Disney and Stuff

It has been an incredibly busy few days here in Hong Kong. But since that is the nature of adoption trips to China there is nothing unexpected. Of course we had to close the park last night, as is our tradition when visiting any Disney venue. By the time we made our way back to the hotel it was pretty late and we were ravenous, so we chose dining over blogging. We had a wonderful day at Disney which makes it a perfect record. We Stolls have never had a bad day at Disney. Hong Kong Disneyland is pretty small compared to the American parks but it was still magical. The size and lack of crowds made it possible for us to ride almost all the rides, wander the park taking pictures and still spend too much time shopping. By the time we'd been in the park for 30 minutes we'd ridden Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear twice each. We even tried out Autopia which we've never had the energy to wait for in Orlando or Anaheim. We were right, it's not worth the time. It may not seem very traditional to start out an adoption trip with a day at Disney, (so American,) but it was so much fun!!!

Today we met up with our travel group for the first time in person. It is a large group (actually two groups traveling together) of 15 families, 41 people all together. We did some more traditional Hong Kong site seeing led by our CCAI rep Matthew. (Have any other CCAI clients noticed our reps never seem to have last names? I'm also pretty sure Matthew isn't his real given name either.) We started out with a visit to Victoria Peak. The bus ride up was a bit harrowing and nauseating. (Mom and Mark, we found it very reminiscent of some of our mountain bus rides in Rio 20-odd years ago.) Matthew shared lots of interesting historical tidbits about Hong Kong so we got an education on the way up. It was a bit misty but the views were still extraordinary, a beautiful drive. We followed that trip with a Sampan tour in Aberdeen Harbor, a typhoon protection area for local fishermen. My stomach was more than ready for the shopping break that followed. Finally after "shopping" in the crowded Stanley Market district, we enjoyed a very good lunch at a downtown restaurant. (We don't remember the name.) Well, Jeff enjoyed it more than I did since shrimp seemed to be the staple of the day, but I found some yummy stuff too. We left the travel group after lunch and wandered the very crowded streets of downtown Hong Kong eventually finding a wonderful oasis of peace, a great iced latte and Jackie Chan's handprints on the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade. (A beautiful walkway along the South China Sea Harbor complete with a Graumman's/Hollywood style "Avenue of the Stars.")

Both nights our return to the hotel was made via the subway. We didn't get lost or take a wrong train once but when we reached the Sha Tin station, two blocks from the hotel, we were twice stumped in our attempt to walk back. Last night we were rescued by a good samaritan who helped the cab driver figure out where our hotel was, shared the cab as we were "on her way home" and then refused to let us help pay the fare. Tonight we tried again to navigate our own way but finally, exhausted from dodging buses and taxis to cross the streets, we returned to the same taxi stand and took a $2 cab ride back to the hotel. Subway savvy, hiking handicapped. Good thing God is watching our steps. He's kept us out of trouble or saved us from ourselves several times this trip already.

Tomorrow morning it is up early for the plane to Guangzhou at 10:30. We're supposed to have the rest of the day there to rest up, we think, and then Monday is the day we've been waiting for this last 2.5 years. We can hardly wait to meet Ailah!