Hong Kong

For some strange reason, I did not really expect to enjoy Hong Kong. In my mind it was a giant shopping mall built of skyscrapers. As our plane descended, my heart started beating faster at the sight of islands, ocean and busy boats crossing from one harbor to the next. I know Flekkefjord is no Hong Kong, and yet it reminded me of home. Boats docked at the harbor, containers waiting to be loaded, only the size was overwhelming. But ocean is ocean whether in Norway, Maine or Hong Kong, and thus a beautiful sight.

For us, memories of Hong Kong include:

-a trip to the Peak by cable-pulled tram
-a hike on the Peak seeing how narrow the strip of skyscrapers really are, and how beautiful the nature is
-a boat-trip to Kowloon on New Years eve
-a walk through Kowloon asking ourselves: Does anyone really buy these watches from numerous stores priced at $30.000 and more? Do they not know you can get a fake in Beijing that looks the same and cost less than $ 100?
-a boat trip to Lamma island
-a 2 hour coastal hike on rural Lamma island ending with a seafood dinner at a small restaurant on the pier
-a final trip to Kowloon to a busy (frantic) shopping district, realizing this is what most people do in Hong Kong
-a 12 hour wait for our return flight due to another storm dumping 1 feet of snow in Beijing. However, we were treated to lunch, dinner, a hotel room for the evening and then a call at 1 AM " we are leaving" We had great books, so no big deal.

As we left the islands behind, I realized that I would be very happy to I have a chance to return some day.

Harbin-January 2010

Minnesota has Fargo, but here we have Harbin. If winter talk turns to cold temperature, this is the town most mentioned. Beijing has had a good snow year, but to make sure we got a little extra touch of cold air, we signed up with China Culture Club to visit Harbin the last week-end of January. We went with our new friends, Pam and Stewart Hughes from Leeds, UK.

Harbin lies north of here, close to the Russian border and is heavily influenced by Russian architecture, churches, bread making and more. Typical winter temperature hovers around -22 and 40 F we are told but we were spared such serious numbers. Clever enough to make this it's draw, Harbin sponsors a Winter Festival every year. So decked in our own and our friends’ warmest clothing, we headed for Harbin, enjoying the sights of impressive snow carved figures (anything white in the photos), ice houses built of ice blocks chopped out of the river that runs through town, complete with electricity to create a stunning night-time ice city. Our visit also included a trip through the Siberian tiger- park where we were happy to be inside strong vehicles and thus escape the fate of the chickens being fed to the hungry beasts.

I think the photos will tell the story better: