Hong Kong

Okay, so I've kinda been ignoring my blog ever since I discovered facebook, but now that facebook has changed and I don't like it as much, I decided to start blogging again. Yay!

So in March I took a trip to Hong Kong with some friends from church to attend the 2nd annual Asia Women's Conference. We had some extra time to go sight-seeing, and shopping of course. I don't think we slept for 4 days straight.

This is the view of the light show from across the harbor

This is the view from Sister perkin's house where we stayed the first 3 nights

We went to see the 'Big Buddah'

High-5ing the Buddah (what-up dogg?)

This is the whole group that came from Taiwan

This is the church building in Hong Kong

I met up with my friend Hannah, she is married to one of Nate's old mission companions and they live in China.

Julie, Carrie, and I visited the Hong Kong temple. You can't see it very well in the background, but it is there!

That's Bruce Lee, for those of you non-kung-fu fans

Those were the best Galattos ever!

Kay and Lydia and I decided to stay an extra night to do more sight-seeing. Check out our luxurious hotel room! It's so big I could almost walk between the beds without turning sideways (almost!)

And the sink made it hard to brush your teeth because your head barely fit into that space. But even thought it was small, the beds were comfy and it was clean and we didn't see a single cockroach, so it gets at least 3 stars from me!

The world's most dangerous fireworks

We just happened to be at the Shih Lin night market the other day, and got stuck in the middle of the scariest fireworks ever!

All of those red things laying on the ground are humongous firecrackers. They think that the noise of the firecrackers scares away the bad spirits that come out at chinese new year. Notice how everyone is just walking right through them...and do you know how many people were smoking right in the middle of it?!? And do you notice the smoke coming from down the street where they already lit off part of the firecrackers? One guy came running out of the smoke with his arm wrapped in a t-shirt, all splattered with blood. (of course there are no paramedics standing by)

First,these guys came by beating the drum to make way for the firecrackers.

Then came the firecrackers...and oh, the NOISE! And the smoke! And the FLAMING SHARDS OF SHRAPNEL COMING OUR WAY! This picture is blurry because I was running for my life.

We took cover inside an eyeglass store, which was so lucky because it had a glass wall in front. See all the firecracker shrapnel? Ya, IT HURTS! (and those balloons there in front didn't last long)

Then, people came by with buckets of water to douse the flaming street.



Then they carried the little God sitting in the chair into every store to 'bless' the stores.

They wasted no time lighting off more fireworks. Yes, they are putting fresh fireworks right in the middle of the hot steaming smoking pile of ash!

At this point, we didn't even need to cover our ears anymore because we couldn't hear anymore anyway. (WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?)

I took this picture from directly underneath the fireworks, right before I realized how stupid it is to stand directly under the fireworks. We ran for it when they started falling on our heads.

Poor Ashton, he wouldn't unplug his ears for hours.

Kunting

Over New Year's break, we drove to the southern tip of the island with our friends, the Parks. We got to Kunting and relaxed on the beach, shopped at the local night market, relaxed on the beach, visited the aquarium, relaxed on the beach, went to the lighthouse at the very southern tip of Taiwan, and relaxed on the beach some more!

This is the very southern tip of Taiwan

Yes, that's a baby octopus he's biting the head off of.

Evan got picked to get a picture taken with the beluga whale, but he was freaked out about it touching him, so he pulled his head up every time it tried to kiss him. You can see the poor whale trying to come farther and farther out of the water to reach him.

Nine Tribes Park/Village

Over New Years vacation, we drove to the southern tip of the island with our friends, the Parks, and on the way we stopped at this amusement park/Taiwan aboriginal cultural center. They had all kinds of amusement park rides, and villages set up like the native Taiwanese tribes.

You can tell they're brothers...

Nate said I had great form, and my arrow did go the farthest...above the target, above the shooting wall, and into the trees beyond...He didn't say to keep my eyes open when I let go of the string.

Happy 2009

We had a great new years party at the Park's house. We dipped fondu and then walked over to a nearby park where we had a great view of the fireworks at the Taipei 101 building. (I found a clip of the fireworks on youtube below) There were so many fireworks going all around us, for over an hour there were huge fireworks displays everywhere, it was amazing! Those chinese people really know how to throw a party!

2009 Fireworks Taipei 101 New Years Eve 跨年 煙火 Taiwan Happy New Year !!!

Yingga

This was a really fun trip-we took a train to Yingga, a nice little town that is the pottery capital of Taiwan! The streets are lined with shop after shop that sell every kind of pottery from tea sets to marble statues. You can even make your own pottery right on the street.

Yangmingshan hike

This is at the top of Yangmingshan Mountain. We hiked it the easy way-take a taxi to the top and walk down. (nice matching smiles, boys!)

going down...

We were walking along and these huge monkeys came down right on the trail with us! They were almost as big as Evan, and this is the closest shot I got before my camera died!