NunEssential

More pics of the Palace, one of the kids at the Golden Palace, our hot pink taxi (i loved that) and you know i couldn't resist finding another Starbucks on film! (I had no idea how many Starbucks there really were....) ;)

This is the Golden Temple

Here we are in Bangkok! It's HOT here!! wow. We were caught in the rain yesterday but today is sunny and well, warm. We visited the King's Palace and yesterday and the Golden Temple. I was amazed at the detail of the temples, how ornate they were and how much care had been put into decorating them. There are also some pics of the city that I'll include. God bless you! (look for the driver's "cup of tea" in the first pic!)

Here are some more pics of the Orchid Garden and um....other things found in nature ;)

We briefly visited Singapore, a very interesting little city/state about 60 miles north of the Equator. Singapore is a very small island home to a mixed population of (biggest to smallest) Chinese, Malay, Indian and a small amount of other races. The city is very clean and the water beautiful. We visited the famed Orchid Garden and took a stroll through the city. The city, for me, had an odd feel to it. Perhaps because our tour guide described it (not in these exact words, mind you) as coming close to Utopia, in the fact that they had many races living together and yet had no racial problems. Hmm...... At any rate, it was a good experience. Hope you enjoy these pictures of the Orchid Garden and other various sights!

Have you ever wanted to see Hong Kong from Victoria Peak? Now you can!! :) I made a little video of it with some commentary, enjoy! ;)

On our last day in Hong Kong, we visited Lantau Island, on which there are many little villages but we visited a fishing village that feels like a step back in time. They make shrimp paste and sell it all over Asia. They also catch and dry fish. It was such a little place, and a strange dichotomy in that one of the worlds biggest cities lies only 2 hours away.....

I think i mentioned that in Hong Kong, like in any city, the rich dwell with the poor. Here are some pics of the people who live on little fishing boats in the harbor. Their livelyhood depends upon fishing and their living conditions are difficult, to say the least.

Hello again! I am gone from Hong Kong now but wanted to add a couple of pics: hope you like them. So there we were at the South China sea......ahh......such beauty. It almost makes one want to dive in....... Well, maybe on second thought....... and now that you mention it.......i think not...... ;) too bad! it looked nice........

Since this is taking so long, I will post a few other pics that I thought were cool; touching the South China Sea, a little kid at a fishing village, a bus driver asleep and our tour guides trying to get everything together and a life guard hard at work~(lol), I think he was sending text messages or something. This city is just like any other in that the very rich in the luxury high rises live among the very poor who dwell on the boats in the harbor or under bridges. It has been a very enlightening experience. What a city. I'll try to post more some other time, this connecten just isn't working like I'd hoped. God bless you all!!

Today we visited a Buddhist Monastery on Lantau Island, one of the islands of Hong Kong. They have the largest seated bronze Buddha in the world! (for now anyway....) It was a very interesting experience and the island was so beautiful. You could actually breathe the air and not choke! (bonus)

moving on, very slowly.......here are some pics from Victoria Peak, a beautiful view of the city, and also the southern part of Repulse Bay (the famous actor Andy Lau lives here!) and the Stanley Market, a mega bargain market

Here are some more pics! We got here early in the morning and when we were picked up, I realized that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road here. I asked if I could try and drive us into the city but, lol, they weren't amused. ;) The pics are of the drive into the city, one of the TYPICAL city streets around here, always packed, always busy (those who live in Hong Kong LOVE shopping, really, it was rated the city's favorite pastime)