Dec. 25th - Merry Christmas from China!!!!

Our Christmas Day in Hong Kong -

We had another good night of sleep. We've figured Kaeli out, and have found that a warm bottle of rice cereal and milk mixture just before bed, with a good book, sets the mood. Then I put her on her stomach in the crib and put a blanket over her and she lets out one wail and then settles down. I pat her on the back for a minute or two and she's out like a light. She wakes during the night less and less and just cries out once or twice and then is sound asleep again.

We were up early at Kaeli's insistence this morning (7am) and had plenty of time to get ready for our all day tour. We took a taxi down to the Star Ferry dock at 9:30 and wandered around for awhile waiting for our boat to show up, at 10:15. We had a two hour tour of the Hong Kong harbor and saw lots of impressive sights - high skyscrapers, "high density housing" that was miles of tall apartment buildings crowded together on the shore, a golf course on the banks of the harbor and many fisherman on the water. Kaeli loved being on the boat and watched intensely all of the sights going by.

After disembarking, we joined 6 others (Chinese Americans from Orange County, California) on the tour for a Chinese dim sum lunch at a nearby restaurant, where Kaeli fell asleep in my arms before her congee arrived. We were to wait in the lobby of the Salisbury YMCA (across the street) for the bus to arrive for the afternoon portion and had more than 45 minutes to kill and - guess what!!! There was a bookstore in the lobby of the YMCA!!! No need to go further...

We took the bus through the tunnel onto Hong Kong Island, then up the winding, hilly, cliff-hanging Peak Road to Victoria's Peak lookout area. When I was there back in 1987, the view was breathtaking and the lookout was on the side of a lonely wooded road. Now there is a Peak Galleria shopping mall and a Madame Tussaude's (sp) wax museum. How times change!!!

We wound our way down the other side of the hills and visited Aberdeen, where I had also been in 1987 to visit the famous floating village of fishermen. I remember the guide saying then that some of the people who lived in the village had never set foot on actual land, having lived their entire life on boats in the village. Again time changes things drastically - the village is a mere shadow of itself, and the guide today said that she didn't know what would be there, if anything, if we returned in two years. It was really saddening to see a way of life disappear the way it has here. We took a sampan through the village, which is about 1/20th the size it used to be. We also went around the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, which is a large floating restaurant (duh) that seats 2,400 people. It's quite impressive.

Then on to drive past Repulse Bay, which the guide says is now called "Excuse Me" Bay because the beaches are so crowded in the summertime. Then we visited Stanley Market. Laurie and I were there about 2 minutes, then turned around and went down to the Stanley Beach, which was much less crowded. Kaeli was mesmerized by the waves and the water (a REALLY big bathtub, one of her favorite places! She cries when I take her OUT of the tub). We got back on the bus for the windy swaying trip back up and down the mountains (while I was trying to feed a hungry Kaeli - no mean feat!). Kaeli gave about two wails and then zonked out in my arms again, and slept until we got dropped off at the hotel.

When we got back to the room, I say down on the bed to get Kaeli out of the Hip Hammock (which she loves me to carry her in) and she crawled across the bed, stood up holding the railings of the crib right next to it and lifted one leg to try to get into the crib. I obliged her, and she immediately fell back to sleep.

Laurie and I are now packing for a 4:30am wake up call and a 5:30am hotel shuttle ride to the airport for our 8:50am flight. The hotel insists we need to leave 4 hours before our flight. We'll find out how right they are tomorrow! Neither of us are looking forward to 17 hours on a plane with Kaeli - she has been an angel so far and LOVES to travel, and did so well on the plane from Kunming to Guangzhou, but that was only 2 hours or so. Tomorrow she may be singing another tune!

Wish us luck - we're shortly going to be on our way home!!!

Love to you all who have shared this adventure so far with us.... And Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Cheryl, Kaeli & Laurie