Hong Kong Day 1

Two Non-Blonde's And A Map

That is the official title for Day 1 in Hong Kong!  You see, Marz and I decided that I would not get a SIM card for my phone and be distracted with any communication while we took off exploring Hong Kong.  I wanted to be able to just be in the moment with Marz as this is probably the last time for a while that we get to do something together.  So to avoid any distractions, no SIM card for me.  (Help!! I can't breath!! Ha Ha, just kidding... Well, I think I am... ;)) 

I also have given myself a Facebook hiatus for the four days we are here.  Let me tell you, that is tough!! But I am determined to not be distracted!  So this leads me to our title for Day 1.  

We walked over six miles yesterday and all we had was Mersades' Christmas present. A trusty Hong Kong guide book and a map.

Believe me, that map was pulled out way more than just these four times!  ;)

We planned for our first stop to be one of Hong Kong's oldest temples.  As we were walking to the temple, we discovered many surprises along the way.  The first being an outdoor morning market.  It was very impressive!  While we were walking through it, I told Marz that I would have thought the smells to have been much worse...  But because it was a FRESH market, the smells weren't bad at all.  

This is where it got impressive... Every type of meat and every body part you can imagine!  Pig's heads, horse's tails, whole animal hearts, esophagus', animal hooves, animal nuts, and penis'.  Yes, I just wrote that out loud! :D

To me, the two most impressive pictures of the day! :D

Cultures are very interesting... What we perceive as gross, others will eat as if everything is normal in their world.  When I see things like this, I just say a little prayer of thanksgiving that I have never been hungry. :) 

The next pit stop was the yellow, blue and orange "houses".  These are apartment complexes that were painted these colors because the government had an excess of paint, so they gave them a nice bright coating.  I guess I didn't get very good pictures of these buildings... ;)

This is where we got a bit distracted from getting to our destination...

What we really needed was a toilet.  So we figured if we went to this cute little pastry shop that they would have a toilet in there... Uh, nope.  But they had really good pastries! :) 

Then we figured since we were over this way, we would go to a Sikh temple.

We also found some Christian churches along the way...

Now backtracking to get to our destination, and since we were in the area, we found the oldest surviving post office building in Hong Kong,  just for grandma. :)

We did eventually find the world's smallest bathroom.

Finally, we reached our original destination... Man Mo Temple.  It's one of Hong Kong's oldest temples.

We wondered for over two hours and spent a whole 10 minutes here!! lol!!

After the Man Mo temple, we took off to Soho (short for South Hollywood, i.e. expensive shopping around a promenade business district) and another temple.

Incense, continually burning...

Marz thinks these are mail boxes for people to send letters to their dead loved ones. I have no idea... ;)

I'm just going to say it here... I really am not a fan of incense.

We walked and we walked... I didn't take pictures of everything we saw or this blog would never get done... ;) So just a few more pics to remember...

Marz found a "German" bakery... College is paying off because she could read the signs. :D

Last but not least... Boys, we found your cars... They will be delivered next year... LOL!

And that pretty much sums up our first day in Hong Kong.  We have been to HKG numerous times, but never out of the airport.  I must say, I am very impressed with this concrete jungle and even more impressed that we didn't get lost without my trusty global communications device!  

I'm ready to go out and explore more today.  Let's see if we can get lost... ;) xo

25 Days

It’s hard to imagine that 25 days in Bali have come and gone!  I always think to myself that after a “vacation” like this, that we didn’t do a thing. That were were lazy bums. Although that part may be true for some days, looking back on the blog makes me realize that we have done so much this time around. We were actually Bali tourists a time or two. Lol!

Sending the Malaysia school kids off is a little bittersweet today. More than likely this is Ted’s last time in Bali for a long time if not forever...He starts his last semester of high school on Thursday. These next few months are going to fly by, just like this Christmas break!

As of today, I’m still able to continue with my plan of going back to Tembagapura next week. I have a few more days with Marz that I am going to soak up and enjoy every moment with her because when I say good bye to her, I really don’t know when I will see her next... 😢

So good bye for today... time to go soak up some more sun! 😉

Frankenstein's

Yah, freaky huh? So where to start... I guess at the beginning... ;)

Saturday night was an interesting night here in Bali.  Danella made reservations for all of us to go to a restaurant called Frankenstein's.  It was either that or fighting midgets... ;)  

I knew the kids would have a blast getting all made up in gory makeup.  Me, I knew I wouldn't like it, but because I'm a good mom, I played along and and went and had some "fun".  

When you arrive at the restaurant, the staff seats you in your reservation only table.  They then ask everyone if they want to have their makeup done.  While waiting for our turn in the makeup chairs, we ordered drinks ranging from drinking out of IV bags to laboratory beakers to syringes.  Marz got in on the action with an adult beverage of some chocolate/vodka concoction. The beverage didn't last long... ;)

Next up after drinks were delivered... makeup time.  This is where my night started to get interesting... I think costume makeup is fascinating and the people who can apply it to make it look extremely real are very talented artists in their own right.  The three makeup artists that we had for the night are definitely very skilled at their work.  So skilled that after the kids makeup was finished, I started to feel ILL!!  It really didn't surprise me that I would have this type of reaction. I get queasy when people ONLY talk about bodily injuries. So add the "realness" of the makeup to my kids face's, and it was a perfect storm waiting to happen!!  

Gavin:

Gabby:

Teddy:

Teddy was suppose to be shot twice... We are not sure if it was that or a really bad case of acne! ;) 

Friends:

Group pictures.  I did have fun doctoring some of these pics up a bit.

Honestly Teddy, this is just to realistic.  FREAKY!!!

No doctoring needed... ;)  I call us the intelligent ones. ;D

Realistic, right?  

I am happy to report, I did not PUKE! But I was very queasy... So much so, that after all the makeup and pictures were finished and we were back sitting at our horseshoe shaped table, I had to sit with blinders on for a bit and fan myself!  Call me a wimp, but that's ok.... I just know this is not my cup of tea... ;)

Who's spookier? lol!! :D

Kids on stage posing with some of the staff.

The queasy feeling finally passed for me, our food arrived and everyone enjoyed dinner.  After we ate, the staff put on a show with monster dancing and live music.  

It actually turned out to be a very enjoyable night.  The funniest part was walking back to the villa with the boys, with a stop at the grocery story along the way.  I am pretty sure there were a few broken necks along with some whiplash injuries from people taking a second look at the boys walking down the street.  LOL!

Extra entertainment.... Our personal table entertainment, staring GAVIN!! Who knew he had this hidden talent? ;)