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I'm just starting to go through the photos I took over the holidays. Here are a few...



[Edit: I've added a few more pictures from our Thailand & Hong Kong trip]

Labels: travel

I first visited Hong Kong in the 80s when I was in Grade 7. I didn't remember much of Hong Kong from that trip outside of it being incredibly hot and humid (and that air-conditioned taxis were a blessing) and that the city was busy.

During my second trip to Hong Kong in 2004, I was largely occupied by my wedding banquet.

This third trip of Hong Kong gave me the opportunity to enjoy the city. We arrived on January 8th from Bangkok and were whisked back to Janet's Aunt's apartment on Hong Kong island near Kennedy Town (a big thanks goes to Janet's cousins for picking us up). As usual, trips to Hong Kong typically involve eating lots of fantastic food with highlights including a wonderful banquet to celebrate my Father-in-law's 70th birthday and a fantastic seafood meal fresh from the seas near Cheng Chau, a small island part of Hong Kong that largely maintains it's tradition of fishing (although it's economy is boistered by city dwellers escaping for the weekend).

Hong Kong is also a great place to buy clothes, reasonably stylish (with influence from Tokyo), and cheap. In between walks through Kowloon (to see the Penninsula Hotel, Kowloon Park, Nathan Rd) we bought clothes. Enough clothes to demand the purchase of a new suitcase...

This trip also gave me the opportunity to pay a visit to my Grandmother's grave and pay our respects. And thanks to Janet's sister, we had the opporunity to visit Disneyland Hong Kong (standing on "Mainstreet USA" while in Hong Kong is a bit surreal).

Unfortunately, the timing of our stay meant we had just missed the particularly flashy Christmas lights on the buildings and we left just before the Chinese New Year lights were up. Even still, the Hong Kong skyline is a beautiful sight.

Labels: travel

We're currently 2/3rds the way through our Thailand and Hong Kong trip and we're enjoying it thoroughly. I haven't had the chance to do any blogging or other Internet-related activities during my travels.

But here's a quick update on our travels. We left Christmas Eve on our way to Bangkok through Tokyo. The trip took about 20 hours including some time at Narita airport.

Bangkok is a crazy city filled with traffic that seems to follow some form of organized chaos where traffic lights and lane markers are rarely meaningful, smog, huge shopping malls, friendly people, and good food. We stayed at the lovely JW Marriott which was a little far from the tourist sites, but conveniently located next to the Skytrain.

After Bangkok we flew to Koh Samui for 4 days of beach, ocean, sun, and more great food (although we did end up with a touch of food poisoning for a day).

We returned to Bangkok prior to a tour to Sukothai and Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.

We're now in Hong Kong and trying to adjust to the much cooler weather. Most homes don't have heating so showering when it's 10C out is a challenge.

I'll post pictures when we return.

Labels: travel