Aberdeen

Aberdeen is a town on the south shore of Hong Kong Island.  It was originally called Heung Kong Tsai, or Hong Kong Minor.  When the first foreigners came, they thought the whole island was called Hong Kong and that is how Hong Kong got its name.  Hong Kong means ' little fragrant harbor,' named after trees which were burned as incense  for worship, and grew in the New Territories. They were then shipped from Aberdeen and exported to other cities in China.  In 1845 the town was named Aberdeen after the British  Secretary of  State for War and the Colonies.

The promenade along the harbor is very pretty with trees and benches to rest on and admire the view.

Aberdeen is a working harbor with lots of fishing and pleasure boats.

When Dallas was visiting in Oct. he and l spent some time in Aberdeen.  There is not a lot to do there, but it
is an interesting harbor and fun to walk along the promenade and watch the fishing boats.

The fishing fleet is not as large as it was in the 70's, as that industry has declined with
over fishing.  There are other industries in Aberdeen such as shipyards, textile factories, warehouses and
engineering works, and of course tourists.

The free shuttle boat that goes to the Jumbo Kingdom.

Looking from the promenade to the Ap Lei Chau bridge which connects Hong Kong island to
Ap Lei Chau island (Duck tongue island).  It's named this because of its shape.  With around 90,000 people residing there it is one of the most densely populated islands in the world.

A sampan bobbing along on the waves.

Come aboard  a sampan for a cruise among the boats along the harbor.

One of the sampan operators had his pet bird hanging from this branch.

Our pilot.  Many of the operators are older women.

Mending fishing nets.

Spotted a Samoyed dog on this boat.  We have had three Sammie's over the years, and some
 times miss having a dog.  There is one living in our complex, but l feel sorry for it every
 time l see it in the summer heat.

The old fashioned straw hats are still worn by many here.  These hats are typical of the
Tanka and Hoklo clans.

Fish drying in the sun!

The hat suits him better than me!!

Just liked the Chinese flag blowing in the breeze!

There didn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to where boats were moored!

Ocean going fishing trawlers.  Some of these travel as far away as Malaysia and Philippians. 

The one on the right is an older sail boat.   Like the plants on the other ones deck.

House boats.  Around 5,000 people still live on their vessels.  At one time over 20,000 Tanka and Hoklo 'boat people" lived in traditional wooden junks.  At one point in time these clans were forbidden to live on land or marry land people, and were born, married and died on their junks and sampans. Since the early
20th century they have the same rights as anyone else and gradually they have moved off the
boats into the high rise apartments all around the harbor.

Modern pleasure boats coincide along with the traditional working boats.

So many people living in such a small area!

Checking out the Jumbo Floating Restaurant.   We were going to go there for lunch, but the less
expensive cafe wasn't open till 6 pm and we didn't really want to spend $1000. for lunch!

I was a little nervous about getting off  as it wasn't exactly staying steady!!!

After your spin around the harbor you can walk barefoot over this walkway to massage your feet.
 Not really very comfortable!

Entrance to the main shopping area of Aberdeen Square. Aberdeen is another interesting place that is just right for a day trip.

Pretend Campout

Last Wednesday both the boys stayed overnight so Rachel came over for supper and we had a

 pretend camp out supper!  Good thing kids have a lot of imagination!

One always needs a flashlight when you are camping out in the dark!

I boiled the wieners and then they held them over their campfire  to heat up.  Rachel's took quite a while to
become warm enough to suit her!!

It helps if you get them right into the flames!!

The gummy worms that ended up in their hot dog buns were a big hit!

It's hard to eat, drink and hold your flashlight at the same time!

The alphabet shaped french fries went faster than the apple slices and pea pods!!

At one point Keegan said to me " why are we doing this?" lol!

Cotton ball marshmallows !!

Hunter really got into the whole thing.

Practicing for the real ones!

Rachel showing her mom the marshmallow's!

They enjoyed eating smore's warmed in the microwave!!

Noise makers to keep the scary things away!

We had to have a story by the campfire!

The next morning Keegan wore his Angry Bird hat because it was actually  rather cold and windy. 

Love Hunter's gaped tooth grin!

Ready to take Hunter to school.  Keegan and l go to McDonald's for breakfast on the way home!
He loves the hash browns! (me too)

Window of the World

One of the other places we went to while visiting Shenzhen over Christmas break, was a theme park called Window of the World.  It has miniature scale famous landmarks from around the world.  I thought it would
 be small buildings, but most of them are really very large!  There are also some rides and entertainment throughout the park.

Plaza in front of the entrance.

Heading in.

Right inside the entrance is an amphitheater.  Encircling it are different gates from around the world.  The big globe in the middle opens up to form a stage for their nightly theater productions.

Two tough guys!

One of Rachel's favorites.  The dinosaur park!

Jefferson Memorial.

Capitol building USA.

This cart thingy was a blessing as the place is massive.

Waiting with grandpa for mom and dad to come back from a ride in the forest!

Old statues from Easter Island and two old statues from Hong Kong!

Heading down into the Grand Canyon!

The windmills of Holland.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

The Acropolis.

In Egypt I rode a camel.  He sure swayed a lot!!  I've always wanted to ride a camel!

Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Cathedral of Cologne Germany which we saw when we were there many years ago.

Eiffel Tower and Vatican in the background.

Like this family picture of the kids.

St. Peter's Square.  Vatican City.

Overlooking the garden at Versailles.

Taj Mahal India.

 Angkor Wat Cambodia.

The Fountain of the Observatory, France.

Sidney Opera House.

Buckingham Palace with mall and Victoria Memorial statue.

A fun thing to do if you get tired of looking at buildings!  You get inside and walk on the water.
Looks like it would be fun!

Not sure what this was.

Stonehenge.

We went up the Tower, which is quite open and kind of gave me the creeps!  The first elevator goes up on an angle, then you change to another one which goes to the next platform. The tower is 108 m. high.

Arc de Triomphe at night.  

The fountains were really pretty all lit up.

This is an indoor skating rink and there is also a ski hill in the same building somewhere.

There is a big theater production number every night but we only stayed for part of it
as it began to rain.

This is the globe opened up to make the stage.

Louvre Pyramid.

They certainly have amazing theme parks over here.  There were two more in the same area!  It was definitively worthwhile seeing this one.  The Christmas decorations and all the lights were
lovely to see, and most of the landmarks were very detailed with lots of great landscaping.