Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Hong Kong: Part 1 (Thursday-Sunday)

One of our many activities on the plane ride to UT: taping mom's face.

 
So happy to sit on someone's lap other than mom's! 


And we're off! 


The view of our big Asiana airplane coming into our gate.  


Korean bibimbop on the plane...surprisingly good, but nothing like the fire-hot stone bowl we're used to.


We were flying near Tokyo and saw a volcano poking through the clouds in the distance, so we reasoned that it was Mt. Fuji.

 

View of Victoria Park from our hotel



View of Hong Kong Island from the Star Ferry  


This, my friends, is a chicken foot.

Kelvin and Emily at the Dim Sum restaurant  
 

Kelvin, Emily, Christine, Mrs. Tang, Mr. Tang, Kit, and Lynne

  
 On Kowloon looking back toward Hong Kong island with the Tangs.


And again with the selfie stick 



People (a few) eat Barilla pasta in Asia!




Example of bamboo scaffolding held together by pieces of plastic.


Yep, still the same size as when he had a suit made 10 years ago.


View of another star ferry from our star ferry.
  

We are standing on a bridge coming in from the harbor. The church building is the pinkish building on the center left, with the small steeple tower in the middle.


Inscription outside the church doors.




Proof we are at Victoria Peak, even though you can't see anything.



Nightscape from Victoria Peak 


It's a phenomenal view and an absolute "must" if you visit HK  



Janet, Jane, Kit and I in the front row, top level of a double decker bus careening down Victoria Peak, thwapping tree branches all along the way.


MTR station Kwun Tong. Kwun Tong is one of the most densely populated areas of Hong Kong, which you can tell by looking at the long line of high rises behind us.


Pointing to his old apartment


Entrance to "Castle von Kwun Tong." His old apartment was big for HK standards and had a big painting of a castle on one wall. 


Making good use of the selfie stick.


Apartments apartments, everywhere apartments.


Brother Luk, who we ran into in the Kwun Tong chapel.

Edge of the church parking lot...


...and turned around. You can see that the church is just nestled in among the high rises.


Lynne (in black) walking through the Kwun Tong wet/dry market.

 
The mall in Kwun Tong, set up for a boy band performance a few hours later 


The mall food court. Slippery noodles with slippery chopsticks--it's a miracle our church clothes survived. The mango drink with tapioca was a real highlight of this meal. 


Imelda from Island 1st ward


Delicious, authentic chicken adobo made by Dory especially for Kit

Rhona, Myra, Dory, a new sister, Lourdes, Kit, Lynne


Adobo, Broccoli, AMAZING filipino spring rolls, rice, clams, and melon


Dory, the primary cook of the amazing feast pictured above


Gloria--Kit didn't teach her, but she is a friend from the ward 10 years ago

Sunday, September 20, 2015

The Swifts' Stupendous Stay


Enjoying the now-not-polluted Chicago river


Cross section of a veggie Chicago pizza. Takes 40 minutes to cook "just like baking a cake."


Good thing Savanna is strong enough to hold up all that pizza with one arm!


[At the museum of science and industry] "Um...Mom...what is Hunter doing?!"


"oohh...colors! I like it!"


The color studio to teach about light


The weather area, wind tunnel in the background, hot air balloon on right, wave machine off-screen on left.


Learning about tornados by keeping a ball floating by blowing air in a column at it.  (I didn't quite get it--ask Kit.)


Tesla coil


A HUGE train set

 Oh that baby profile is just so captivating



pants head


Carrot and beet harvest. Kudos to Hunter and Savanna for helping us eat down the fridge, and especially our garden carrots. (It's hard to grow carrots in containers...you don't have space for many.)


Addy and Savanna stretching with Sienna Chile


The ski show!


The ballet line, if might not be able to see but they are all holding the ropes with their legs.


A doubles dock start



Addy couldn't take her eyes off of the show. She kept clapping and laughing.


One of their biggest pyramids


There are almost 30 people in those pyramids

Addy loves chairs



A pre-fab pyramid success and fail. The show was fun and worth the drive.