Hong Kong - All Dressed Up for CNY

Hong Kong is all dressed up for 

Chinese New Year.

CUTE - FUN and  BEAUTIFUL

decorations are set up

all around the city.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!!

(Wishing you a prosperous year!)

Prep. for CNY

The Chinese New Year

begins according to the lunar calendar.

This year - 2012 -

it will start on January 23.

All over Hong Kong CNY

decorations are being put up.

2012 is the year of the Dragon.

Discovery Bay Ferry Pier

Discovery Bay Plaza

Mums - symbolize luck and growth for 

the upcoming year.

Mandarin Orange Trees bring wealth.

Flower beds are filled with mums.

We are getting ready at our house too.

ONE YEAR in Hong Kong

The View of Kowloon from the North Plaza of Discovery Bay

It is difficult to believe we have been on our 

journey IN Hong Kong for

ONE YEAR -  TODAY!

In many ways I can't believe we've made it.

It has been a steep, uphill climb

but our journey is now going 

down that hill and I know it will go fast.

Before we know it we will be

saying good-bye to our International LIFE.

Hollywood Road, a Man Mo Temple, and LOTS of Escalators

I had been wanting to explore

Hollywood Road for quite some time.

I had heard, through researching

Hong Kong travel web-sites,

THIS was the place for tourists

to find authentic Chinese antiques.

So Fred and I made a visit for date night.

The streets were STEEP

and the antiques were not

what I thought they would be.

They were either too cheep -

in quality

or too expensive in price.

A little shop FULL of little tea sets

This intricate carving is one piece of wood

Man Mo Temple

People visit Man Mo Temples to 

pray to the god of literature and

the martial god.

Wikipedia: The two gods were popularly patronized 

by scholars and students seeking progress 

in their study or ranking in the civil examinations 

in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

They had just closed the temple gates

when we arrived.  I guess we

won't be receiving any special help

on our studies this week ;).

STEEP Climb

The streets are so steep escalators

were installed to help

make the climb to the top.

You use the stairs and ramps

to climb back down.

Though it was not what I had 

hoped it would be,

Hollywood Street

was still a CRAZY-COOL

place to visit in Hong Kong.

Another Soccer Venue

Located in the center of the

Hong Kong Jockey Club

where the horse races take place.

Another Soccer Tournament 

with an AMAZING backdrop.

HONG KONG -- Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery

FROM WIKIPEDIA: The Nan Lian Garden (南蓮園池) is a Chinese Classical Garden in Diamond Hill, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The garden has an area of 3.5 hectares. It's garden is designed in the Tang Dynasty-style with hills, water features, trees, rocks and wooden structures.

The garden was a joint project of the Chi Lin Nunnery and the Hong Kong Government. It opened to the public on November 14, 2006

Chi Lin Nunnery (Chinese: 志蓮淨苑) is a large Buddhist temple complex located in Diamond Hill,Kowloon, Hong Kong. Covering a space of more than 33,000 square meters, the temple complex includes a nunnery, temple halls, Chinese gardens, visitor's hostels and a vegetarian restaurant. The temple halls have statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha, the goddess of mercy Guanyin and other bodhisattvas. These statues are made from gold, clay, wood and stone.

The Chi Lin Nunnery was founded in 1934 but was rebuilt in the 1990s following the style of Tang Dynasty traditional Chinese architecture. The present-day buildings are wood frame buildings built without the use of any iron nails. This construction is based on traditional Chinese architectural techniques dating from the Tang Dynasty that uses special interlocking systems cut into the wood to hold them in place. The Chi Lin Nunnery buildings are the only buildings to be built in this style in modern day Hong Kong.