Hong Kong

We did a few other things while in Hong Kong. We headed over to the Kowloon Walled City Park. (Click the link for more info and old pictures). It was very interesting. It was a small area that had been walled in sometime in the 1870s by China has continually remained Chinese land throughout this whole Hong Kong/England land exchange. It was set up a little like a fortress. In the 1960-1990s it had buildings that were 8-10 stories high with almost 15,000 people living there. It occupied space just under 700 feet by 400 feet. The sidewalks were about 3 feet wide. The buildings were extremely close together and the neighborhood had become known as a place of drug dealers, shady business and lasciviousness. So they knocked the whole place down and created a park with monuments and remnants of the original wall. It was a nice little park. Hong Kong is very rich in history. The more time I spent there, the more I realized how little I know about it.

 The dog in the Zodiac garden.

 The Zodiac garden.

What the city inside the walled area used to look like. Pretty dense, right?

We went to the temple and did a session in English. We met a wonderful young woman there who was a Chinese national. She had returned from her mission to Temple Square just a month before and was in town to spend time in the temple before returning home. I could tell it broke her heart to be back in a country where she couldn't share the gospel with friends. She gave me a hug. She says she's applying to BYU-Hawaii for next fall. I hope she gets in and is able to return to America.

After the session we went over to the ward house and changed. There was a wedding there. It was interesting to see Mormon wedding culture mixed with Chinese wedding culture. Very few of their friends and family were members so they did the Chinese customary ceremony afterwards at the ward house, without the alcohol. She was beautiful. We told them congratulations and were on our way out. 

Then we went and did the Mid-level escalators. That's the next post.

Hong Kong Temple

The next day we got up and headed to the temple for Baptisms and Initiatories. It is a beautiful temple.

We went with the girls down to the baptistry to see it, then headed upstairs for initiatory. It was unique and beautiful because some of it was English and some of it was Cantonese. I got to hear each part in Cantonese. It sounded beautiful still, because I knew what they were saying, not that I understand Cantonese. I just love the temple and a visit did me a lot of good. I felt rejuvenated before heading back into the land of heathens. It's amazing how much more I want to go now that my closest temples are Hong Kong (250 miles) or Taipai (275 miles).

It was a pleasant day. Then we headed to the Bird and Flower markets and then to pick up our luggage and taxi to the airport. It was a good day. We landed just after 8 pm in Guilin.

 

 

Guilin Airport.

A picture from Temple Square

After my sister's graduation we went to the Garden for dinner. These are a couple of pictures I took as the sun set.

 There's something so majestically beautiful about the Salt Lake Temple. It was good for my soul to see it on Thursday night.

Tokyo Part 4 - The LDS Temple

This was a little bit of an adventure.

We went after doing most of the day in Disneyland. We left the park around 4:30. There was an English session at 7:30 and we wanted to make sure we could get there in time. The train ride was about a 45 min. ride. Then we had a bit of walking and we also had to change and get something to eat.

It ended up being a little more of an adventure than we had planned. But isn't everything?

We got to our station without much trouble. We looked at the map and it had a spot marked by exit 2 that was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It should have been easy to spot.

We walked that section of street 3 times and couldn't find it. We finally started reading all the signs more closely and we saw "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Area Office." That's what our sign was for. they were just closing up and vacuuming and so they let us in and we asked where the temple was and where we could change out of our street clothes. 

The Temple was on the block behind us. Oops. So the nice man walked us the back way and told us we could change in the distribution center fitting room. After we got changed and were walking back around to the front, I realized that I had left my recommend in the hotel room. Awesome. We decided we would see what they could do for us, knowing also, that we had time to come back in the morning if we needed to. But we really wanted to do the English session.

I do not recommend forgetting your temple recommend. Not a great idea. What ended up happening was I had to give them my name, confirmation date, and branch name, and they looked it up on the computer and gave me a one day single use recommend. Thanks to bar coding, they could tell I had a current recommend. It's easier to just bring your own.

It was the first time I've been to a session since my dad passed away. For the most part I did really well. Until the end. There is such a spirit of sacredness and a closeness to the other side of the veil that can be felt at the temple. I most definitely felt this in my time there. It was a beautiful session and very comforting for me.

The Celestial room is quite beautiful. It has two brightly colored stained glass panels that are back-lit.

At sunset.

After the session. Yes, Daniel wore tennis-shoes. We took only one suitcase and didn't have room. He wasn't the only one with street shoes.

It was a good evening. We ended up getting McDonald's for dinner on our way back to the hotel. To get two meals cost us over $20. Ouch. Japan was very expensive. 

Next: The cherry blossoms. Amazing!

Shanghai Part 3

The next day we went to The Bund and the Jing'An Temple.

The Bund is the waterfront area along the Huangpu River which winds through the middle of Shanghai. From the Bund you can see the newer part of the Shanghai. The Bund is where the banks and businesses set up business in the early 1900s. Most of the buildings are around 100 years old or so. It was nice, but it was super cold with the wind coming off the river.

 Pizza Hut, a Brazilian Grill, and two Chinese restaurants.

 Cables lines still used for trolleys and buses today.

 We thought the statue was Mao. It wasn't. But interesting anyway.

 Some of the building.

The obne with the clock tower is a bank.

 The newer side of the river. The large needle looking thing is the radio broadcast tower. The one that is to the right of center, with a gap and a bridge is the tallest building in mainland China.

 We were cold.

 Built in 1906.

 The Bund is now a place of banking and expensive stores.

Then we went to the Jing'an Temple

 The wood is all Myanmar Camphor wood. Expensive.

 A solid silver Buddha that weighs over 15 ton.

It was pretty cool.