Hong Kong Trip -- Church Administration Building and The Peak

Mum and Dad are serving as Area Mental Health Advisors.  In other words, they are counselors to the missionaries all over Asia who are in need of their help.  They cover basically all of Asia except for Japan, the Philippines, and Korea.  They worked way overtime the week before we came so that they could take off every day to spend with us exploring Hong Kong.  Last minute, they had to take a couple of counseling sessions and so Ben and I got to go with them to the Church Administration Building.  I was secretly excited!

Dad's office overlooks Victoria Harbor.  The church really doesn't skimp on the offices or apartments that they put the senior missionaries in.

I loved this painting by Del Parson.

This sculpture is made completely out of jade.  I can't tell you how huge and intricate it is.  Ben and I were in awe.  This piece was donated to the church and kept on Mum and Dad's floor in the Church Administration Building.

While Mum and Dad were counseling missionaries, Ben and I went to an empty room on a different floor so that Ben could work.  He did work some while we were in Hong Kong.  The views out the window were great!

The Book of Mormon in Cantonese

When the appointments were done we went to dumpling restaurant.  It was tiny!  We had to move another table in order to squeeze over to our seats.  

A few times on this trip we had people trying to mask their laughter and smiles while watching the four of us use chopsticks.  

After lunch we hurried and jumped on a ding ding (trolley) to get to our tram that would take us up to The Peak.  Can I just say how many different types of transportation we used on this trip?  Just to make a quick list: MTR (subway), taxi, bus, double decker bus, mini bus, tram, ding ding, gondola, and ferry.  Riding the tram up the mountain was like starting off a roller coaster ride.  The incline was ridiculous.  I felt so bad for the people who weren't able to get seats and had to stand and lean again the back wall.

The view was incredible.  We were at one of the highest peaks on Hong Kong Island and so you could see into Victoria Harbor on one side, do a 180, and be looking into the South China Sea.

Unfortunately there was a typhoon near Taiwan causing the smog to be worse than normal while we were there.  I never got tired of looking at all the islands in the South China Sea during this trip.

Near The Peak is a path that takes you around the sides of the mountains so that you're in the jungle with a sea view the entire time.  I felt like I was living in The Jungle Book.  Mum and Dad took us to the site where the church dedicated Hong Kong for preaching the gospel.  The carving says 7/14/49.  Someone later came back to the site after the dedication to carve it into the side of the mountain so that members would always be able to find it.

You can barely see the engraving.

Hong Kong is very mountainous.  I've only been able to see the Appalachians, Rockies, and Chinese mountains and so far China has my favorite mountains (although it did make walking through the city a little tough).  Everywhere throughout Hong Kong you see these ladders stairs that take you up to private residences and other areas that are too hard to access otherwise.

This day was a killer.  Most days we walked somewhere around 9 miles.  This day we did 13.  I thought I might die, especially since not much of it was flat.  My biggest respect was for Dad.  Senior Missionaries have a dress code too and he did all the hiking in his full Sunday getup -- tie and dress shoes included.