Back in HK

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time; we haven't had internet for a while and I've also been going to school. You'd think that if I was going to school I wouldn't have to do this blog, but no, I still have to do it and I still have to use correct grammar; and speling =). So, because I am at school, my blogs will be much more boring. Now we are living in a different apartment in Hong Kong. I will tell you more about it another time.  

 After our ten days in Melbourne we went to Sydney for five days. While in Sydney we did all the usual tourist things and some special things like walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge or watching an opera in the Sydney Opera House (semi-boring). The best thing in Sydney was buying a new computer game from the Mac store. The place that we were staying in was right in the heart of Sydney so we were close to all the main attractions. 

Here are some pictures from Sydney:

The Opera House from the Sydney Harbour Bridge:

    

    

The Sydney Harbour Bridge:

The Sydney Aquarium/Darlington Harbour:

 

Feeding some kangaroos in the wild:

Bye

=P

Jonathan

Tuen Mun

Tuen Mun is one of the 18 administrative districts in Hong Kong. It is the district we have lived in for the last 3 months. But the actual town of Tuen Mun is a 15 minute bus ride from where we live. We go to Tuen Mun because that is where I go for my violin lessons and weekly library visit. The Tuen Mun library is very nice:

   

Also there is a post office below it:

And just across the road is a nice park with a pond where you can see people racing their remote controlled boats:

 

Tuen Mun also has two railway systems and several bus routes making it easy to get to places all over Tuen Mun like this small beach:

 

You can get your fresh fish here:

This is a Buddhist Temple, where people come to pay respects to their dead ancestors:

 

Getting to Tuen Mun is very easy, as I already mentioned. We just have to take a 5 minute walk to the bus stop:

The bus is very nice (it's a double-decker like most buses in Hong Kong):

 Next week we will go to Australia and New Zealand for 6 weeks!

Bye 

Jonathan

=P

Christmas in HK

This week I'm going to post a some Christmas photos, because it is the official start of Christmas Break here (no more work, YES ). There are lots of decorations here, but somehow I doubt that the people know what Christmas is really celebrating (Jesus' birth). Here are the photos:

 

The Christmas tree at the piazza (small mall) near where I live.           

       

Some of the decorations  at Pacific Place, an upscale mall (a pair of jeans costs $250USD there, no wonder why I don't shop there).

A close up:

The Disneyland tree:

I wish I got presents that big!

And our Christmas tree:

Merry Christmas!!

=P

Jonathan 

A Land of Magic

The highlight of my week was a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland. This Disneyland is only three years old. To reach the park we took a special subway train to the Disneyland Resort Station. Here are some pictures of the train:

The park is divided into four main themes: Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Adventureland. Here is a picture of the entrance:

 

 

 When we got into the park it didn't feel like we were in Hong Kong. It felt more like we were in the 1950's USA. The first thing we did was ride the train around the perimeter of the whole park. The one thing that I wasn't happy about was that the rollercoasters were closed. My favourite attraction was a show called Stitch Encounter. It was hilarious! We had lunch then we went to Tomorrowland because Main Street USA was all stores and restaurants.  In Tomorrowland there wasn't that much to do besides drive cars because all the rollercoasters were closed.

 We walked through Fanstasyland to get to Adventureland:

In Adventureland we went to the Lion King play:

We also went on the Jungle River Cruse. Then we went back home on the Subway and a minibus. It was an awesome day!

Bye 

=P

   

               

I'm RICH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......cough

Ok, so I'm not really that rich. I have a hundred Hong Kong dollars which [at the time of this post] is worth $15.64 Canadian dollars. But still there are a lot of things I could buy here with one hundred Hong Kong dollars. But first, you probably want to know what a one hundred dollar bill looks like in Hong Kong. There is more than one design for each type of bill, so they don't all look alike. Here are two types of one hundred dollar bills, the front side first, then the backside:

 There are lots of things I could buy with one hundred Hong Kong dollars. I will list some of those things here:

1: Fanta (like a Crush soda) 

Cost: $8

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 12.5 cans

2: Mini Lego set 

Cost: $35

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 2.8

3: Tic Tac

Cost: $6

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 16.6

4: Classy restaurant noodle dish

Cost: $88

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 1.1

5: Not so classy restaurant noodle dish

Cost: 15

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 6.6

6: Udon (fat noodles)

