Travelog for: Snuff

Today we are going to see a big Buddha statue.  It is on Lantau Island, the largest island in Hong Kong.  While it was once a hangout for pirates with a few fishing villages, today Lantau is where the airport and Hong Kong Disneyland are located.

After taking the subway, we line up to take a cable car.  Wow this looks exciting!!



We have set off!  We can see the buildings underneath.



They are getting smaller and smaller!



There is the airport!  The planes look so small!



We have to go over the sea and the mountain!  It's a bit scary but good thing I have Snuff to hold onto!



Look, we are almost there!  Can you see the Buddha statue in the mist?



We arrive at the Ngong Ping, home of the big Buddha!



This is not a real village but a collection of shops for tourists.



Some of the shops sell Buddhist souvenirs.



This is a wishing tree.



We continue on to the monastary.



The Buddha is just up the stairs!!



Being fit little puppies we climb up the 268 steps in no time!!  The Buddha is 34 metres (112 ft) tall, weighs 250 metric tons, and was the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha statue.



Surrounding the Buddha are six small statues: "The Offering of the Six Devas", posed as offering flowers, incense, lamp, ointment, fruit, and music to the Buddha.



This is the main hall of the monastary.  In front of it is a white statue of Kwan Yin.



We help our host's mom make an offering.  First, we have to light the incense.



People then kneel here to say their prayers.



I guess the huge joss sticks are for some really big wish!



The small incense sticks are placed inside the burner.



Near the temple is a small tea plantation.



Further up along the path is the Wisdom Path, where the Heart Sutra is inscribed onto 38 wooden columns arranged in a figure 8 symbolizing eternity.





Afterwards, we take a bus to Tai O, a small fishing village on the western end of the island.





Besides fresh fish, they also have dried fish (kind of like a bacalao), scallop, shrimp and other products for sale.



We wonder what this is? Our host tells us that it is a wooden bucket of soft tofu, it's made a bit sweet to be eaten as dessert.

We have a new TV, Thiele, who just flew in yesterday.  We have been expecting her and actually get kind of worried when she still hasn't shown up.  Turns out she flew to China before finding the correct way here. So glad she's arrived safely.

Today we start off the day by eating some traditional Chinese breakfast. 

Chinese like soybean a lot.  You can drink soy milk, which is a nutritious drink, especially before dairy milk was introduced from the West into the diet.  Just like milk is made into cheese, the soy milk is made into tofu.  If they make it very soft and young, it is like a pudding.  In Northern China, it is usually eaten with soy sauce, salty peanuts, pepper and scallion with a savory flavor.  In Taiwan they like it sweet with beans.  In Hong Kong it's usually sweetened with ginger syrup.  This one looks a bit dark because of the black bean in it.



Next is rice noodle roll, "cheung fun".  It is made by rolling a sheet of rice pasta.  Sometimes it's eaten plain, with just sauces.  Like what we have now.  With lots of sesame seeds, soy sauce, hot sauce and sesame sauce.  Or you can add beef, shrimp, mushrooms, or other ingredients inside the roll.



At night we take Thiele to visit Mong Kok.  Some of the streets are closed off on weekends and nights to make room for all the pedastrians.



Blinchick takes Thiele to the Woman's Street, which we have visited a few days ago.  We decide to sniff out the food scene instead.

This one has snacks like stuffed pepper, meatballs, sausages and other things on a stick like a kebab.  People line up on the street to buy snacks. 





This one has cold drinks like bubble tea.

Today we take Thiele to try dim sum.  It is the style of dining for breakfast or lunch here. 

We show her how to mark what she wants on the order form.  The dishes all come in small size and are expected to be share, so everybody gets to eat a little of everything.



This is the Hainanese Chicken rice.  It's considered a National dish of Singapore.  The rice is cooked with ginger, garlic and chicken stock to give it a delicious flavor.



More dim sum arrive at the table.  They come served in small dishes or bamboo steamers.



The sesame ball has a creamy custard filling.



This is a dish Thiele ordered.  Looks like a bird may enjoy it but we doggies do not care for fish head with soy sauce. 



Afterwards, we take the bus for another crossing under the harbor. 



In all honesty, tunnels under the water sounds creepy so I am glad we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!



Central is the financial district of Hong Kong.  Many multinational financial and trade businesses have their headquarters here.  Here you can see from the left the Bank of China Tower (designed by I. M. Pei and the 4th tallest building in Hong Kong), Cheung Kong Center and HSBC HQ.  The little brown building behind us is the old Bank of China office, which looks really tiny compared to all the modern, shiny, skyscrapers.

