A vacation from the resort

Since Monday we've been enjoying a mini-holiday to Hong Kong with our friends. They live in Hong Kong, and are able to travel over the border using the same vehicle (a rare fortune). We stayed Monday night at the Gold Coast Hotel, which overlooks the ocean. It was a beautiful hotel with a lovely restaurant that we ate at several times. Excellent Chinese and Western foods were available. We spent the day at Ocean Park, which is sort of like Sea World, sort of Six Flags. There is a dolphin show and aquariums with jellyfish (very, very cool!), sharks and a reef. There are also many rides, including a roller coaster that makes you feel like you're about to drop into the sea and one of the rides that takes you way up high and drops you down bit by bit. I skipped both of these! Alex was very frustrated because he was too short for many of the rides he wanted to go on. We later found some kid-friendly rides and a playground, so everyone had a great time right up until closing once we found that part of the park.

This is an interesting park in that it's in several sections of a mountain, and the only way to get from one section to another is via cable car. You get taken way up, over the mountain and there is a spectacular view of the ocean and the cliffs below you. It's gorgeous.

Hong Kong is such a beautiful and successful city partly because it's based on a harbor that is so deep the ships can come right into it. There are miles of containers around the harbor, waiting to either get into the country or out onto the ocean. It's also very mountainous - the most fascinating place I've ever been to is Victoria Peak - a peak that allows a view of the city and harbor, as well as mountainous terrain. The city is 7 million people crammed onto a couple smallish islands. I think 7 miles of land. So the buildings just rise up into the sky, it seems, and at night, lit up, with the boats and the ocean and the buildings, it's just beautiful. I love Hong Kong!

Tuesday we went to Disneyland Hong Kong, and stayed at a resort here. It's similar to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, only much smaller. It was also not very crowded because Chinese New Year just ended. Alex got to go on Space Mountain six times, and we hit the Buzz Lightyear ride many times, too. Disney is always a fantastic time for us, and this time didn't disappoint. The Chinese restaurant at the park (the fancy one) is some of the best Chinese food I've had. We all had a very tiring but magical day.

Some of you have been asking for pictures. I'm sorry to say that the charger for Tim's camera is somewhere on the ocean, making its slow journey here. I'm hoping to pick up another camera today in Hong Kong so we can start showing you what I'm trying to describe.

Some of you have also been asking what we're eating and what I'm cooking! So far we've eaten out a lot, on a constant quest for authentic Western restaurants so my kids will eat. We eat breakfast at home every day, and many pb sandwiches at home, too. I've only cooked supper at home twice - we made steak and potatoes and cheesecake Sunday night, and we made a ham once night. Many familiar foods are available, including frozen chicken breasts and there is a meat market that imports its beef and pork and lamb. So far I think we'll be okay in that we have such picky kids and I don't really know how to cook Chinese.

The Mandarin is starting to come, though I can't read it at all. We're slowly learning how to speak small things, here and there. Hopefully it will start coming quicker as the kids learn it in school and as we enjoy more adventures here in China.