Moving Day

This past weekend was moving day for Ryan and Jill.  Rents in Hong Kong are going through the roof and the company where they have been, hiked the rent up by a substantial amount,  so consequently people have been moving out like crazy.  The other two apt. on their floor have been vacant for quite a while now.   Ryan and Jill were fortunate to find a place about a mile down the road from where they were which is bigger and has more storage, plus a roof top deck for around the same price they would have had to pay if they'd stayed where they were.

Kids sitting in the window well watching the furniture being moved out.

Blaine, Jill, Ryan and Perlita (their helper) moved all the furniture and l kept the kids occupied.

Having a snack on the balcony.

Hunter is enjoying kindergarten and was singing some of the songs he's learned 
from Uncle Kylie in chapel.

Keegan sitting on the only seat left in the house to have his snack.

Finally getting to see the new house.  It's always exciting to find an 
old friend in a new environment!

The front room and dinning room is quite large and very bright with a great view over the ocean.  
All the furniture fit in great, although one of the security guards was sure that brown
 couch wasn't going to get through the door!

The kitchen is a bit smaller but actually has more counter space, and 
the most wonderful part is that the new fridge is way bigger!!! 
 That is a huge improvement as most of the fridges here are very small. 

These have to be the weirdest stairs.  They are a combination of ladder and 
stairs and very steep.  Fortunately there is another normal set of stairs that
 lead to the rooftop, outside the flat.

Trying out the new umbrella, that goes with a table and chairs set.

To have all this extra outdoor space to store things and a private place to get outside 
will be wonderful.  We're looking forward to their first barbecue!!!

Kids came home with us so they could keep packing etc., and they did great camping
out in the front room!

Watching Sunday morning cartoons while grandpa does his sit ups!!

Two little munchkins ready for church.  Takes me back in time!!

Blaine and l have started taking a turn teaching the Lil K Sunday School class which
 is 3-5 yr. olds.  Other than the crafts and games, most of the lesson is taught by a video.
  How things change!!

 There is usually between 15-20 kids, but you also have two helpers so it's kind of fun!

This boat is actually a hotel and shopping mall and is just down the street from the church. 
This whole area is built on reclaimed land.

We're heading out for dinner after church.

I wonder where we're going for dinner!!!

This area is known as Whampoa and l kind of like it.  It has lots of nice shops and seems 
a good combination of older and modern.

I've never figured out what exactly this is supposed to be!

ParknShop's are one of the main grocery stores here.   They are everywhere in various sizes.  
This one is really really big and has a great variety of most everything except western meat.  
I won't be writing a blog next week as Blaine, Dallas (his brother) and I are going to Xian and 
then on to Beijing for a little trip.  Please pray for us as we travel that everything will work well and 
that l'll be able to do all the walking.  Thanks and see you the following Friday.

reclaimed land

As far back as the 1840's land reclamation has been the most cost effective way to accommodate the rising need for more flat land in Hong Kong.  Around 7000 hectares of land has been reclaimed.(I'm not sure if this is only at the Harbor or all of Hong Kong).  By 1859 the first project was finished.  Since the 1990's the government has been concerned about having more reclamation take place as public concern about the further destruction of one of Hong Kong's most valuable resources, Victoria Harbor, is an issue.  Disneyland Resort, the International Airport and the old Kai Tak Airport were all built on reclaimed land.  Also some of the new towns like Tuen Mun, Tai Po, Shatin, Ma On Shan, West Kowloon, Kwun Tong and Tseung Kwan O were mostly built on reclaimed land.

The grey areas are the reclaimed land.  The red shows the proposed or  land under development now.  Most of the urban area of Hong Kong is on reclaimed land.  We live around where the upper red patch is and the red on the island is Central.  The airport is the bigger grey area on the bigger island which is Lantau.

Fill being hauled in. 

Most of these tall buildings along the harbor front  were built on reclaimed land.  This picture is looking from the Kowloon side over to the island.  If they keep using up the harbor, one day maybe you'll be able to walk from the island to Kowloon!!

 All of these pictures were taken on the island side and is work being done down by the ferry terminal .

From what l've read there is supposed to be a bypass, corridor link, and more tunnel links to other trains plus some open areas for parks etc. going into this project

This is looking from Wan Chai to the same area in Victoria Harbor,  which is under construction in all the above pictures.


These last two pictures are from the Kowloon side looking out from the Sky 100 observations deck.  This whole complex was also built on reclaimed land.

There is still lots of construction around the area where the International Commerce Center building is located (which also houses the Sky100 observation deck)  There are many people concerned with the shrinking Victoria Harbor and don't want anymore land reclamation done along the harbor front on either side.

Noah's Ark

A couple weeks ago Blaine and l went to visit Noah's Ark.  This full size replica is on the island of Ma Wan, which is about half way between the Gold Coast and where we live.  The only vehicles allowed on the island are buses.  There is also a huge high end residential community called Park Island situated there. This first picture l found on the net.  I think it must be when the ark was being built as you can see the long green thing under the bridge.  They always put that green netting around anything being built.  It's a very small island and you can see why they don't want a lot of cars!

Entrance to the park.

Looking at the back of the ark.  It really was very large!!  No wonder it took Noah a few years to build it!

Outside of the ark is a terraced park with different life size animals.

The animals are quite realistic looking.

The Tsing Ma Bridge is built  over part of the complex.

The Park Island Pier and Ferry terminal.

Tung Wan beach just below the ark.

Some panorama shots from different angles. 

Various animals coming down the ramp from the doorway.

Ancient urn.  Inside there are many exhibits and a 180 degree movie of the Biblical story of Noah and the flood.

There was a huge display of arks from different countries and made from all kinds of materials.

I think this one is a cookie jar. 

These are for you Mary, as they are all teapots!!

I was trying to get a picture to show how long it was but l couldn't get the whole thing in one shot!

Besides the actual ark there are other things to do, such as  adventure land, which has this rope climbing wall, basketball stadium, and a nature garden.  It's quite an interesting place and would be fun for a family to stay in the hotel and take your time checking out some of the other sights!!