10/24/2009 Saturday. Leisurely morning, then we took bus to Causeway Bay and met up with Tim at his house. He drove us around the New Territories to look at some properties of interest to him. In about three hours we hit Kam Tin, Ho Sheung Heung (by Kwu Tung near Sheung Shui), St Andrews (a luxury development), and Sam Mun Tsai in Ting Kok beyond Tai Po. We then met up with Ling and Wally and ate at SML in the Food Forum at Times Square, where Alyson joined us; Alyson is a few months shy of 16 and has gotten to be as tall as Anne.
10/25/2009 Sunday. Morning service at City One Baptist Church. Then got on Tim’s boat for a ride to Lamma Island. We ate at Rainbow and then walked the 1:15 hour walk to Yung Shue Wan. Dinner at Hakka Hut in the Food Forum in Times Square.
10/26/2009 Monday. Jogged in the morning, got a bit light-headed afterwards. Stopped by travel agents on 7th floor of Link Plaza. Eventually we decided not to do anything as plane tickets proved difficult to change. Dinner at Ling’s and Wally’s, Ling cooked up baked stuffed pumpkins, pasta, mozzarella and tomatoes, baked spring chickens, and sautéed mixed greens.
10/27/2009 Tuesday. Jogged in the morning after breakfast and felt fine afterwards, perhaps it was indeed low blood sugar. Took MTR to Tsuen Wan West and then ferry to Ma Wan. A short walk took us to Noah’s Ark. I have been to the location a couple of times before, today was the first time I got in as it wasn’t finished yet on prior occasions. Well, it took Noah 100 years to build the ark, so some delays should be expected. Wasn’t a particular good exhibit, but still better than what I expected. Spent a couple of hours there, though. Dinner at a Peking/Shanghai (and other cuisines as well) Restaurant at the Link Plaza in Shatin.
Noah's Ark, supposed built to Biblical specifications.
Nice view from Ma Wan island.
10/28/2009 Wednesday. Jogged in the morning. Took bus #89X to Choi Hung then connected to #91 to Tai Au Mun. Ling and Wally joined us. Visited with an old friend Mr. Lau whom Ling hadn’t seen for 40+ years (and I don’t recall ever seeing.) Talked about the old times. Mr. Lau’s mother died last year at age 99. He and his wife are now retired. Afterwards, took minibus to Tseung Kwan O and had a quick lunch at Maxim’s. Anne & I then went to Ladies’ Street in Mongkok to look for bags for a friend of ours.
10/29/2009 Thursday. Lunch with Larry & Elaine at Hong Kong Club. They had just returned from Sicily. Afterwards we went to Yue Hwa Emporium to get silk jackets for Joe Jr and Jessica. Dinner in a café in TST.
10/30/2009 Friday. Flight CZ3092 from Hong Kong to Yi Wu turned out to be better than expected. During the boarding process there was this Chinese tourist who made this remark to the rest of his group: “This is Hong Kong, we should line up to board the plane.” How funny, and how true. Yiwu is a one-runway airport and the plane had to turn around and taxi on the same runway. Immigration was straightforward enough. The taxi ride from Yi Wu to the hotel in Jinhua was “exciting,” to say the least. I had to tell the driver where to get off the highway using the GPS feature on my Blackberry. The Bestwestern Hotel is known for its unique (somewhat gaudy in my opinion) architecture. It is better than any Bestwestern I have ever stayed in, though.
Paul came by and we went to this “Sunshine Oasis” restaurant in Jiangnan. Four dishes, RMB112. Interesting surroundings with many trees and ponds with koi swimming around.
10/31/2009 Saturday. Spent the morning touring Zhejiang Normal University. Lunch at a student cafeteria which cost RMB18 or so for the three of us. Visited Paul’s apartment. Visited a couple of scenic points in the city: “Eight Songs Pagoda” was closed for renovation, and a Satrap’s residence during the Tai Ping Rebellion has a couple of 1000-year old cypresses in them, a museum of calligraphy that is moved from Anhui province. Dinner at a local “western” restaurant (Flying Rock). Food was okay.
