A Day in Macau

October 5 (Monday)

P-day. Went to visit Auntie Mai Soo. She's still in the hospital, but is looking well. Hopefully she will be released this week.

FHE tonight with the gang. Had a potluck dinner at the Ngai's. John made chopped ground pork, with water chestnuts, chinese sausage, and shitake mushrooms, trimmed with Shanghai bok choi and oyster sauce. I think it was a big hit, since there was none left. Also had chow mein and a spicy stir fry. Dessert consisted of fresh fruit, and pumpkin pie with whip cream. No turkey...so sad. :(:(

Deborah Bodily's first attempt at making chow mein under the tutelage of Shirley Nga...10/10!!!

October 6 (Tuesday)

Facebook today is full of "ponderizing" challenges. In Elder Durrant's talk at Conference on Sunday, he spoke about choosing a scripture and to ponder over its meaning during the week. Put it to memory and see how it can help you improve something in your life. Each week, pick a new scripture. I thought I would start with a simple one:

D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

This scripture goes hand in hand with one of my favorite scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."


October 7 (Wednesday)

Can you believe it? 20 years? Happy Anniversary Jasmine and Wayne! We'll celebrate when you get to Hong Kong. Also, Happy 26th(?) Anniversary to my brother Byron and wife Nancy also on October 7.

Went out to lunch with the Lee's. They wanted to show us where to get great won ton soup. It was in the Sham Shui Po area, and it was the best won ton soup we've tasted here. This little shop is famous for their home made noodles and is highly recommended by a famous food critique. All their ingredients are fresh, not frozen and you can watch them making it in their open style kitchen.

Space is at a premium in Hong Kong. It is common practice for strangers
to sit at your table if there is space available. Don't know this guy. He just
sat down and had his lunch with us.

After lunch, we shopped around. Found a dragon/phoenix ring for John.

Will you marry me?

After shopping...dessert time: tofu mango pudding, red bean sesame dessert.

After being out all day at Sham Shui Po with the Lee's, we got home around 5:00. John read his email and discovered we were to be at a PA meeting at 6:00. So we quickly hopped on the bus and went to the meeting, only to find out it had been cancelled. Apparently there was some confusion in the emails he received about which meeting had been cancelled. Since we were out, we decided to go to the bookstore "Page One". I've never seen anything like it! Can't describe how massive and incredible this store was. Pictures don't do it justice.

2 storey Page One Bookstore

Miles of aisles of books, books, and more books.

Books in every category you can think of in Chinese and English.

On our way home, we explored some of the streets in Tsim Sha Tsui. This Esprit Store uses the whole building as their billboard with a continually changing screen. Now that's advertising that gets your attention.

October 8 (Thursday)

Happy 92nd Birthday to Shung Foo Chan, John's Dad.
Uneventful. Just another day at the Temple. Sister Bodily and I made treats for all the temple workers. She made an oatmeal chocolate chip cake and I made butter tart squares.


October 9 (Friday)

After work at the Temple, I had a massage appointment with Sister Hung who is also a Temple worker. She said to meet her at exit "C" at the MTR station at Tsuan Wan at 5:00 and she would take us to her office. So there we were at 4:45. We waited, and waited, and waited till 5:30. Then decided to leave thinking maybe she forgot. I called her when we got home, and she said she waited for us for an hour! I have no idea where she was waiting. Obviously it was not at exit "C" unless there was a different one. No massage, so sad. Just felt bad that we both wasted an hour and never met up.


October 10 (Saturday)

Today is the first Saturday we've had off since we started working at the Temple. The Bodily's, Lee's and us decided we'd go to Macau for the day. We took the ferry over, about a 1 hour ride. Macau is a SAR - Special Administrative Region - of China, similar to Hong Kong. Even though technically, it is part of China, it has its own separate "government" apart from China. Macau is famous for it's many casinos. It brings in a lot of money to the area and is the main industry along with tourism.

We boarded a hydrofoil for a 1 hour trip to Macau.

Richard contracted Alex our chauffeur and tour guide of the day.

Macau was originally settled by Portuguese, a strong Catholic influence.

The famous ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral

Only the front remains, the rest being wood, burned to the ground.

21 canyons atop the city.

