Hi again, C here,

Greetings from Hong Kong.  We are presently in down time mode, after a full morning & afternoon.

The flight from SF to HK was actually not bad at all.  We departed about an hour late due to the malfunction of the x-ray machine used for checked baggage (at least that's the story they were peddling). Cathay Pacific was a good call except for one minor issue.

Gopher Fell Down on the Job...

Apparently the Cathay Pacific purser (hence the Love Boat reference) didn't double cross check his list before departure because the boys were not on the approved list for their kid's meals.  This was after Lisa triple confirmed this arrangement with our agent!

Anyway, we lucked out because there were two other children who WERE confirmed by Gopher who actually didn't want their meals. After we got them in front of the boys, and opened them up, it was clear that the other kids knew what they were doing! It was chicken strips and fries - I think. As you could guess, K & D were not too terribly excited by the meal, so they bailed and doubled down on their granola bars and scooby snacks!

The setup was pretty nice - personal video monitors in the seat backs with all manner of movies, TV Shows, and games. The fellas slept occasionally during the flight - surprising after a furious first 90 minutes during which they took turns with "I want to watch/play what Kyle/Dylan is watching/playing." It was pretty funny since they had their headphones on and their speech volume was much louder than normal.  Funny for us, but if you'e reading this and happened to be sitting in Rows 62 D,E,F,G or 64 D,E,F,G we DO sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

Dylan checked out "Bolt", "Cars", "Toy Story", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Toy Story" again, along with bits & pieces of Handy Manny. Kyle also played a lot of electronic pinball, along with a shoot-em up game that he mastered by pressing all of the control buttons in random fashion until something good happened.  He also watched "Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang" but had to turn it off 2/3rds of the way through when he got too scared (I had forgotten that it has a bit of a dark side to it - and I suggested it so...sorry K-man.)

At about the same time that we were making our final approach to HK, both K & D hit the wall and fell soundly asleep.  Luckily, it took a long time to de-plane the other 500 people so  that allowed us to rouse them so they coud walk off the plane under their own power.  Another potential melt-down crisis averted.

We flew through customs & immigration and gathered all of our baggage really quickly. We trudged down to the taxi stands where we nearly gave the cabbie an aneurysm when he saw who/what we wanted to put into his cab.  The moral of the story - Don't put a sign that says "5 People" on a taxi if you're not serious about it!

He was able to stuff all four big suitcases into the trunk (with the help of an extra long bungee cord to lock down the half-open trunk - thank God it wan't raining!) and the backpacks, stroller and the people inside.  The driver made 4-5 calls on his cell phone during the ride, with each call being a stream of animated Chinese, ending with "Bye-Bye" just as clear as you and I say it!

Just like last year, Kyle was very concerned about the lack of safety features & precautions on the ride to the airport. No seatbelts were in use in the back seat of the tight quarters, and Kyle was not shy about lecturing all of us on how "this is not safe!"  "The unsafe conditions and the darkness combined to rattle Kyle a bit: "This is scary", he proclaimed.  Little Dylan piled on, parroting his Big Brother: "I think you're right Kyle, this is very scary." Very funny.

As the Taxi pulled into the Salisbury Road YMCA (yes, the YMCA - that's not a typo) we were all relieved that we had made it safely. This "Y" is not the same as the one you might imagine if you were to listen to the Village People.  It is in fact a "Y" on the first few floors, but there is a also fairly large hotel on the 14 floors above it.  We have a great corner room with a partial view of the harbor - cool at night. In contrast, AR's room is a smallish single -  her room COULD pass for the one in the VP's song! Thankfully, our schedule is so full that all she'll be doing there is sleeping.  Kudos to Aunt Carolyn the "Y" call - a nice contribution for which we are grateful.

Apparently everyone slept like rocks, except Lisa and me.  We were as wide awake as could be at 2:30 a.m. or so. So much for the jet lag pills we choked down every two hours on the plane!  The boys & AR were raring to go this morning.

We headed out early for our trek to the Big Buddha.  We had a quick breakfast at Starbucks (about a sand wedge from the front door of the "Y") and walked around the harbor area near the Marco Polo Hotel, where we stayed with Kyle on our way out of Dodge almost 4 years ago.

