With Staci and Martin

Friday and Saturday have been a blur of activity and conversation with Staci and Martin here in Hong Kong. They arrived at our hostel on Friday morning as neither of them had classes to teach on Friday. It was wonderful to be able to hug them again after 4 months separation. We had great fun catching up and were soon back out on the streets and subway playing tourists together. With both the kids' knowledge of the area (they had visited Hong Kong twice before) and our trusted Lonely Planet guidebook -- we've been on the go experiencing Hong Kong, its neighborhoods, markets, sights and food.

We started our sightseeing in Kowloon where we first went to retrieve the kids' repaired Nikon camera (they had left it there a month before). Thereafter we pushed our bodies, both our feet and our senses, to their limits by taking in as much as we could. Peaceful walks through an amazingly beautiful park (Nan Lian) and Buddhist nunnery (Chi Lin) were followed by visits to crowded and loud street markets (jade, Temple Street, Nathan Road's "Golden Mile") mixed in with local food -- ending the night watching the spectacular "Symphony of Lights" from the Kowloon waterfront. The "symphony" involves the pulsating lights of 44 highrise, waterfront buildings set to music and put on at 8pm each evening.

The display we watched was accompanied by a flotilla of illuminated boats and special musical presentations in celebration of the opening of the 2009 East Asian Games that were opened on Saturday. About the time our feet were telling us that they would take no more abuse for the day, we returned to our hostel to continue our conversations over some supermarket beer and cheetos/snacks.

On Saturday, we renewed the assault on our own bodies/stamina with similar intensity. We started by taking the the streetcars (double decker trams that have been in operation since 1904)

to more markets in the central districts of the city followed by taking the longest series of escalators up the hillside to the zoo/botanical gardens. Again we were fascinated with everything -- and sought out and happened upon many interesting and fun sights -- from the many ginseng merchants to an elaborate wedding that was going on at the cathedral.

Another blog I follow of a guy traveling by motorcycle from Seattle to the tip of South America describes the best moments of travel as "the in-between parts": "They are genuine moments that occur without the direction of guidebooks or behind the guise of local attractions." I agree with him -- and today was full of them as well. But the guidebooks are essential in setting the course for the "in-between parts." And, this afternoon we had just enough information from the guidebook (some city bus route numbers) to get us headed on a curvy, mountainous road to the southern coast of Hong Kong Island with a destination of "Stanley Market." The ride, on an upper level of a city bus, took us along some of the most beautiful beaches and waterfront residential areas -- to another busy market set in a lovely seaside resort.

Following the return ride, we found a local place to try our luck on ordering food -- and ended up with some pretty delicious dishes -- and only one marginal one. Eating is always an adventure of travel.

Walking back to our hotel was an another adventure all to itself -- because it was Saturday night and the city had become swarmed with people -- a density that one must experience to understand. It was interesting -- fascinating even -- but we were also delighted to finally reach the tranquility of our hostel rooms (with a few more beers and snacks -- to fuel our own assessments of the wonderful day in Hong Kong).

Tomorrow we head to the "real" China as we head to Staci/Martin's school.