Today we are travelling again.  We wait at the ferry terminal after passing through immigration.  I wonder where we will be going?  It's time to board the turbojet!



Goodbye to Hong Kong for now!



I hope we won't get seasick!!  I am not a sea dog after all...



After an hour, we arrive at the new place.  Everything looks a bit different from Hong Kong.  There are signs in Portuguese, Chinese and English.



Mystery solved!  We are in Macau!

Today on our way to downtown Macau we pass by the Macau Tower.  You can try the world's highest bungee jump from there.  Which of course we are not interested in. 



First we want some breakfast.  We go to a this place, Margaret's, which is very famous for its egg custard tart, nata, as you can imagine from the long line.





We finally get our natas.  They are so delicious, fresh from the oven, with a flaky crust and a creamy warm custard filling slightly burnt on top.





Now we are full, we can do some sight seeing.  We first go to the town square, Largo do Senado.





This is the most famous landmark of Macau, Ruinas de S. Pablo.  The church, originally built in 1602-1640, was destroyed by fire in 1835.  The facade was left standing alone.  This is a World Heritage site.



There are a lot of shops selling snacks along the street to St. Paul.  We can watch the staff make the snacks.  This lady is making sesame candy by rolling the sweet roll in coconut, peanut and sesame, then chopping them into bite size pieces.



Here she is rolling up little egg pancakes to make phoenix rolls.



This man is making little almond cookies.  He puts them onto a big bamboo basket then into the oven to roast.



Here the machine is making dorayaki, a Japanese pastry.  It will be filled with red beans in the center.



There are also all type of jerkies, made with beef, pork, boar...



Lots of candies and cookies to choose from!!



Enough food for now... let's go on more sight seeing!

We pass by this bookstore.  Macau was a Portuguese colony, so the buildings have a European influence, and streets have Portuguese names, even though the residents speak mostly Chinese and English.



We see some tile paintings showing how Macau looked like when the Portuguese first arrived.





We now visit Casa de Lou Kau.  Built in 1889 it was the home of Lou Kau, a prominent merchant, and is a showcase of traditional Chinese style mansion.

I imagine old grandpa Lou used to sit here and sipped his tea...



And the mother watching from upstairs as the little children played in the courtyard below...  Traditional houses have a courtyard in the center of the house to let in more light and air.



A beautiful lattice work on the wooden window.





I wonder if this is where they had dinner.



This is the family altar, where they would offer incense to the gods and the ancestors.



Afterwards we stop by the library so our host can check her emails.  The library is in Holland garden, so named because the Portuguese had a battle with the Dutch here.



Can you spot us?  Also did you notice the design on the plants?  It's a picture of the St. Paul's ruins which we visited earlier today.



As Macau is a small place of only less than 30 sq km, people like to get around with mopeds.

Macau is famous for its casinos.  It is called Las Vegas of the East, and actually has more gaming revenue than Las Vegas.  Today, we go visit some of the casinos.  We are too young to go inside the casinos but some of the hotels are very pretty inside and worth a visit.

The first one we visit is the City of Dreams.  At the entrance, they have a screen showing an underwater world.



This monster jellyfish looks real!



We walk around but it's mostly shops.





Next door is the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.







They have a lot of memorabilia from famous musicians.  Here's something from Elton John.



A guitar from Eagles.



Hey Mommy do you know whom these things belonged to? A diamond studded glove!

We walk across the street to visit the Venetian.  It's by the same owner of the one in Las Vegas.



It is so beautiful inside! 



Look, this escalator is curved!!



We take the escalator, and can see the casino gambling going on downstairs.



They have a huge food court, with a large variety of food: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Macanese, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, dessert and more...



They have a canal inside the hotel and you can even get on a gondola!!  The steer will sing as the boat floats down the canal.





There is also a square modelled after the San Marco Square in the real city.  I have to say it's all quite impressive!!

Today we go to visit Casas-Museu da Taipa.  They are the restored buildings which were once the residences of Portuguese officials and Macanese families (Portuguese who were born and grew up in Macau) in the early 20th century. 

On the way to the houses, we walk along a small street.  We see a small temple.



This used to be a firecracker factory, but not anymore.



Further down the road, there is another temple.  This one is for the bodhisattva Kwan Yin, who is often portrayed as motherly figure like Maria. 



Inside we see a lot of large coils hanging there.  What are they?