We had a nice walk around the waterfront and we had a brief conversation with an enterprising fisherman.  We knew he was a fisherman, because he was using fising line, hooks and bait. We knew he was enterprising because he was fisning in the DRAIN that runs under the streets and flows down into the harbor!!  No lie - I could not make this stuff up - he baited a hook and dropped it between the steel strips of the street drain grate! Not just one grate mind you, but he was working all FIVE drains like a maestro works the percussion section.

He moved from drain to drain, changing bait here, pulling out more line there - it was impressive.  We aksed him if he ever caught anything and he held his hands about 1-2 feet apart indicating the size of the fish we was after.  The only thing we could not quite figure out (which we think he explained, but which we could not understand because he said it in Chinese) is how the he!!, if he hooked someting, he got the fish out through the grate!?!? As this was obviously not his first time working the drains, we're pretty sure he had that worked out as well.  I suppose for him, this was better than competing with the rest of the guys working regular poles down by the waters's edge.

Anyway, we left the waterfront, and headed to the subway station to ride out to see the "Big Buddha" at Ngong Ping. We traveled easily on the subway since the signs were very clear and the way was well marked.

This last leg is a 25 minute long cable car ride from Tung Chung Train Station out to the Buddha.  Lisa and AR were a little (ok, a lot) freaked out by the ride, which was quite intimidating.  The cable cars traverse over a few good size peaks, and have some steep inclines & declines.  The boys didn't seem to mind, and I didn't have a problem but Mom & AR were unnerved to say the least.  But we made it...

We walked from the station at the top up to the base of the Buddah.  This was quite a climb of over 250 steps - but the views from the top were well worth it. Kyle and Dylan were troopers on the climb, only complaining near the top.  Mom & AR did very well, too.

The village around the station was as touristy as you'd expect, with the requisite Starbucks and Subway sandwich shop.  After the climb, we visited the Po Lin Monastery where we lit incense and prayed to the Buddah for the safe delivery of Ashley to the family.  (That's what I wished  for - I don't know about Mom, AR, K or D.) Actually D-man didn't want any parts of the wholce fire/incense scene.  He stayed a comfortable distance away, but did loudly protest his displeasure at all of this!

While were in the Monastery, we checked out the many hannging tapestries and decorations, some of which hang at about eye level.  I reminded Kyle of the stroy of his first laugh with us...

Rewind almost 4 years...For the first few days after he joined our family, Kyle was quite uncertain what to make of his new situation - he didn't smile much and had not laughed.  Our adoption travel group was on a tour of a temple (where Kyle was blessed by a devout Monk) and we had a few moments to ourselves.  I had Kyle in my arms, and were just wandering around the main room of the temple, which also had many hanging decorations (most with tassels hanging from them, like the ones we saw today). I walked by one of these and it lighly brushed his head. He cracked a huge smile and busted out a laugh.  it was one of those moments that didn't register much of an impact then, but will never leave me.  Back to the story...

The cable car ride back was just as scenic as the ride out (not as great as it could be due to the lightly overcast skies). We stopped for lunch before we got back on the train.  AR had a Subway sandwich (allegedly made with lettuce & tomato - with the single end slice of tomato about the size of a Susan B. Anthony $2 coin!) We all shared a Pizza Hut Pizza ("When in Rome"? yeah right!!!)

The boys started to crash on the train ride home but did a great job toughing it out, despite the "mess of people" as described by Dylan on the train.  It was a bit tight for a good part of the ride, but they did just fine. It was pushing the afternoon rush hour and the schools were letting out.

We made it back the "Y". The boys came in to the room, took off their shoes, had a bathroom break, washed their hands, and "raced" to the couch for their naps!  That's where they are now, while Mom & AR passed out as well - still a bit jet-lagged.  i'm out in the common area of our suite hammering away befoe I go to Starbucks to access the Wi-Fi to post this to our story of Ashley.

We'll get some dinner shortly, and I'll try to make another posting later tonight.

Until then...
C