Cost: $11 for 4

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 36.3

7: Tram

Cost: $1 per ride

Amount of rides I could buy for $100 HKD = 100

8: Bus

Cost: $3 per ride

Amount  of rides I could buy for $100 HKD = 33.3

9: Tennis

Cost: $20 per session including equipment

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 5 sessions

10: Swimming 

Cost: $12 all day pass

Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 8.3 day passes

11:RC cars

Cost: $40
Amount I could buy for $100 HKD = 2.5

This is a photo of a front-page of a newspaper. You can probably see the ad. The guy in the picture is the richest man in Asia. He lives in Hong Kong. Sorry about the photo being on its side. I try to do better next time.

                                     

This is an advertisement from a newspaper advertising all their sales and deals. 

 I hope you now have a sense of how much things cost in Hong Kong.

PS: I take donations in any currency. I will provide my own exchange rate.

Bye

=P

Adventure on the High Seas

Hong Kong is the third largest port of call in the world so, obviously I see a lot of ships. 34,000 ships pass through the ports in Hong Kong. Outside my bedroom window is one of the main shipping route for Hong Kong. We see around 50-70 container ships per day! We also see up to about 150 other ships per day as well. If you want proof of all these ships, take a look at these pictures of containers. Each container can hold around four cars. This is just a small section of all the containers in Hong Kong:

There are plenty of other ships in Hong Kong as well. Just outside our apartment is a marina filled with luxury ships, yachts, and sailboats. The boats that we see the most are fishing boats. Here are some pictures of them: 

Since Hong Kong is composed of many islands there are several ferries here as well. The Star Ferry below is the most famous ship in Hong Kong.

A couple days ago we saw some Pollution Control/Coast Guard boats outside our apartment.

I got a picture of them:

And finally, here is an unofficial coastal defense boat:

 

=0

Bye

Jonathan

Invasion of the Octopus

No, the octopus in the title is not living and, no, I did not kill it. In fact, it is like a credit card (payed for by my parents of course). Here is a picture of what they look like: 

The multi coloured card at the top is the adult version, and the pink one that I have to use is the child version. These cards can be used to pay for public transportation and can be used at any 7-Eleven. They can also be used at vending machines as you can probably see in the following picture where I am buying a Fanta (the same thing as a Crush soda):

(Sorry about the flipped photo). You have probably seen a 7-Eleven store before, but here is a picture of one in a subway station:

To use the octopus card to go on a subway, you should probably find a station first. Here is a picture of a sign to a subway station:  

Once inside the station you have to swipe your card over a sensor that automatically deducts money from your card. Here are some pictures of my mom and I swiping our cards:

 You will not believe how crowded it is in a subway train. Last night we had to wait for four trains to pass before we could get on! Once on you end up getting inside you will be totally squished by all the people. However the subway is twice as fast as the bus, so I guess I shouldn't complain. 

Bye for now.

=) 

I am in Hong Kong..finally!

Finally I am in Hong Kong. It was a cool trip because of several surprises, some good and some bad.

Before we left Edmonton, our flight to Vancouver was cancelled and rescheduled for two hours earlier. When we got into Vancouver we found out that our flight to Hong Kong had five too many passengers booked on it. Air Canada offered five people a flight via Tokyo to Hong Kong plus a $500 gift certificate for Air Canada. My Dad accepted the offer because the flight to Japan would be in first class, much better than our back of the plane seats. It was an awesome flight because we had personal TV's, free drinks, fresh meals. For anyone who has had an airplane meal before these were waaaaay better. Also we had three times the space on the plane which was really good because airplanes are pretty cramped. On our flight from Tokyo we rode in a 747. For those who don't know, it is a plane with two levels. 

We arrived in Hong Kong 28 hours after leaving Edmonton, around midnight Hong Kong time and around midday your time. From the airport we took a shuttle to our apartment. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office and a kitchen/dining room/living room. It is very nice. Here are some photos of my room and its view. Can you spot the mini skateboards in my room? But first, here is a picture of my mini skateboards.