They are incense.  By making them this shape they can burn for a long time.



We take the stairs up.  The trees lining the steps are over a hundred years old.



On top of the stairs is a small church, Our lady of Carmel Church.



Next to the church is a small park, where there is a statue of Luis Vaz De Camoes, the National poet of Portugal. 



There are some exercise equipment in the park.  It looks like gym equipment but it's for outdoors, and it's free!  Since we have been eating so much, it's time to do some exercise!



Oh, I think I spot the houses we are looking for!



They are very European looking.  It must be very nice living here.







On the other side of the lake, we can see the casinos that we visited yesterday.



This is the typical style of street signs in Macau.  Very elegant, isn't it?



Nearby there is a garden.



It's a beautiful pond with koi fishes and lotus.  Thiele is getting hungry!

We are back in Hong Kong. 

We go to a department store, and happen to see a man from the Dragon Well village in China talk about tea. 

Here you can see the bags of tea as well as a bamboo tray of harvested leaves that are being dried.



He is demostrating how they pan fry the tea leaves after they are harvested.  There is a fire under te circular wok, and he keeps stirring and rolling the leaves with his hands.



Then our host takes us to try a new dessert. Yay!!



This is Taiwanese shaved ice.  It has become popular in Hong Kong recently.  As you can see it is very pretty, with very thin sheets layered one on top of the other, looks like layers of cream, and is different from the regular shaved ice.  Instead of granular ice crystals, this one is smooth almost like ice cream.  This one is the mango flavor.  It is topped with syrup with cubes of dragon fruit and mango.





We order another one, this one is sesame flavor, with red beans.  Delicious but I like mango better.  I wish I can eat this every day!

While we had a really good time in Hong Kong, sadly it's time to leave. 

We are at the airport now.  Good bye Hong Kong!!  I hope we will be back another time.

We are now back in Miami!  Today we take Thiele to visit Miami Beach.

First, we go to Lincoln Road.  It's a Pedestrian walkway with shops, restaurants and even performers and street vendors on weekends.



We have a bit of lunch sitting outdoors.



Then we go and visit the Botanical Garden.





This man looks like he has a bad hair day!



It is a beautiful garden with some interesting statues.



We help our host release a BookCrossing book at the garden.  Hope someone will pick it up!





One part is arranged as a Japanese garden. 











I listen to the whisper of the bamboo trees and feel very meditative.



Not far from the Botanical Garden is the Holocaust Memorial. 



As we walk around the pond, there are displays with photos about the Holocaust. 



The photos make me feel very heavy in my heart. 



We then walk through this tunnel.  The slits on the wall allow sunlight to enter in an interesting pattern.



At the end of the tunnel we see this monument.



The figures all look like they are suffering in great pain. 



This is a quotation from Anne Frank: "Then in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."  When I learn from our host that Anne was a young girl who was killed in the war, I am so sad I want to cry.  I hope there will be no more war like this!

Today we go to the Knaus Berry Farm.  It's opened by some Quarkers and the place is only open during winter.  In the summer they return to Pennslyvania.  They are famous for their cinnamon buns and people will drive an hour to come get them.



We meet two TVs that are twins!  They are Mommet and Trapito.  Unlike us, they live in different families.  Mommet is with Tarepanda but Trapito lives with another mom, so they are happy to see each other too.

There are strawberries grown from their farm.  Usually strawberry season here is February but because of the cold winter we have them now:



Red and juicy looking!



Here are the cinnamon buns.  It's still early so there is not a line, but later it will extend outside the store.



Cinnamon buns, strawberry shake, and some veggies for dinner.  Yummy!  There is no table or chair so we eat in the trunk.

Today we go down to "The Keys"!!  Florida keys are a chain-like cluster of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States, beginning from 15 miles (24 km)south of Miami.  At the nearest point, the southern tip of Key West is just 94 miles (151 km) from Cuba.  The word "key" comes from the Spanish "Cayo", meaning small island.





Marathon is located among the "Middle Keys", about 2 hours from Miami.    We arrive at the beach.



We go there for the dragon boat festival.  Here are the atheletes getting ready!



Here they are loading up the boat.  The dragon boat is a long boat that seats two paddlers in 10 rows.  The watersport originate in China.





We wave them off with a good luck!



Looks like those paddlers are discussing their strokes.



The beach is really beautiful!!  We see some dogs go swimming! 



It's kind of far out there but can you see the boats racing out on the water?



