Hong Kong

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Hong Kong

After a few weeks in China, we had to make a visa run to Hong Kong.  We stayed a few days and made the best of it.  A beautiful Chinese city that's clean and organized, a rare treat.

Almost there, crossing the border from Shenzhen, China

A great bowl of street noodles.

Up on Victoria Peak

On top of the world

We stayed across the bay and took the Star Ferry

Riding the Star

The beautiful bay at night

The rain seemed to make the streets light up more

visiting a local temple

lanterns at the temple

a street market view from the trolley car

riding the double-decker trolleys around

Xiamen China

A view of Xiamen City from one of the mountain parks

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Xiamen

Xiamen is the beautiful seaside town where we live.  It's a popular tourist destination for Chinese because of the setting and relatively low pollution.  It's been a good place to live despite some challenges.  We haven't travelled around much, so this is what we've been doing.



Our district, Xinglin, from the bay

We went to an amusement park one day with some of our students

We got to see the American Women's Beach Volleyball
team play, Julia's heroes



Philip's crown fell off while eating some candy, so we went
to the neighborhood dentist

This is part of a show put on by the elementary school for
Sports Days, a big nation-wide sports competition.



Some middle school kids playing a group game

The kids really prepared for this.



We found a little bit of home in an Everything's 10 Yuan Store

Dueling groups of wedding photographers vying for the best shot



We were invited on a boat ride around the bay one day.
Philip took the wheel.

We went to this little island.  That's our district in the background.



Julia and our friend Deborah took a turn
navigating the high seas.

There's a huge boating industry here, mostly
centered around the giant port where much of
the worlds granite passes through.



Our Halloween costumes

Julia won a giant TV that we sold to buy an electric bike.



Our district's little "downtown".  Yes, a McDonalds, and a KFC

Of course you can drive on the sidewalk.



admiring the woodwork

One of the more famous temples in the area



A big complex of pagodas

MMM BBQ sqid on Zhongshan Road



On Gulang Yu, a small island nearby

Just some pig parts for sale on a table.



Chicken feet and fish

Some people we work with in the International Department