Happy July 4th

For some reason, no one here is paying attention to what a great day today is. We've taken several taxies, a boat ride across Victoria Bay, and rode the subway (MTR) in different directions, yet no one has been waving the red, white, and blue flag, or setting off fireworks. For us, we will have spent July 4th just wondering the streets of Hong Kong and trying to blend in as best as possile. Actually, it isn't as hard to blend here as it was when I was in Cambodia. Here, there are many people who look like me. In fact, an American saved me right out of the gate last night. We took a taxi from the train station to our hotel and the taxi driver didn't carry any change, and all I had were rather big-dollar bills. He was midly upset when I said I would need to go in the hotel and get change. Fortunately, an older gentleman had just come out looking to get a taxi and offered to pay my ride. It cost him $3.00. I thanked him, and he was off to who knows where. Thank you kind soul!

The kids slept real well, but I woke around 1:00 am, then 3:00 am, so I spent some time reading, then got up to see a nice sunrise starting to shed light on the city. Will finally woke up and I persuaded him to walk to a park near the hotel and look around. The city was quiet, but the heat was already starting to rise. When we got back after a 30 minute hike, we were sweating pretty good. Dawn and Liz got ready and we headed to a train or tram that boasts as having the sharpest incline for a tram, in the world. At the top, there is a beautiful view of Hong Kong. We are hoping to go back up in the evening and hopefully see the light show. I've only seen still shots of this event, but it appears that the city uses laser lights mounted on top of the downtown buildings to produce a laser light show.

We also headed over to Kowloon island to see the various markets. There is one street that has a Goldfish Market. If you like fish tanks and fish this street is for you, having every type of fish you may want in your tank.

I think Dawn and I would have spent more time in this area, but Liz and Will had their limit. I can't blame them; it's hot, noisy, lots of people around, and no benches to sit on and rest, so we finally headed back to our hotel. Aaaahhhh, air conditioning. As of this writing, Will is watching Discovery Channel, so I think he'll be ok.

Tommorrow, we need to call our translator and guide in Guangzhou, let her know what train we will be coming in on, as well as buy the tickets for that train ride. Wow, Monday is fast approaching...a day for which we have been waiting for, but a day that will change our family forever. Pay for Sean that he will transition well, and us that we will transition well too.