Anne has had to suffer through these “eastern style” restrooms. Jinhua, while pleasant enough a city, is still quite limited in how much western influence it has absorbed.
With Paul King at Zhejiang Normal University.
In front of the Performance Arts Building, ZNU.
Confucius statue in front of the University Library. During the cultural revolution these statues would be either defaced or destroyed.
ZNU Foreign Teacher housing. Functional. They were building new dormitories which are supposed to be quite an improvement.
City Gate, Jinhua Old Town.
Thousand Year Old (actually 1100) Cypress Tree at the Satrap Residence.
Entrance to the Satrap Residence.
This Tea House/Restaurant/Museum has a display of many ways how "Longevity" is written.
We happened upon this large building in the center of town with many friezes (stone carvings) of a Christian nature. This is of Samson taking down the temple.
11/1/2009 Sunday. Woke up to a cooler day. Paul met us at 7:30 am and we took a short taxi ride to the Jinhua Church. The building is over 100 years old and used to belong to the Baptist Church. A two hour plus meeting (singing, sermon, communion) with Pastor Xing preaching on Romans 12:1. Afterwards she and Pastor Bao took us to the new church site of about 7000 sq m (10 chinese acres) and a planned 100,000 sq ft or so of building. We went back to the church (the Pastors, husband and wife, live upstairs; their son was home over the weekend from Hangzhou) where Pastor Xing cooked up several dishes for us. Anne and I walked around the People’s Square a bit before returning to hotel to meet up with Paul to go to dinner at the “Country Restaurant” by the University. Quite busy, and not expensive at all. Said goodbye to Paul before we headed back to the hotel.
Jinhua Church - Outside.
Jinhua Church - Inside.
The Pastors told us Jinhua is rated as one of the 10 most livable cities in China (out of 289 or so), and they are quite excited about that despite not knowing the criteria used in the judging. I can see the attractiveness of the city, especially in comparison to other cities. However, a westerner may have trouble with how uncommon English is used by ordinary folk, chaotic traffic, and these Eastern-style toilets. My eyes feel the pollution but it probably is not as bad as other major cities in China, even Hong Kong.
11/2/2009 Monday. Woke up early to check out of the hotel and to catch a taxi to Yi Wu airport. This time the riding experience was much better. As expected, Yi Wu was a bit chaotic, but still manageable since ours was the only flight going out. We had to wait a bit inside the plane for traffic control. The plane was crowded so Anne and I appreciated the empty seat between us. Tarried at the HKG airport and had lunch there. I had dinner with Ling & Wally while Anne went to see her sister and her two nephews. It is a cool and windy day. Also, the Shatin River is at high tide, quite different from the trickle I usually see during my jogs.
11/3/2009 Tuesday. Went to Tuen Mun to see Mrs. Law, whom I got to know reasonably well during my year in LA. Had dinner with David at a Tuen Mun Restaurant.
11/4/2009 Wednesday. Spent some time touring the New Territories, including Fo Tan and Sam Mun Tsai.
Fishnets being dried in Sam Mun Tsai.
It is very quiet in the Hong Kong countryside, Sam Mun Tsai is no exception.
11/5/2009. Thursday. Met up with Alfred W and Pastor & Mrs. Wong and Angela from Media Evangelism to see Noah’s Ark, this time for an insider’s look. Had lunch there and stayed until about 3 pm to catch the 3:30 pm ferry to Central, then the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui to meet up with David L to chat about various project possibilities. Anne joined us for dinner at the “Ying Yue” Restaurant at the Hong Kong Arts Center. Got back to the hotel at about 10 pm. A relatively “productive” day.
11/6/2009. Friday. Flight CO98 uneventful – except it was packed and I didn’t get much sleep at all. Saw “Spiderman 3” and “I Hate Valentine”. Vardalos couldn’t quite replicate the success of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” with this one. Taxi got us home by 3 pm.
We had been gone for over two weeks and were glad to be home.
