asking them for some ideas and a couple of photos. My mom wrote back several emails of ideas and pictures... not the few bullet points I was expecting. (Why would I expect my mom to be concise? This is a family trait that Foley is still trying to train me out of... getting rid of my long-winded stories and phone messages... As per usual, I digress.)
SO, I've decided to post my mom's words and pictures as a 'guest entry' here. She does a great job identifying some of the wonderful surprises HK has.
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| Such a dense city population… and yet we seldom felt crowded. Every crevice is used. |
Below are SANDRA'S TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS OF HONG KONG
Written by Sandra Fielder.
Photos by Terry and Sandra Fielder.
I'm a country girl, love the great outdoors and am generally not a fan of cities at all. That is why my enjoyment of Hong Kong surprised me.
(1) I did like the fact that because of the vertical nature of the city, and the efficient transport, you could be anywhere and everywhere very quickly.
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| Mom in alley-way costume market |
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Lippo Centre -
designed as Koalas climbing bamboo. |
(2) I loved the diversity of the food and services, the neat little shops tucked between buildings, or on the 33 floor of a high rise, or right next to the escalator... pretty much wherever you looked.
(3) I was pleasantly surprised by the green space amidst the sea of high rises. I totally loved the Botanical/ Zoological Garden, the Peak and Victoria Gardens, and Hong Kong Park.
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| Mom & Dad with Money Tree |
(4) The traffic freaked me out not only because of driving on the left hand side , and the speed, but also all the hairpin turns because we were on a mountain. It was a bit like riding a roller coaster. Our taxi would be driving along a road and all of sudden veer off on this little ramp that would take us to another road. Those drivers had to learn very complex street patterns to know where to go.
(5) Another interesting fact: Hong Kong residents have the second longest life expectancy (82.12 years), next to Japan (83.91years) (Canada - #12 in the world at 81.48 years) This amazed me that people would be healthier and live longer on the average considering the high intensity population, pollution etc. Spoke loudly to me about some of the chinese practices like meditation and Tai Chi that still the mind amid a busy bustling metropolis.
(6) Yummmm... Dim Sum at the Crystal Jade Restaurant.
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| Yummy Dim Sum |
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| Hole for the dragons on the mountains to access the harbour |
(7) The unique and interesting sky scraper designs... truly awesome and inspiring. As we were travelling over to Stanley (great shopping) we saw a couple of skyscrapers with BIG holes left right through the middle of them. Of course it made perfect sense when we learned that the holes were to let the 9 dragons from the mountains pass through on their way to the harbour to drink. There were other expressions of strong Chinese belief in the structure and lay out of the buildings following the Feng Shui thinking.
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| Hong Kong Family |
(8) Meeting Trish and Mike's "Hong Kong family" -their fun loving friends - kindred spirits. You could feel the love and energy, and respect among them. They welcomed us with a lovely chinese dinner chocked full of good food and laughter. They offered to tour me around, take me to yoga classes, etc., even though they were all working ... It was great to put faces to Trish's stories.
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| Mom & Dad with Connie |
(9) I loved Connie (Mike & Trish's domestic helper) and how good she took care of all of us. We would go out touring or shopping or whatever, come home and put our feet up and wait for dinner to be prepared and served. The laundry was always done. I felt soooo spoiled.
(10) By far my most wonderful and memorable moments were those spent with Brennan. Hospital stay was impressive, very patient focused, again very efficient and friendly. All the intriguing sites and sounds of the city paled when we met our precious little grandson. Time stood still. We could watch him for countless hours, absolutely mesmerized and totally in love. A very important part of what made Hong Kong so delightful.