June and John enjoying fish balls and shrimp balls.

The Grand Lisboa Casino in the palm of John's hand!

You have to be there in person to feel the vastness.

Intricate carving from an ivory tusk. 

A detail close-up of a portion of the above.

Gold dragon boat. Betcha this one has a pretty price tag.

Chinese water colour art in lobby of the Grand Lisboa.

We were lucky to run into this street performance of a lion dance.

Drumming up business... 

Ewweee...tongue, worms, bugs, and ????

Lunch at the famous "pork chop bun" place.

Famous Lord Stow's Bakery

Home of the famous Portuguese egg tarts - they sell 1,000's a day with a continual lineup outside their door.

Beautiful Bonzai Garden

Chan's, Lee's, and Bodily's at the Bonzai Garden

Topped our evening off at the "House of Dancing Water" Show. 

An incredible show like no other! A must to see.

October 11 (Sunday)

No church today since it was Conference broadcast here. Got to sleep in. Listened to all the Conference sessions we missed last week. Nora and Shirley dropped by with some homemade noodles and to discuss what to do with our time off.

Mid Autumn Festival - Moon Cake Madness!

September 28 (Monday)

Moon Cake Madness: Moon cakes are traditional snacks/desserts of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the second most important festival in China. It is said that there is a moon goddess who  makes these cakes, so people call them moon cakes.

The festival is intricately linked to the legends of Chang E, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality. According to Li-Ji, an ancient Chinese book recording customs and ceremonies, the Chinese Emperor should offer sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. The 15th day of the 8th lunar month is the day called "Mid-Autumn" and is known as the "Night of the Moon".

Today is a statutory holiday, the day after the Mid Autumn Festival. People celebrate this "Moon Cake" Festival all month long. Our Filipino Branch had a BBQ at Gold Coast Beach. The sisters put on quite a spread of BBQ chicken, pork, egg plant, red rice, corn, cucumber salad, potato salad, and fruit. It was a beautiful looking beach with fine white sand. However, the water was not at all inviting. I'd be afraid of catching some kind of disease because it is so polluted. I don't know how people dare go swimming in it.

Peeling BBQ seared egg plant...hot, hot, hot....

Egg plant perfection!

Chefs extraordinaire! 

Authentic Filipino BBQ pork chops.

Dishing out...can't wait to taste it.

Some sisters of our Peninsula 3 Branch.

Lovely beach, not so lovely water. 

Working off dinner...the ol' hips don't sway like they used to.

John on the Rocks...no, it's not the name of an exotic new drink.

The heat of the day wore me out. Came home and took a nap before heading out to Tsim Sha Tsui for a walk along the promenade. The Moon Festival was winding down. Still got to catch some of the bright lights and decorations.

Evening cruise along the Victoria Harbour.

Mid Autumn Festival display at Tsim Sha Tsui.

The Big Picture

All the characters are symbolic of the many tales and folklore of the Mid Autumn Festival Legends. Some of the more popular stories are: "Chang E Flying to the Moon", "Jade Rabbit Pounding Medicine", Wu Gang Chopping Laurel Tree", and "Zhu Yuanzhang and Moon Cake Uprising". You can read these stories on line.

Evening stroll along the promenade - Walk of Stars.

While out on our walk tonight we were looking for a story book about the Legend of the Moon Festival. We couldn't find anything in English. So feeling defeated, what could we do but eat. haha. We decided to eat at KFC which was just down the street. We were getting tired of Chinese food. I guess what happened next was meant to be.

While we were having our dinner, a "throw back hippy" type person sitting at the adjacent table leaned over and asked John for the time. This person sure reminded me of Dr. David Suzuki, very intellectual, long beard and glasses. We were just walking out when I had the distinct prompting to give him a Book of Mormon. So I returned to his table and offered him the book. In my broken attempt in Chinese, I told him I wanted to give him the book. He flipped through the pages and I think he was commenting on how thick the book was. I couldn't really engage in any conversation other than say, "Ngoi seung bei nei." He graciously accepted it and then I left. Who knows what my happen from there. I'm just the sower.


