Leaving Home...Heading Home

July 11 (Monday)

Thinking of my sister, Vivian today. It would have been her 74th birthday. Love you and miss you "Dee Dee".

Today we leave Lethbridge on our way back to Hong Kong with a quick stop in Vancouver. Gin picked us up at the airport. Had a wonderful seafood soup for dinner. We stopped by Tang's to pick up Vic's car which we always borrow while in Vancouver so we can get around.


July 12 (Tuesday)

What a wonderful treat...today started off with meeting Nora Chan and Gaylon and MaryAnn Ball for breakfast. It was quite co-incidental that we all were in Vancouver on the same day. So good to touch base with fellow temple missionary friends.

 After breakfast, we headed over to Richmond to take John's mom and dad out for lunch. Food was OK, but the service was horrible. We had ordered 5 dishes. 3 came within a reasonable time. Then we waited, and waited, and waited for the rest of our meal. John finally had to flag down a server to see what was taking so long. Apparently, they had forgotten or something. Then we waited more. By that time, we were pretty fed up so we told them just to pack it up and we would take it to go. Then we waited for the bill. I paid the bill. Then the cashier called me back and said I hadn't paid enough. I had paid cash. She said that the tip was not included. I said there is no tip. The service was terrible. She pointed to the bill where it was printed a suggested amount for a 15% tip or 20% tip. I said no way, and walked out. My policy: no service, no tip. Am I becoming a crusty old lady?

John's Mom

John's Dad

As our final meal with the family, we all went to our favorite 54th Street Restaurant. What a contrast to the place where we had had lunch. Excellent friendly service! Excellent food! Great management! And because of that, they got a healthy 20% tip.

Just some of the dishes we devoured.

John's Mom, his brother Steve, and Dad

My sister Ilona, her son Ryan, brother-in-law Keong Lai

My niece Jackie, brother-in-law Vic, sister Gin, and my Mom

US

Brother-in-law Victor Tang

My Mom May. John's Mom Lili

Part of our Vancouver Family

July 13 (Wednesday)

Our flight for Hong Kong wasn't until noon, so we had time for breakfast. Vic Tang, Gin & Vic, Mom and John and I had an early Chinese style breakfast. Yes, eating is all we seem to do. Then it was off to the airport for our long flight back to Hong Kong. We were on Korean Air, so we had a quick stop over in Seoul.

Korean Air - Humungo Plane

Shrimp Salad, Korean Chicken and Rice, Spice Cake, Real Cutlery

Better than peanuts and pop.

July 14 (Thursday)

Because we were heading east, we lost a day due to the time change. We arrived in Hong Kong Thursday evening around 10:30 pm HK time. It was a quick stop through customs because we already have our HK ID card, We basically just walked through. We had to stop for a photo shoot of Bruce Lee at the airport before catching a taxi back to our apartment. It felt good to be back.

John and his hero...

July 15 (Friday)

It was very late, or should I say very early, by the time we went to sleep. We slept off and on during the day to try to compensate for jet lag. I don't know how it happened, but I was awake the entire flight. That never happens. I usually fall asleep anywhere, any time in any moving vehicle. We went out to stock up of groceries.


July 16 (Saturday)

Realizing we only have less than 4 months left on our mission, and there are still places we want to visit, we took today to go to the Heritage Museum to see the Bruce Lee display. Bruce is like HK's national hero. After, we stopped by IKEA for lunch and bought some picture frames for John's temple pictures.

Needing to cool off and relax, we hit the pool. Ah, so nice.


July 17 (Sunday)

I had a poor sleep and woke up at 4:00 am. Guess I'm still a bit jet lagged. Back to our little branch, Pen 3. It was so good to be back to see all our sisters again. We were greeted by many hugs and kisses. Being the 3rd Sunday of the month, there was a branch dinner. Back to eating again.