Aunt Nellie Visits!!!

Welcome to Hong Kong, Aunt Nellie!!!

We haven't seen Aunt Nellie since we were home at Christmas, so we were very excited for her visit over spring break. It just so happened that the stars aligned and the kids spring break (2 weeks long) coordinated with her spring break. She booked a ticket (sorry, no upgrade to business class available) and flew the 16 hours over the North Pole to spend 8 days with us. 

Up first was a visit to C's school to be a spectator for Sports Day. Sports day is basically the equivalent of our "field day" at Marion Local. However, the entire school year leads up to game day. Every Friday, the entire student population (84 children) are divided into 4 groups of various ages. The groups stay the same for each quarter as they accumulate and earn points while competing in various logic, humanity, citizenship, and various other types of academic games. The final competition was the Sports Day games, which families were invited to attend. It was located in the big grassy area at our Community Hall, which is a 5 minute walk from our house. C's team is called "Dragons", which happens to be his football team name, so he wore that uniform. (The teams had to dress in their team color, in this case, blue. This is a big deal to the kids because they normally wear uniforms). For the record, his team won!!!

Preparing for the games. FYI, that is his girlfriend standing behind him!

Up next, a night out for the adults. After school, we helped the kids settle in for the evening with Margie, and then we hoped a ferry and taxi into the city. Hong Kong is a large city, so it is best described by the districts and streets. The trendy restaurant area is known as SOHO. We decided on an Italian place and filled ourselves with some nice carbohydrates before hitting the bar district, Lan Kwai Fong (LKF). There are around 100 plus dining and drinking establishments in these areas, so there is something for everyone! 

On of Mark and I's favorite hang-outs is Al's diner in LKF. (Don't get the wrong idea, we go out very seldom in LKF, but when we do, we always stop here). It's a great place with indoor/outdoor seating, video screens that play music video's from the 80's-90's, and people dancing on the tables...makes you feel like you are back in Ohio! We also toured another favorite location, Insomnia. This place has live music that absolutely rocks. The are open until like 4 a.m. but we always leave at a respectable 1:45 to catch the last ferry back to our island :) 

Anyways, LFK is always an eye-opening event. People are dressed up in formals, super hero costumes, in just underwear, the possibilities are endless. BUT Nellie was in for a special treat, because Hong Kong was celebrating the Hong Kong Rugby 7's. The Rugby 7's are a rugby tournament featuring teams from all over the globe. Rugby players are nuts, but Rugby fans are more nuts!!! Basically, if you have ever attended HineyGate, think that on serious steroids for the party atmosphere. We met so many people, I can't think of another place that you can talk to people from so many different countries in one night, but anything is possible in Hong Kong. 

Over the weekend, we went to visit Big Buddah, just the girls. Unfortunately, after we rode the cable car, it started to rain. We had to walk and climb the stairs in the rain. However, E had a great time jumping in any puddle she could find. Of course, I forgot to bring an umbrella, which is a staple in the subtropics. 

Bamboo growing in the gardens around the village in Big Buddah. E loves bamboo, as it feeds the panda bears!

 We also went to Disneyland, just the girls. The little man can be quite a hermit when he chooses. He was in football camp this week from 9-12 daily, plus he was running a fever off and on with a cold. He didn't really have the energy to devote to sight-seeing, football, and the NCAA March Madness, so guess which activity lost!

Riding the tea-cups with Aunt Nellie! 

Main Street U.S.A with Sleeping Beauty's castle way in the background.

Once again, just the girls headed to Ocean Park, which is a large amusement park and aquarium on Hong Kong Island. Of course, it had to rain off and on, but it didn't stop our fun. We were able to see the panda bear cubs, lots of fish, a few sharks, and ride the carousel. Overall, a success for E!

 

She loves the goldfish!

Finally, we spent lots of time eating and enjoying time together just doing nothing. Unfortunately, our weather was not fantastic, but we still had fun :)Thanks for visiting Nellie, we will see you in June!!!!

Bali, Indonesia

We've had a busy month here in Hong Kong! We've had Aunt Nellie visit for 9 days and then spent Easter in Bali, Indonesia. Aunt Nellie's blog post will be coming later as I'm still gathering pictures, so Bali first. 

