Hong Kong 2

If you are confused, read the entry below this one.

City street.

A meat stall along one city street.

Chicken before.

Chicken after.

Pigs...or what is left of them anyway. Lying of the bare floor of the restaurant just waiting to become someone's lunch.

Not sure if they were selling fans or just really worried about getting too hot.

For dinner on Sunday night my doctor recommended that we take a boat ride (about 45 minutes) to one of the small islands. Once we got there he said to just pick a direction, right or left, and walk until we found a restaurant that suited our fancy. He also said we would have some of the best seafood of our lives at whichever, quite literally, hole in the wall place we decided to eat. So, we did. It was storming really bad when we went and so the boat ride was, well, let's just say the people around us were losing their lunch. Thankfully, Michael and I don't get sea sick. So we thought the 10 foot waves slapping into the side of the boat and the boat flying up into the air and crashing down was GREAT! When we got to the island we decided to walk left. Walking slowly because of the rain, we passed many places to eat. How and why we ended up picking the one we did I don't know. Though, Michael says the fact that they were throwing out some English words, tying to tempt us in to their place, was what decided it for him. Those words consisted in their entirety of, "eat....you....here." Slightly concerned as to if they wanted to eat us or wanted us to eat there we braved it anyway. We ended eating along the docks (if you could call them that) sitting under a leaky tin roof with tarps for walls in what felt like 20 mile per hour winds and rain eating the best seafood of our lives! This from a girl who does not like seafood!!! As you can see from the picture below they had done a good job of making up for the bad weather with lots of lights and bright colors. Honestly, even in pain, this was some of the best fun and food I have ever had. I was having a hard time eating my deep fried spicy crabs, because of my tooth and because I have never eaten crab before. So after a few minutes of the entire wait staff of women laughing at me one of them took pity on me and came over to our table and spent the next 20 minutes getting my meat out of the shells for me...while the rest of them just stood there and laughed at me. Michael ate some scallops which he also said were the best he has ever had. This kind of thing, totally unknown adventures, is what we LOVE about living in a different culture! You never know what is going to happen.

A view of "Hong Kong Island" at night from our much less exciting boat ride back. The major storms had passed by then. :-(

Random tree. Michel and I just thought the root system was interesting. We saw several of these growing. A few were even growing on the sides of hills with the massive root system cascading down. Wish I had been able to get a pic of that.

Close up.

Hong Kong

I had been having wisdom tooth issues for a couple of months when it finally got to an "emergent" state and I was shipped off to Hong Kong where there were Oral Surgeons who could fix me. I had seen 3 different doctors all here who said that nothing could be done in Shanghai. It is not at all uncommon when a complex medical situation arises here (Shanghai) for a foreigner to have to go to Hong Kong where better treatment is available. But for us, they (a company called SOS that specializes in helping foreigners in emergencies) decided that because of my problem that I needed to go to Hong Kong immediately. Like the same day! (Thursday) What could have turned into a logistical nightmare, like deciding what to do with the boys, we ended up being SOOOOO blessed!

We did not want to take the boys with us because we were not sure what to expect once we got to Hong Kong. And we were not sure how long we were going to be there. SOS told me it could just be overnight or up to 4 days depending on what the doctor said. But, it is such a blessing that our friends Bill & Judi Bates live close by and were able to come literally last minute and spend a few days watching the boys for us. We know Bill & Judi from Alabama. They used to live and attend church where we did. They are such great family friends and the boys feel comfortable with them. We ended up being in Hong Kong one day longer than we had hoped so another close friend, Amy Canfield (who happens to be Bill & Judi's daughter) came with her kiddos and stayed with the boys the last night. All I can say is that we owe all of them HUGE THANKS!!!! It was wonderful to know the boys were in good hands while we were away. It made the whole thing much less stressful. Thanks Bill, Judi, Amy!

