Hong Kong!

I have had this blog post mostly ready to go for weeks.  Unfortunately, life sent a road block these last two weeks.  More on that later.  For now, back to Hong Kong.

Like I said in my last post, we stayed in the Shangri La- Kowloon.  I loved the rugs in the elevator.  I imagine there are people traveling to Hong Kong from all over the world, and from all time zones.  I am going to say, I found the rugs helpful!  By the way, Hong Kong is about 10 flying hours from Oman, and a four-hour time difference.

Hotel lobby

Here is the fruit plate in our room.  I never did find out what the middle fruit is.

Beautiful tea service in our room.

The view of Victoria Harbor from one of the hotel windows.

I have no idea what I did to my phone when I took this picture, but I liked it.

We loved walking along the harbor in the evening.  That is Hong Kong island in the across the harbor.

My favorite picture of the whole trip!  I plan on having this enlarged and framed.

This was a business meeting for Joe, so he was actually tied up most of the time.  A friend and I went walking around the neighborhoods in Kowloon.  I totally appreciated the reminders of where to look for coming cars.

Lots of wonderful antiques and art all around.

This is a jewelry store window!!!  Proudly displayed were these suckling pig necklaces!  How would you like to unwrap this gift?

Crispy ducks for sale.

I could have done a whole blog post on all the interesting foods for sale.  Hong Kong reminded me a lot of China Town in New York City.  :) Oh, one of the best lines I heard was when we were riding in a bus with a tour guide.  He pointed to a neighborhood and said that area was known as Caucasian Town!!  Lots of expats lived there.  I cracked up!

The Ladies market.  Yes, that was the name.

My favorite was the Jade market.  No surprise there.

So many beautiful things!

We had one tour arranged for the wives.  It was to Ngong Ping, to see the Tian Tan Buddha.  This large bronze statue was completed in 1993.  It is located near the Po Lin Monastery and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion.

You get to the Buddha by taking a tram, on a 25-minute ride over water and mountains.

Ours had a glass bottom!

270 or so steps to the top.  Wow, I have climbed lots of steps to lots of tall places this year.

I have seen lots of incense burners in my time, but none this big.

Friday was our last day.  Great first trip to Hong Kong!

Christmastime in Hong Kong

This is a blog post that should have been done before Christmas, but, well, that just didn't happen.  But I think the pictures are too amazing to not post!  

I loved seeing all the Christmas decorations in Hong Kong.  Joe and I were there the middle of December, for a business meeting where wives were invited.  As you know, Oman is a Muslim country.  I really missed seeing all the Christmas decorations.  There were a few here and there, but nothing like Hong Kong.  I was blown away!

Once again, we stayed at Shangri La.  This one was even more beautiful than the one in Kuala Lumpur.

I absolutely loved these free-standing wreaths.  I plan on duplicating it when I have the available supplies.  And my talented sister to help me!

The hotel lobby

Also in the lobby.  Okay, this is not Christmassy, but just beautiful.

These double wreaths were hanging outside the hotel.

Our hotel was in Kowloon, not actually on Hong Kong island.  But we were right on Victoria Harbor and had these amazing views of the skyline of Hong Kong.  Season's Greetings!

On the Kowloon side of the harbor

I also enjoyed just taking pictures of some of the Christmas trees I saw around.  Here is Joe with some USG friends, Paul and Mary Ellen.

I loved this Disney tree.  It was next to a booth promoting Hong Kong Disney.  Maybe next trip to Hong Kong!  I also loved the girl's dress on the left.  :)  

This tree was outside the Armani store.

But my favorite Christmas tree has to be the Swarovski crystal one in the Hong Kong airport.  I took this picture very quickly, as I arrived in Hong Kong.

I took this picture of the top of the tree, on the way back home.

We took the ferry across the harbor, into Hong Kong.  These were some of the decorations in the financial district.

Next blog post will be more of Hong Kong!

Basketball in Bangladesh

Living life in Oman is different in lots of ways.  For example, if your daughter plays basketball for her high school team, she will travel for a tournament.  Travelling isn't so different from the US, except--  she went to BANGLADESH!

I wanted to include a map, just to remind all of us where Bangladesh is.  To the right of India.  Another reminder-- Oman is in green right next to Iran.

The tournament was held in the American school in Dhaka, the capital.

All the players received these beautiful flower necklaces.

That is Savannah's team in white.

I thought this was adorable.  All the 8 teams came from different countries.  Obviously there were not any fans in attendance.  The different classes were assigned a team to cheer for!

At the same time the girls were playing basketball in Bangladesh, our school was hosting a soccer tournament.  The parents have to pay for the flights, but students are housed with the families of students.  We hosted two American boys from Sri Lanka!  This computer was set up in a coffee shop at the school.  Our girls were able to watch the boys play soccer.  Similarly, the basketball tournament was also streamed live.

The streets of Dhaka.  I am sure they didn't all look like this, but these are all the pictures Savannah provided me with.

Another adventure in the life of Savannah!