Asian Invasian: Part III

And we finally come to Hong Kong...

We saved the best for last.

Hong Kong is the reason this whole Asia trip came to be. Sometime in March we were looking at airfare to Asia and found some really cheap tickets. Since Steve's aunt and uncle will not be living in Hong Kong much longer we thought, "it's now or never." Taiwan and China got rolled into the mix when we figured we'd be crazy not to go there since we'd be so close. So with that in mind, here are some of our favorite pictures from our time in Hong Kong.

Steve and some random shirtless man posing at the night market.

This is a view from Kowloon looking toward Hong Kong Island. An hour after we took this picture we found ourselves in a torrential downpour. Thunder and lightning like I've never heard/seen before and TONS of rain. It was amazing.

Hong Kong Temple!

One of my favorite temples in the world that I've always wanted to see in person since it was dedicated. Going through a session was a longstanding dream come true.

One of my favorite photos from our entire trip. Amazing friendships = amazing experiences = amazing memories.

If the photo above is one of my favorite pictures, this one captures one of my favorite moments. Elder Ho was a missionary in the Edinburgh ward for 9 months (notice his tartan tie) while we were there before being transfered to Glasgow shortly before his mission ended. He was a stellar missionary. Lulu is one of his converts - spunkiest Asian I've ever met - who was in Hong Kong this summer for an internship. We all went to the temple together and then hung out afterwards catching up and exploring night markets in Hong Kong. Priceless.

Tai O - home of a really cool fishing village and pink dolphins. It's located in the far corner of Lantau island.

Beautiful scenery at the Po Lin Monastery.

Po Lin monastery.

Home of the largest Buddha sculpture in the world. It is HUGE.

Decorations inside of one of the prayer houses/temples at the monastery.

A face I've come to love (Steve's, of course). This is the face he gives me when I'm in trouble...

I happened to be faster than the water and didn't get splashed on my way across the fountain. That's rather unfortunate though, since Hong Kong in September is super hot and humid.

A gorgeous sunset view on our drive back to the Midlevels (a region of Hong Kong) from Stanley Market.

A vegetarian's nightmare.

Joe, Kristen and Cheryl (Steve's aunt) enjoying the public transportation system.

Our first night in Hong Kong Cheryl took us up Victoria Peak to see the phenomenal Hong Kong skyline. It was a beautiful, clear evening and the view was spectacular.

See what I mean? We played around with the camera a bit to capture this shot, but the real view was even better.

Remember the pink dolphins I mentioned earlier? If you look closely, that object on the left side of the picture coming out of the water is actually a pink dolphin. No joke. There are full-blown PINK DOLPHINS swimming around this planet! Craziest things I've ever seen.

I was mesmerized by the people that came to the monastery to pray and meditate. Without prying into people's personal worship, I definitely took mental notes (and a picture or two when people weren't standing nearby) of their customs of worship in general. I must say, I find one incense stick the size of a pencil pretty overpowering, so standing near this huge incense burner almost knocked me out.

More beautiful decorations inside the monastery.

And there you have it. We hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of Taiwan, China and Hong Kong through the eyes of Joe, Steve and Kristen.

And this brings us to....

The Ohio.

Stay tuned.