On the shore there are some vendors for food as well as arts and crafts.



We meet a real husky friend!  I think he looks a bit like me!



After each heat, the racers come to check out their time at the score board.



What a beautiful day to be out on the Florida beach!! 

Today we go to a hospital!  No, nobody got hurt.  But we are going to visit some sick sea turtles!  This is a very special hospital in the Florida Keys.  They take care of turtles that are sick.  Thy have a website http://www.turtlehospital.org/



Look, they even have a turtle ambulance!



We go to the visitor center first.



We read some information about sea turtles. 



These are the shells of the different species of sea turtles.  They are very large animals!!



We watch a slide show telling us more about sea turtles and why they end up at the hospital. 



This is the emergency room.  The lady is using a toy to show us what they do when a turtle is delivered to an emergency room.  Did you know that turtles are conscious breathers?  That means that while they are under anaesthesia an assistant has to stand by and pump oxygen into the turtle's lung at regular intervals so it won't suffocate.



They have equipment to take digital X Rays of the patients.  Digital is useful because the doctors are volunteers so they are not at the hospital all the time.  Now they can view the digital image from where they are and give diagnosis quickly.  These x rays show that the turtle has a fishing hook in the stomach!  Ouch, that must really hurt.



Next we walk over to visit the patients.



We meet Kentucky.  She has been biten by a shark but is lucky enough to live to tell the tale!  (you can read more of her story at http://www.turtlehospital.org/blog/?m=201004)



Here you can see clearly the shark bites on her shell.  She is so excited to see us, I guess she never tires of retelling her adventure!



This turtle suffers the bubble butt syndrome.  This happens when a motor boat hits the turtle so hard that the shell is misshapened.  An air bubble forms inside the shell.  This is a problem as the turtle can no longer sink below water, meaning that he cannot find food or shelter from predators.  The doctors have not found a cure yet, but they put a weight on the shell so the turtle can sink below the surface.  However, as the turtle grow, the old plates on the shell fall off, so the weight is not a permanent solution.  The turtles will thus have to spend the rest of their lives in the sanctuary.



Here is another turtle recuperating.  You can see that on her flippers there are some scars.  She has tumor but it has been removed.



This is Romeo.  He's a baby but sadly has lost a flipper already!! 



This is Joe.  He was born without one flipper then got another one bitten off by a predator.  But we are told that Joe seems to swim around pretty well with just two flippers so they may release him into the wild.



Isn't he a beautiful turtle?



Besides the individual Intensive Care Units, there are two big pools.  It used to be a swimming pool of a hotel.  The pool gets water from the sea outside.  Here lives the turtles who are soon to be released back to the wild as well as those permanent residents.





We are given some pellets to feed the turtles.  My host cannot manage holding the feed and us and the camera (she needs another flipper -- I mean hand) so there is no picture.  She says she doesn't want to feed us to the turtles by mistake. 

I am really glad to vist the hospital.  It's nice knowing that the injured turtles are well cared for.  We hope that all the sea turtles will recover soon.  We also hope that humans will stop throwing garbage into the sea, respect slow boat zone, so that the turtles will have a easier life. 



We save the band for souvenir. 



Afterwards we have lunch.  We sit outside so we can enjoy the breeze and the view.



Hmm, it would be nice to live in a house like this!



We have a fish rueben and a basket of fish and chips.  Delicious!!  It is a really fun trip to the Florida Keys.

Today we go to South Beach to attend the Hands Across The Sand event http://www.handsacrossthesand.com/.  It is an event where world wide people join hands at beaches on June 26 12pm local time to protest off shore oil drilling and to bring awareness to alternative energy sources and conservation. 

We park our car and walk on Ocean Drive, which is famous for the pastel colored art deco buildings.  We were on these same street back in February (and we have visited so many places since then!) but Thiele is new so she is very excited.





As usual in Florida, it's a beautiful day at the beach. 



It will most certainly be tragic if this lovely beach is spoiled by oil spills.



Look someone are playing mahjong on the beach!



This guy is selling coconut.  He cuts it open so people can drink the juice.


Over 2000 people show up today.  Some carry signs.



People are chanting "Drilling means spilling!" "Spilling means killing!"



Some helicopters fly by.  We think they are the news crew so everybody waves at them.



Everybody lines up and hold hands!  The line stretches over 13 blocks.





Yay we are part of the group too!  The people especially welcome Thiele, who is a pelican.  Thiele wants to make sure no oil ruins her pretty feather!