Beijing/Hong Kong

Our last stop in Beijing was to The Temple of Heaven. It was here where the emperors prayed to God and made their connection with heaven. Interestingly, back then, the Chinese believed that earth was square and heaven was round. So as a compromise, the area surrounding the Temple of Heaven is rectangular in shape.

It was so bitterly cold that day that we decided to make it a quick tour. But Ben and Jeremy got caught up in a game of Chinese hacky sack with 3 locals.

The temple grounds are used today as a community park. We watched a group practicing Tai Chi, saw a Tibetan dance, old men playing checkers and the hacky sack group. All out in the freezing cold like it was a beautiful spring day!

So while admiring all the activity, we lost our group and felt frozen to the bone. We got ourselves to the temple, snapped a few pix and found shelter in the souvenir shop to spend the last of our Chinese Yuen.

A short ride to the airport and 3 hour plane ride, we found ourselves in Hong Kong. Forget a "day"...What a difference 4 HOURS makes! Hong Kong is very westernized. Probably influenced while they were a British colony. Again, it is another shopping mecca being a port city. Differences that were immediately noticeable included things found right in the nearest public restroom.

First of all, most of China does not seem to understand the word "restroom" so you have to ask for the "toilet". In mainland China, where Beijing is located, you will find more often than not, the eastern toilets, "squatting" toilets. In Hong Kong...nothing but western toilets like we have at home. Also, in Beijing, there is no toilet paper in the stalls. You have to be prepared and bring your own. In Hong Kong...TP heaven! ; ) Ironically, as polluted as Beijing is, they seem to be trying their hand at being "green" and do not provide paper towels for drying your hands. And you are lucky to find a hand drier that blows anything but cold air. This also seemed to be true in Japan as well as not providing napkins at meals. Very odd to see my kids looking for a napkin while eating. They never use them at home!

The most welcomed difference is that we went from 19 degrees in Beijing to balmy 75 degrees in Hong Kong! ; )

We got to the MVExplorer around 5:00 and decided to sit at the terminal (shopping mall) for a few drinks while waiting for the line to get on the ship to die down. Just outside the restaurant and in the center of the mall is a half court basketball court. Jeremy and Ben couldn't wait to get out there but it seems like the court is only used for exhibitions. They stood out on the court anyway. It was something familiar, the wooden floor beneath their feet. Then the "Jeremy Freak Show" started up again...he got swarmed by about a dozen preschoolers wanting to talk to him, shake his hand and pose for a picture with him. It's really cute watching Jeremy eat up the attention. ; )

We ended up at KFC for dinner. After using the port's spectacular wifi for a couple of hours, we hit the hay just after midnight.