Dear Family,
This was a very busy week! Lots and lots of work-- I've been very busy working on a couple of projects in India -- and then a change. Mike and Jill arrived here on Wednesday afternoon and of course we were thrilled to see them and spend a couple of days with them. Unfortunately, I had to continue to work on Thursday and Friday so Mom played tour guide without me. But I was able to at least eat dinner with them every night and then we spent all day Saturday and Sunday together. So good to be together again!
So, I will walk you through some pictures and our time together:
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| We are headed into Mid-Autumn festival, kind of the Chinese equivalent of our Thanksgiving (as Mom explained last week). So the lanterns are out again! AJ and Kels will recognize this street. Mom is taking Jill and Mike to get a taste of our favorite egg tarts. |
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| I was able to break away from work for a couple of hours on Thursday and head up to the "Peak" for a view of the city. This is us in the bus on the way to the top. |
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| We actually took a short hike behind the peak to search out and successfully find this "date" scratched into the rock, 1949. This is where Hong Kong was dedicated for missionary work by Matthew Cowley (in 1949). It was fun to be able to find this on our own. |
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On Friday, Mom took Mike and Jill to see the "Big Buddha" on Lantau Island. This is the largest sitting buddha statue in the world. I had to work so I look forward to being able to go see this when one of you come visit us. Don't miss Jill and Mike in this picture!
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| We spent an evening out on the promenade in front of our apartment building. |
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| Saturday morning, we took a ferry to Peng Chau Island. This is a beautiful, quiet, little community with no automobiles. Not a lot of tourists, but full of fun little alleys and nooks and crannies to explore. |
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| We started in a little Taoist temple just off the ferry. I was fascinated by all of the incense being burned in the temple. Burning incense is a form of prayer in all these temples -- the smoke takes the prayers to the heavens. These are incense rings hanging from the ceiling. |
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| Dried seafood with some dried squid. |
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| One of the alleys full of little shops. |
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| Another alley with clothes drying in the foreground. |
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| And then I struck gold! If you look carefully at the words on the side of the building in the foreground you will see the words, "canon, Nikon, film" and "Hidden Collector film". I thought, this must be a camera shop. So we went around the corner and sure enough, there was a little camera shop run by a retired camera collector. He had hundreds of old, vintage and antique cameras. |
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As we visited, I asked him if he had any old Nikon F film cameras. This is a camera that was considered the best camera in the world back in the 1960s and 70s. It was used by all the war correspondents, National Geographic photographers, and newspaper reporters. It was considered the most advanced camera (it was also the first camera sent into space to take pictures of the earth). This is back when I was a teenager and just starting to get into photography. I touched one of these camera once when I was 16 or 17 (my uncle Paul owned one) and coveted it but it was completely out of my league and affordability. So the first thing I asked this guy was whether he had any Nikon Fs just to see and hold one again. He took me over to one of his glass cases and pulled out an old, well worn, beautiful Nikon F, circa early 1960's. I asked him if it was for sale (many of the cameras were not for sale) and he said yes. I asked how much and he gave me a price that I could afford. Mom laughed and rolled her eyes, but I am now the proud owner of a Nikon F, and it works. It would be considered a dinosaur today (completely mechanical -- no electronics, monitor, or meter) but a beautiful dinosaur, nonetheless.
So this is a picture of me with my Nikon F, Char with an even older view camera (not for sale) and an old Rolliflex held by the shop owner. He was so kind and excited to meet a fellow camera lover.
We were in the shop for probably an hour going through this guy's collection (he even had old radio-controlled submarines). What a find!!! |
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When we got back from the island, we went to St John's cathedral and spent an hour or so just listening to this extraordinary mens choir and then a full choir a little later. We spent almost two hours there and it was a beautiful and peaceful experience. We have become fans of this beautiful cathedral!
We took Mike and Jill to church with us this morning and let them share the experience we have every Sunday listening to the Cantonese speakers and teacher and our translators. We were grateful they got to experience and meet these wonderful Chinese saints.
Jill and Mike have now gone back to their hotel. They leave in the morning for mainland China for a couple of days and then they return on Wednesday night before flying onto their next destination. So we have one more dinner together to look forward to.
It was wonderful to have family here, but it made us miss you more and we are so excited to see any of you that can come.
Well, it is bedtime and we have a lot going on tomorrow. So I better sign off. We love you all!! |
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