Adventures in Guangzhou!

Hong Kong: Part 1
This year the Wolfe family traveled separately over to Hong Kong (on much more comfortable planes than last year, I might add). Bonnie and Joel arrived one day before me and had the chance to explore Lamma Island with Ari. I hear it's beautiful and serene and chock full of beaches and island walks. Unfortunately, I was in the air and missed day one of the vacation. [Ed. note- it was awesome. I highly recommend the falafel at the Bookworm Cafe, in addition to the Lonely Planet walking tour. Good times!] I arrived the night of day one and after arriving at the Kowloon Hotel in busy TsimShaTsui, Ari and I headed straight for food and beer at the hotel lounge. Delicious!

With no time to sleep in, day two brought the entire Wolfe family to Ocean Park on Hong Kong Island. In desperate need of some awesome fun, we headed for "The Dragon" and "The Abyss." As the sign for "The Abyss" said, "Ride it! Feel the Depth!" In between chasing the dragon and testing our limits of fun and fear, we saw two adorable pandas, the largest fish tank in the world, and Santa swimming with the sharks. Ocean Park offered us an excellent theme park, Chinese style, complete with people pushing in line, having to pay separately for some theme park rides, and kiosks selling octopus on a stick. What could be better? [Ed. note- it's true, you can still legally chase the dragon in Hong Kong, though it is in the form of a roller coaster. Also, I had no idea Santa was Chinese and certified to scuba dive with sharks.]

Day 3 brought our second attempt to visit the island of Macau. Of course, all ferries were booked. Instead of feeling down, we booked tickets for the next day and quickly made the decision to head to ShaTin in the New Territories to see the 10,000 Buddha Temple and do some shopping across the border in Shenzhen. We hopped on the MTR and rode up to ShaTin, where we quickly found ourselves following a tour group of Chinese Christians, with the hope that they were going to our destination. We weren't so lucky and ended up taking a quick detour up the side of a mountain, which did have some amazing views. After this brief interlude, the family finally arrived at the 10,000 Buddha Temple and was greeted with the warning, "Don't feed the wild monkeys." Wild Monkeys? Sure, whatever you say. On our short climb of over 400 steps, we made sure to count the many Buddhas lining the path. 31, 32 . . . 128, 129, 130. . .428, 429, 430. Ari and I stopped several times to take culturally inappropriate pictures with the statues and give our parents a chance to rest. (See flickr for our photographic masterpieces) Once we finally reached the temple, we realized that the 10,000 Buddhas were not on the path up but actually inside the main temple building and we were quickly blown away by the view of so many golden statues. After a brief exploration of the temple grounds, we made our way back down because there was no rest for the jet-lagged & weary. To our amazement, two monkeys crossed our path and jumped up into the trees right in front of us. Thank goodness I read the sign commanding me to refrain from feeding the monkeys! Always on the move, the Wolfe family got back on the train and ventured to the mainland. Ari kept preparing us for the craziness that was about to greet us in Shenzhen, but even he had no idea what was waiting for us.

After walking outside of the train station to get money at an ATM, we began to walk back towards the shopping center. "Hey, what's that animal over there?" I only wish I could have been prepared for this. After hearing my dad ask this innocent question, we all looked at the scene about to unfold behind a restaurant. There on a tiny chopping block, was a skinned and roasted dog about to get its head chopped off with a cleaver. Appalled at the scene unfolding before my eyes, I turned away in time to miss the final blow, which was followed by the butcher throwing the decapitated head jokingly at his friend. Man, China rules! Still laughing about this incident, we quickly began to laugh harder as we entered a shopping mall and were immediately met with shouts of "Missy! Missy! DVD! You like buy DVD? CAMERA?!" Our white skin stood out just a little, and the whole family attracted hawkers selling everything from fake LeSportSac bags to fake Rolexes. "Missy! Missy!" Did they really think I would be drawn in with that call? Hilarious! Even more hilarious was the salesman who climbed INTO the ceiling in his search for the size jeans that I wanted. Where else would you keep your surplus merchandise? Certainly not under the counter or in a box, but in the ceiling! Again, hilarious! After a few hours of shopping, the Wolfe family walked away with an assortment of fake watches, bags, and two orders for hand-made clothing at Sally the tailor's. This all made for an exhausting, but quite eventful day. [Ed. note- I really need to gear up for the Shenzhen experience because it can be overwhelming. I have taken to being overly sarcastic sometimes in order to not be offended when they grab my arm. "A Rolex you say? Is it real?? Wow--that's an amazing price! I'll take 100!"]

On day 4, we all got up bright and early and hopped on the ferry to Macao. Not quite sure what to expect, we were met with long lines in customs and a heavily polluted sky. Ready for an adventure, we hopped on a bus with the hopes that we would find the starting point of our Lonely Planet walking tour. Even though we understood neither Portuguese nor Cantonese, we made it to Largo de Senado and began to explore. The architecture was beautiful and very Portuguese. We saw many churches, a fortress, and even some random street art. The most inspiring site was the façade of the Church of St. Paul. I can only imagine what the rest of the church might have looked like. After two previous attempts to visit the island, we were happy to have been able to explore Macau for the day. So happy in fact, that Ari and I went over to the Peninsula Hotel back in Hong Kong for a "high-class" drink. We rode up in the nicest elevator we had ever seen and were greeted with a spectacular view from the bar at the Felix Restaurant. This spot is highly recommended by both Ari and I. [Ed. note- It's true. Just don't wear shorts. And make sure you check out the bathroom. Amazing!]