Monday, January 5, 2009

the farewell tour

All right. This is a long one, folks. But I tried to keep it peppy, so as to avoid blogging you to boredom.

Let's hope it works! (And if it doesn't ... lie, people, lie!)

But without further ado, here's "the farewell tour" of our trip.


First up, The Peak, which is a hilltop view of the city.
Isn't this beautiful?
We dined with this (well, a version of this*) as the backdrop —
ooh and ahhing all the while.
*
Confession: This fancy photo was NOT taken by yours truly.
But first, we had to ride a tram to the top,
which travels upward at 45 degrees.
Here are Mom, Dad and I waiting for the ride.

Next up was Ocean Park, which is an amusement park filled with rides, aquariums and ... (drum roll, please) ... pandas!
Is it just me, or is he smiling at me?
Unfortunately, Mr. Smiles was the only active panda in the bunch.
Meet the rest of his family: The Lazy McLazersons.
We got our inner-child on and posed with a man in a shark suit.
We rode cable cars to the other side of the park.
(Hong Kong is very hip when it comes to transportation.)
And we went to the Jelly Spectacular, which truly was spectacular.

Then, Adam finally got some "street food."
It wasn't his first choice of who-knows-where-that's-been-and-ew-what's-that-smell "street meat," but the sweet potato would have to do.
Pretty potatoes.

And finally, we saw Big Buddha, nestled in the mountains of Lantau.
To get there, we once again had to ride by cable car, which was completely ensconced in mist.
So we rode along, enjoying the misty memories, when suddenly the cable cars stopped dead in their ropes. Now, one of the cable cars (sans people) had infamously fallen to its demise during a test run a year or so ago. So when the cable cars stopped ...
... Adam did this.

... and I very calmly and rationally freaked out.
(Sadly, the above photo is not a dramatization.)
Luckily we made it (phew!), and we saw this beauty up close.
But not until we climbed 256 stairs to the top.
(Yeah, I counted.)

The good news is rather than admit we were tired, we just stopped for well-timed snapshots. Genius, eh?
Oh, and Adam took to Asia's tradition of flashing the
peace sign in Every. Single. Photo.
So long, Hong Kong.

13 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Lots of pictures. I like that.

It looks so fun! And beautiful.

Laurel said...

um, you seriously just sold me.

Hong Kong should pay you a "find a new tourist" fee.

Kelly said...

Honestly, these pictures just make me drool with envy!!!! Wow! What incredible things to see and do. I am sure your parents were so glad to hang out with you both too. That looks really really cool.

Did Aimee McConkie get in touch with you? I talked you up so much, but don't worry if you don't do anything with her. You are busy with an already GREAT job. She is great though and you would like her. Let her treat you to lunch.

Jenn said...

Bri, I've loved all your posts, but this was my favorite! So fun! I love seeing how much time you've been able to spend with your parents, and all the great experiences you've had. You deserve it! Thanks for keeping us all updated. I still miss you!!!!

ali said...

oh, I'm so jealous!! Can we come and see your parents too?

Kara said...

Why can't I get over how cute pandas are? And how jealous I am that I wasn't there!

Amander said...

Totally peppy - loved it.

PANDAS!!!!

Love that Hong Kong - but I am glad you are back.

ty and megs said...

the panda was totally smiling...but from the looks of it mr. mcalzerson was smiling too. but i think they both had their reasons (ie. i smile when i'm lazy too).

love you!

Erin said...

Looks like such a blast. Thanks for sharing the trip--makes me feel like I was there. Or does it make me feel jealous that I wasn't there? Either way, thanks.

Let's webcam this weekend! Okay?

JujuBean said...

The Guy just said "Mom, what's Adam eating?!" Imagine what he would have said if he'd seen him eat the "Street Meat." What a fabulous trip . . . we wish we could have come with you!

Juli said...

I probably would have blacked out on the cable car, so don't feel bad for freaking out =).

And I LOVE sweet potatoes. LOVE them.

Thanks for posting all the great pics. I'm adding Hong Kong to my ridiculously long list of places I NEED to go to.

Craig and Carol said...

Christmas in Hong Kong is already a memory - but what an awesome memory! Loved sharing your photos and am so glad you made it home safely, albeit frazzeled and exhausted. Love you both!

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