Join the Adventure!
For the May Day (Labor Day) holiday on May 1, we flew for a long weekend trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our adventure began at the Siem Reap airport when we filled out 4 sets of 5 different Cambodian entry forms (health declaration, immigration, customs, …
So it wasn’t a typical Mother’s Day Celebration! This year after a yummy brunch at Classified (with Carrot Cake!), we walked through the Hong Kong Zoo on our way to catch the Tram up to the Peak for a morning of optical illusions. The Trick …
Unlike the US in which the currency is issued only by the US Treasury, currency in Hong Kong is issued by three different banks: Bank of China, Standard Chartered Bank, and HK Shanghai Banking Corp.
So, the currency in Hong Kong can look completely different even if it is for the exact same value! The size of the bills are only slightly different, but the patterns and colors can be completely different.
Check out this photo of three different HK$20 bills.
One of the unique charactaristics of Hong Kong is the use of bamboo scaffolding for construction. Bamboo poles are tied together with plastic ties to create a multi-layered flexible scaffolding for the construction of everything from small store fronts to huge sky-scrapers. The most amazing …
Hong Kong is a festival of the senses! Every time we walk out our door in Hong Kong, we are treated with the surprise of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching something new. Sometimes it is for the positive and other times we just chalk …
Forget seatbelt laws, especially for kids! (we had to specifically request a van with seat belts after our private tour company sent 2 different vans to drive us without them). But that was nothing compared with the motorbike helmet law for the local vietnamese. It is the law, that adults must wear a helmet on motorcycles, but not kids.
So kids from tiny babies to teens would ride without any protection as their helmet wearing parent would zip them through traffic, sometimes going the wrong way down the street!
Whole families would be riding together. And if they did happen to put a helmet on, it was very rare for the chin strap to be snapped. Notice how this family chose to wear unsnapped helmets for the parents and one child, but left the smallest without a helmet.
But our favorite was the dog! How on earth did he stay on while his owner swerved through traffic and turned sharp corners?!
Along the theme of safety, check out the warning requirements for cigarettes in Vietnam!
Today (April 17) we went to the the New Territories in northern Hong Kong to see the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery–the trip to the monastery turned out to be as “interesting” as the temple….but more on that later. The monastery sits at the top of a …
We just spent 9 days over Spring break in verdant, motorcycle-filled Vietnam, from the smoking hot and humid south of the Mekong Delta to the cool, island-dotted north of Halong Bay. The highlights of our trip were: (1) the many modes of transportation (2) The delicious Vietnamese food …
Can you tell what’s missing in this photo inside the lift of our apartment in Hong Kong?
We live on the 39th floor. But, can you figure out which floor we really live on?
So, unlike the US in which you rarely find a 13th floor in a hotel, our apartment building has a 13th floor. But no 14th floor! no 24th floor, or 34th floor, or 40th floor, or 44th floor, or 49th floor!
But why is 4 so unlucky?
In Chinese, the number 4 has the same pronunciation as the word for death (死 pinyin sǐ). So, no one wants to live there!
