Here is our street outside our hotel we walk many times a day. This is Kimberly Street in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Today started off really early, Emma was up at 4:30am Hong Kong time and woke Everett up whom in turn woke up Easton so it was not wonder the boys fell asleep on the way home at night.
Trent took the kids to the park in the late morning so Everett could go back to sleep and he said it was really neat. There were people doing Thai Chai all over the place and that there was beautiful music playing through out the park. I hope to go by there tomorrow to check it out myself to take some pictures.
The kids still do not want to come home so we are happy about that, they are really positive about finding out what our day has instore for us.
This afternoon it was like people were litterely coming out of the ground. The past few days I said to Trent, “It is not that crowded in Hong Kong, I wonder why people say it is” Oh my goodness it was crazy today, the start of the weekend. I had to go meet Trent somewhere and I had all three kids with me at one street corner. I needed to turn around with the stoller and I could not, there were so many people all around us you can not move. Trent said it best, ” It is like being at the Calgary Stampede x 100 everywhere you go”
In the afternoon we went on the “Star Ferry” across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. The transportation here is great, the trains, buses, ferries all function very efficently and it is cheap. For all of us to travel on the ferry it was $3.00Can.. The trip is only 12 min but it is a nice boat ride.
Now you may notice that the buildings behind the boat are not very clear, it is smog. I have never seen haze like this before. You can not see clearly accross the harbour beccause it is all clouded all over. We were told the reason the haze is so bad right now is because it is winter here and they still use coal to heat thier homes hence the excess amount of pollution. It is not even really that cold here for us but they are all dressed in jackets and pants.
Now I was most excited about going to “The Peak” you travel up this mountain on The Peak Tram and travel at a steep incline up 400feet above sea level to see the view of Hong Kong. The Peak tram was built in 1888 when the British were occupying Hong Kong and they lived in the hills. In this picture you can really see the smog which is to bad but is not my camera.
On our way back to our hotel the crowds grew in numbers and the boys fell asleep fast. As we walked home I looked in
amazement on how cultures live there lives so differently. Is it because we know no different? Is it because we do what our parents did? We take comfort in what we know? Trent and I are both glad we came to Hong Kong and we have had the fortunate opportunity to see some wonderful things but it is not a place we would ever chose to live because of the numbers (to many people, not enought space) As for safetly here, no problems at all, very comfortable out on the street.
Here is a shot of the street at night, it is like a different world here at night.
Well I have to say Goodnight now. It is 6:30am there at home so good morning to anyone who is up. As for me it is 9:30pm at night and I am off to bed.
Until next time…… Jody & the crew….
3 Comments
Tom and Tracy
December 7, 2005 at 5:29 amHello,
I just checked the weather in Hong Kong and it’s 14C and cloudy. But 14C and cloudy in Hong Kong, is actually 135C in Calgary. So keeping temperature as my theme of this blog (my first actually), I thought I’d share with you, some sample temperatures you’re missing back in Canada, as that always makes winter vacations seem…just that little bit better, so here goes.
Victoria – Mostly Cloudy 0.8C. Why Telus thought it was important to start showing tempuratures as decimal places is a complete mystery. If you were in Victoria now, would you be able to tell the difference between 0.8C and 1.0C? I didn’t think so. And “Mostly Cloudy”. It’s like when you’re at the pub and you come home by 3:00AM and Jody asks you if you’ve been drinking? And Trent responds: “Mostly”. What exactly does that mean?
Iqaluit – Drifting Snow -25.10C. I’ve never been there, but I like the name. “Where are you from?”, “I’m from Iqaluit”. “Pardon”? “…You heard me”.
A little history of Iqaluit: Iqaluit, Inuktitut for “place of many fish,” is located near the mouth of the Sylvia Grinnell River that empties into the bay named after Martin Frobisher, the Englishman in search of the Northwest Passage. For more information on this exciting metropolis of 6,000 hearty folk in Canada, here’s a website when you get bored travelling the many exotic locations you’re about to visit: http://www.city.iqaluit.nu.ca/.
Yellowknife – Ice Crystals -15.8C. “Ice Crystals”. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been caught in a Winter Ice Crystal Storm? It does conjure up some nasty images of these razor sharp bits of ice hurtling down on people, which is yet another reason to stay away from Canada and go golfing in Thailand.
Calgary of course, has no real need for weather forecasts as it’s generally a mixture of Mostly Cloudy with Drifting Snow and periods of sunshine with scattered Ice Crystal Storms. But if you do want to know, it’s -18.5C right now and the Dew Point is -22.3C, which is apparently a very important piece of information in the Weather Forecasting circles. Saturday we’re suppose to be up to 9C. But that’s three days away so it’s anyone’s guess right now.
If you’re going to do any site seeing in Hong Kong, here’s your complimentary weather forecast of where you are from someone 5,000km away. Bizarre, yet true.
Wednesday, current temperature 14C. Pressure 102.4 kPa, Visibility (Blank) km, Humidity 31%, Dew Point -3C, Wind N 18km/hr. Today’s forecast, a few clouds, 18C. That’s your day in a nut shell. I’m not sure if knowing the Pressure of 102.4 kPa is really going to help out in deciding what to wear today, but there you go..
Thursday, sunny periods, 15C.
Friday, mainly cloudy, 16C.
Saturday, sunny periods, 18C.
Sunday, cloudy periods, 21C.
That’s about it for the weather, it’s 9:58PM on Tuesday and I’m off to watch that travel show, what it’s called I’ve drawn a blank, I guess I must be “Mostly Tired”. Anyways, thanks again for the photos and doing such a great job in setting this up for everyone to enjoy your trip with you. Tracy and I are looking forward to reading more about your adventures. Have fun.
Tom, Tracy and Kids.
paul day
December 7, 2005 at 3:05 amcongrats…you made it….hats off…miracles do happen….glad to hear everyone is well…missing you on friday nights…all we can do now is reminise…good times…i’l check back soon…paul
snydersrock
December 3, 2005 at 3:07 amhey guys. sounds awesome. i see the smog, everyones wearing their masks i hope, haha just joking. jode would laugh. im so glad you like it there. the pictures are my favorite part, send lots. the kids will think flying into singapore is pretty neat. the airport is right on the very edge of land before ocean so it looks like you are landing on water. pretty neat, so try to be awake when you land. did trent golf in hong kong? supposed to be great courses, same as thailand, lucky buggers. well our life is chaos as usual. just finishing packing, have to be out in 3 days. of course there is oodles of snow. harlow has been so sick, she puked all over me at the mall today. but doing better tonight. troy is going back to school in april for his journeyman ticket, all the paper work is all filled out and ready to go. he is like alittle kid, soooo excited.sorry i should keep my letters shorter i dont know how your internet connection is there. but, happy trails, love you and miss you. love the snyders