The brief geological and cultural lesson first...Bali is a providence located in the country of Indonesia. It is approximately a 4 hour flight south from Hong Kong, located in the Southern Hemisphere. Bali has remained mostly Hindu, however, much of Indonesia is Islamic. There are influences from India and China; however, I would say that the Hindu culture is most prominent. There are many temples and offerings of incense and flowers to the Hindu Gods. Bali has a booming tourist economy, gorgeous beaches, the Indian Ocean, and a hot, tropical climate.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt resort, which was highly recommended by some Canadians that we know from Hong Kong, and we were not disappointed! The above picture is just 1 of the 5 pools at our resort. 

We had a cave, water slides, loungers built-into the pool, and so much more! We had a hard time convincing the kids to leave the pools to do anything else, ever. In fact, we didn't do much else, which is why Mark and I want to go back and explore Bali without the kids. There is so much culture and the area is simply gorgeous, but it's hard to convince the little ones the importance of cultural enrichment :)

The other nice thing about the resort was its' size. Living in Hong Kong, you can get a little claustrophobic. Although our area is very nice and not congested, it's nothing like Ohio. We had to reference a map to reach the medical clinic, tennis courts, and various restaurants. There was a huge Prudential insurance conference for Eastern Europe being held here, and not once did we feel that it was crowded. There were plenty of lounge chairs, plenty of staff, and plenty of beach space. We could see the stars at night, which is not very common in Hong Kong. It was just a really great place to visit and re-group from our daily life here. 

 

Evie went to the Kids Club for face painting one day while the rest of us played tennis. She is a (sweating) butterfly.

Like I said, our resort was huge, but once we walked off the property, there was this nice clearing on a cliff featuring a temple, these Hindu statues, and an "ocean boom" viewing point. We could not find much about these statues in English, partly because we didn't have time to read the 6 foot by 4 foot book that was located in the base of the building, and partly because the kids were getting hungry. But, I will research them later.

                                                      

Here we are visiting the "ocean boom" look-out. We walked up onto the deck that you can see in the background because you could see the waves better. Then a nice little wave came up so we could get some cool pictures and "BOOM" the after effects....as you may guess, E was less than impressed, C said "that wave was wicked-cool!"  (Of course, E looks less than impressed in the "before" picture as well, but that's her natural persona)

Right across from our resort, about a five minute walk from our room, was a large market area. There were many restaurants, spas, and shops, which was very convenient and more cost effective than resort food all the time. Asia has a great customer service sector and the salon business is no exception. So, I was all about the salons at the market. All of them offered "fish therapy" which is basically a treatment to remove dead skin cells from whatever body part you stick in the tank. I had just had a pedicure before we left for our trip, so I thought it would be a good idea for the boys to try out this little treatment. (Not that I would have done it anyways, but it sounded good). Anyways, C was all about it, Mark took some convincing. However, we paid our money, they dipped there feet in and went for it very bravely. Turns out, C loved it!This salon had 4 tanks in it, so when the fish grew tired of him in 1 tank, he would run to the next one. He ended up dipping his hands in as well. They described it as tickling, especially when the fish went for the skin between the toes. Mark ended up with smoother skin, but more interesting than that, the fish loved his leg hair. He now looks as though he wears bad socks that rubbed off all the hair from right above the ankle. There session lasted 20 minutes and they both stuck it out for the duration.

A close-up view of C having his feet nibbled. He eventually relaxed his toes, but he said it tickled!

Apart from the pools, eating, and the beach, we attended a traditional Balinese dance production. I still need to upload those pictures, but the costumes were beautiful and we were all able to take pictures with the actors. Evie enjoyed the princesses in it. C found a boy that resembled A.J. (his cousin). He decided that was his favorite person in the show, so they had a picture taken together too.

We ate a a Japanese steak house, located at our resort, which is where this family picture was taken. The kids enjoyed the food and the adults had our first experience with "seaweed casserole" for dessert. (No going back for seconds on the dessert).

We had a fantastic time and can't wait to explore more!!! Happy Easter everyone.