These are a Few of Our Favorite Things...

On our last night together we gathered in the lounge at the Marriott and discussed what a fabulous time we'd had. We went around the table and asked everyone "What was your favorite place?"

For Joe it was The Great Wall in China and the Bamboo Tunnel in Kyoto.

For Dave it was also The Great Wall.

For Lee it was Asakasa Shrine and revisiting "Kiddyland" in Tokyo and shopping.

For Bobby it was eating food on sticks particularly the rectum on a stick in Tokyo!

For Anna it was the shrine overlooking the Forbidden City.

For Billy it was a "random mountain" in Kyoto

For both Alise and Bill it was Nijo Shrine in Kyoto.

We all remarked how special it was coming upon the outdoor Christmas display in the Kyoto train station. 

For myself it's such a hard choice; our wedding, of course, but also the Karst Mountains in Guilin, Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, and the stone garden in Kyoto.  But for me the excitement of seeing Tokyo again is unexplainable.  It somehow tied my teenage self to this older self and completed me in a way I would never have expected. 

I want to thank Joe and my family for this phenomenal experience. Special thanks to Lee for her amazing organizing.  Everything went flawlessly thanks to her planning. And a most sincere thank you to Billy for showing us China. His language skills and sense of adventure led us on a fabulous journey.  

This was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so happy to have shared it with my family. 

Victoria Peak!

Alise and I rose early and after a quick breakfast caught a taxi to Victoria Peak. Arriving there a little before 8 we had the observation area almost to ourselves. Just a few other early risers and some folks cleaning up after last night's revelry. 

The first view was to the south toward Stanley and then we strolled over to the north side. 

The view of the harbor was magnificent! 

We were so impressed with all of the green space in Hong Kong. There were so many beautiful parks and at the peak there was a walkway where we could stroll and bird watch. 

After enjoying the view and peacefulness we got some lattes and then headed back down into the city using the team. 

Entering the car we were surprised that all of the seats faced toward the hill. This was because the car did not adjust for for slope as it travelled downhill! 

We then made our way back to the hotel and before we knew it on our way to Guangzhou for the final leg of our journey  

Last vacation day!

Thursday morning I made everyone get an early start since it was our only day in Guangzhou and we were meeting Billy's boss for lunch. Unfortunately, Joe still wasn't feel up to snuff so he stayed behind.

The rest of us headed out to the Chan Family Academy, which was a few subway stops away. It was the ancestral home of this family built in the 1890s to be near the local governing offices. It was a beautiful place filled with exhibits of artwork native to this, Guangdong, province of China. So there was one room filled with ceramic paintings, another with embroidered paintings, a huge room of ivory, which was closed for some reason, as well as garden spaces filled with bonsai trees (not sure what the Chinese name for them is). And just in case the mood struck you, there were at least 3 gift shops! We spent about an hour and a half here and then hopped the subway to check out a local “shopping” street which was full of tiny shops selling practical items for locals. It was fun to walk down the street and people watch. We then found our way to another subway and headed to meet Billy's boss and co-workers from South Normal University for lunch.

After a circuitous walk from the subway (there was a LOT of construction), we arrived at the restaurant. This was another hot pot meal, but what a spectacular one! The focus of the restaurant was seafood, and Billy's boss had gone and picked out the seafood from fresh tanks before we arrived. The broth was a rice congee, which is kind of a rice porridge, though thinner than what we think of as porridge. First in the broth was clams, then elephant clams, next razor clams, then sea worms, and some type of scallops. We also had dim sum of fried dough (think funnel cake but not greasy nor covered in sugar), two types of noodles, leek cakes, a cannoli-like egg roll filled with sweet rice foam, ribs, and fish mouths. Then the pot was filled with a Chinese-like paella, with prawns, fish and vegetables. By this time we were exploding but also had a few more courses! Next came fish meatballs, some type of meat, meatballs and a type of green squash. This was a full banquet! Our hosts toasted us and Billy repeatedly throughout!

Two professors hosted us (one of which was Billy's boss, a very nice woman who was very complementary about Billy) as well as one of the grad students who has become good friends with Billy. It was a great experience.

We were so full we rolled ourselves through the subway and returned to the hotel for naps, though I ran across the street to pick up some gifts.

It was very difficult to say goodbye to Billy. It was such a treat to be able to spend nearly 3weeks with him. I had gotten accustomed to Skyping with him over the past 6 months, but now I will be going through withdrawal after having him with us in person.

Heading to Billy's base…Guangzhou

On New Year's Day, we traveled from HK to Guangzhou. Cathy and Alise woke up early and took a cab up to Victoria Peak and then took the tram down.

The rest of us slept in a bit and went for breakfast before packing up and catching 3 taxis to the train station on Kowloon. We had booked a 1:11pm train and all went on schedule.

The train to Guangzhou was very comfortable. We went Premier class, which gave us assigned seats for 230 HK$, which is a little over $30 each. It was a double decker train and the seats and aisle were enormous. The ride was just about 2 hours long. When we got off the train, we had multiple offers for a large van to take us to the hotel, but fortunately we listened to Billy and ignored them. As we can down the ramp, we saw a kiosk for our hotel, The China Hotel/Marriott, and they arranged for a complementary bus to pick us up! It nearly took us longer to get out of the station and a block away than the rest of the trip to the hotel.

Guangzhou is very different from Beijing. The first thing we noticed was the amount of green in the city. There are plentiful parks and tree lined roads (palm trees in many cases). It is a very modern city but not quite as overwhelming as Beijing. Of course, by now, we are used to the crowds, etc. The weather, both in Hong Kong and Guangzhou has been wonderful: sunny and very comfortable with temperatures in the 60s. What a treat!

The hotel is lovely, with paneled hallways and rooms. Both Cathy and Dave are gold Marriott members so we both got upgraded to junior suites which were very spacious and charming.

We explored the hotel a bit, comparing rooms and then some of us ran across the street where at the “fashion center” there was some type of market going on for several weeks. They were selling everything from clothes, to food to jade. We had to hurry though as Billy had made reservations at 6:30 for a Szechuan hot pot restaurant.

We took the subway (except for Joe who was under the weather, having caught Cathy's bug), and found our way to the restaurant. The food was great. We ordered two types of dishes served in different broths. One was hot and bitter (Billy described as pickle flavored, but not really), while the other was hot with lots of Szechuan pepper, which is a pungent, fragrant spice). We thought we were ordering one of the dishes with fish and the other with chicken but when it arrived, instead of chicken, they brought frog…which we ate anyway! Another remarkable aspect of the delicious meal was the tea, which was pored from a pot with a neck at least 3 feet long! The tea itself had a bit of everything in it: goji berries, chrysanthemums, Hawthorne berries, and who knows what else? Everyone but me loved it…I found it a bit on the sweet side.

After dinner, on the way back to the subway, we attempted to stop and buy some beer and bread for Billy to take back to his apartment on Thursday night, but both spots were closed. So we made back in time for last call at the executive lounge and then turned in for an early night.