September 29 (Tuesday)

It's a small, small world. Today at the Temple we met 3 people from Lethbridge. Carrie Proctor the daughter of  Blair Proctor, who taught with John for many years. She was visiting friends in Hong Kong, Cassandra and Randy Miehe. John taught Randy, and Cassandra is the daughter of a very good friend of ours from our old Panda days, (mother - Cheryl Henderson, grandparents - Jean and Zandy Henderson). What a thrill to see them all in the temple half way around the world!

September 30 (Wednesday)

Another interesting day at the Temple. In the last session which John and I were in, it was like the United Nations. The languages used were English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, Finnish, and Russian. Only in Hong Kong do you get such a diversity of languages all at the same time. Never a dull moment.

Dmitry and Sirpa Yarvensiva sealed for time and eternity - He's from Russia she's from Finland.

October 1 (Thursday)

The headline reads, "On China's National Day. Hong Kong Protesters Say That They Are Not Part of China". On an overcast Thursday morning, twin red flags--one belonging to Hong Kong and the other to China--were hoisted at the Golden Bauhinia Square on the harbor front. The raising was part of the celebrations for China's National Day--66th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China.

About a block away from the square, small groups of protesters waved the Blue Colonial flag, a combination of Hong Kong's coat of arms and Britain's Union Jack, that was the territory's emblem until the British returned it to China in 1997. The protesters, part of a marginal but growing localist movement that calls for greater autonomy, or even full independence, waved banners that read, "Hong Kong Independence" and "Hong Kong Is Not China."

Later on the waterfront in Kowloon, 200 people gathered with yellow umbrellas, a symbol of last year's pro-democracy Umbrella Revolution.

Went to watch the fireworks display on the promenade outside of our condo. I guess I had higher expectations for the fireworks. I give it a 6 out of 10. Byron and Emmy: wish you were here to take pictures for me. Mine are definitely lacking your finesse!

October 2 (Friday)

OAD - Got up early to catch a taxi to the Adventist Hospital. John was scheduled for a colonoscopy. About a month ago he had the "runs" really bad and lost about 20 pounds in about 2 weeks. This really had me worried. The doctor recommended running a few tests. Everything came back negative and once the "runs" stopped, he gained some weight back. All is well thank goodness, and thanks to the power of prayer.

We're so impressed with the Adventist Hospital. The staff were so friendly and super efficient. No waiting around. Very, very thorough, from admission to procedure to discharge. Dr. Matthew Ng did the procedure and Dr. Chan was the anesthetist along with the attending nurses, were all excellent! No waiting weeks for result. As soon as John got back to his room, the doctor followed with the results with full explanation, complete with photos. All clean and clear.

I was a bit concerned whether they would accept our insurance. All it took was a phone call, and everything was approved. The person doing the discharge was amazed. He said it usually takes 3-4 days to get approval in which case we might have to pay up front and get reimbursed later.The bill

was a whopping $41,800 HKD! (about $7,000 CAD) Again, we know how blessed we have been for how things just seem to work out. Such tender mercies throughout this whole ordeal.

 Breakfast for 2: Scrambled eggs and ham, Poached egg and beans.

October 3 (Saturday)

Elder and Sister Lee came over for a visit this afternoon. June wanted to learn how to make Mars Bar Rice Krispies Squares. After making 2 large pans, we later went to Metropolis for a quick and cheap dinner. We all enjoyed the Vietnamese food. On the walk home, the wind picked up. There had been a typhoon warning posted all day. 

Blowing away.... Hang on....!!! Here it comes.....

 October 4 (Sunday)

Sunday midnight in HK is 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Salt Lake City time, so we tuned into General Conference on the computer. With the recent passing of Elder Boyd K. Packer, Elder L. Tom Perry, and Elder Richard G. Scott, we were anxious to know who would be replacing their vacancies. We were hoping to catch the announcement of who the 3 new apostles would be. Since they did not announce them till the next session at 4:00 a.m. HK time, we went to bed. Our 3 newest apostles are Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson and Elder Dale G. Renlund. We look forward to getting to know them better.

So on our Monday midnight, which is 10:00 a.m. Sunday, Salt Lake City time, we watched the Sunday morning session of Conference and were privileged to hear the 3 new apostles speak. Its so gratifying to know that there are men called of God who lead His Church on the earth today.