Because I had a some pain and anesthesia issues my doc recommended we fly back on Monday. (We left here Thursday afternoon and got back Monday late afternoon.) Dr. Carter took out my lower left wisdom tooth on Friday, which was nasty infected and impacted into my jaw. Then Michael and I spent the next 2 1/2 day cooped up in the hotel room. I hate to admit it but I was totally pathetic! It was awful and I felt horrible! But truthfully, I think Michael had it the worst. Dealing with me! Bringing me soup, water, drugs, etc... Poor thing!! He deserves to be husband of the year in my book!

On Sunday afternoon I decided I had had enough of the hotel room and I was going out sightseeing even if it killed me. So I took my pain pills and my chipmunk face out to see the sights. We were only out for an afternoon and early evening and unfortunately it was raining for almost all of that time! But, I have to say what we did see was absolutely amazing!!!!!! We loved Hong Kong! I hope to be able to go for a proper visit soon. I took tons of pictures. I was determined to get the most out of my few hours. Below are some of the better ones.

But first, so you won't just think I was making the whole tooth thing up when you see all of my tourist photos....
ME

MY TOOTH

A view of the city from "Victoria Peak." Hong Kong is made up of one larger island "Hong Kong Island", some land attached to the mainland China, and a smattering of tiny islands. We were on "Hong Kong Island" for most of our trip and when we took most of these photos. Hong Kong is very, very hilly. Some might even say mountainous. And the roads are all very narrow and take sharp turns. It is kind of like what I envision parts of San Francisco to be like. That is what we were told to compare it to anyway. Again, it was an amazing and beautiful place. Our pictures do not even come close to doing it justice.

Another view from "Victoria Peak."

A view of "Hong Kong Island" from a boat in the Bay.


Ok!! I have had enough! I have been trying all day to load more pictures. To no avail. So that is it for now. I am tired of trying. I have a few more really great pictures. I will try again soon to get them up.

Big And Small, God Made Them All

I know this happened a decent while ago but I was looking through my photos and remembered that I wanted to post some from our trip to the St. Louis Zoo. When we were on our way back to Alabama from visiting family in Missouri (this past July) I convinced Michael that we needed to make a family trip to the zoo. He was unsure at first because it just extended our travel time. But in the long run we both ended up being really glad that we decided to make the trip. The St. Louis Zoo is absolutely fantastic! It has some of the best exhibits I have ever seen. We had such a great time with the boys seeing all of animals God made. The big and the small.






Besides the animals we had a bit of excitement on our zoo visit. About halfway through the day Gabe wiped out on some loose gravel and banged up one of his knees and the palms of his hands. While the injuries were not too serious, they did need some kind of cleaning and a band-aid. And of corse, I had neither. So we consulted our map and decided to make a quick detour to the first aid station. As (bad) luck would have it we were near the entrance of the zoo and the first aid station was all the way at the back. We took a crying and screaming Gabe (see previous posts about bravery) through the zoo as quickly as possible. (By the time we got there we were all super hot and really sweaty. We looked like we all needed medical attention I am sure.) Going by the map I entered the building I thought was the first aid station only to find it was the break room for the off duty train drivers. Seeing a red faced, sweaty woman walk into their room surprised them but when I asked for a band-aid they all jumped to their feet. Half of them charged out of the building looking for a major injury and the other half got on the walkie-talkie system shouting for medial backup. I kept saying, "Where is the first aid office? I just need a band-aid." Within seconds three golf carts carrying medial personnel and all kinds of medical equipment screeched to a stop right in front of us. All the men charged off the carts and began looking for the medial catastrophe. Boy were they going to be disappointed!!! Confusion on their faces, they turned to us asking if we knew where the emergency was. Michael and I just sighed and pointed to the puny Gabe. As comprehension spread amongst the group, all but one of the carts pulled away. Then a couple of medics and the manager of safety for the entire zoo were left to deal with a scraped up knee and hands. As it turns out, the first aid station WAS by the entrance to the zoo. (Very near where we were when the "injury" occurred.) But the map had it at the back of the zoo because the first aid station was due to be relocated there next week! Despite the trauma Gabe felt he had suffered, which we were sympathetic to, the entire thing was so very, very funny! Here is a picture of the banged up Gabe and the men who, as he said, "Saved my life!"