Hong Kong Photo Journal: Part 2

Here's the second (and last) installment of the Hong Kong photo journal! To view the first part of our trip, click here.

I should have put this one with the last photo journal entry because this is Naomi up on Sunset Peak (on Lantau Island) in the stone cabin. We nicknamed her "Mountain Baby" because she took to mountain life so readily.  As you can see we were still trapped in a cloud that morning, so the picture is foggy. Such humidity must be good for the skin, right?

My parents took us out to dim sum (traditional Hong Kong breakfast) with one of my dad's students, Mandy, and her adorable baby boy, Joash. Naomi and Joash have an interesting connection. In Chinese, an older boy would call a younger girl mei mei (or mui mui in Cantonese), which literally means "little sister," regardless if he's related to her or not. Younger girls call older boys ge ge (or go go), older girls call younger boys di di, and younger boys call older girls jie jie. Now that you know all that, here's the dilemma: Naomi was born on January 17th at around 7p.m. in Washington State in the United States. Joash was born on January 18th at 1a.m. in Hong Kong. Joash was technically born first, but Naomi's birthday is a day before his. So, who is the mei mei/di di and who is the jie jie/ ge ge? Mandy and I weren't sure what to have our children call each other! Big problem, right?

Gorgeous Hong Kong Island. The building in the distance with the two antennae is the famous Bank of China building. When it was built, many feng shui experts were incensed because they said it looked like a knife being driven into the heart of Hong Kong. Ouch! Wouldn't want to be the architect handling that kind of criticism.

This picture was taken from the Central ferry pier on Hong Kong Island, looking across the harbor at Kowloon. I'd just like to point out the mountain in the background: Lion Rock. It really does look like a lion resting. You can see the head-- the larger lump on the left side of the peak. Directly on the other side of the mountain is Tai Wai/Shatin where my parents live.

A huge skycraper: The IFC building.

We visited Lamma Island and my great friend and critique partner, Dora Tsang. Dora and I were roommates at the SCBWI conference last summer in L.A. (We hadn't known each other before the conference, so it was quite a fluke that we were both from Hong Kong!)  Dora writes pictures books, YA verse novels, and is also an amazing artist. She's just oozing talent, people. Plus, she's an amazing, wonderful person. This picture was taken on the little Lamma ferry.

Isn't Lamma gorgeous? And such beautiful women, too: Dora, my mom and Olivia. This is on Lamma near Dora's house. Look at the beautiful, lush island behind them! We were waiting at the pier to catch the little ferry back to the main part of the island.

Dora and Naomi at Dora's house, with some of Dora's amazing artwork in the background.

Hong Kong was a blast. The time went so fast, but also slowly because it was hard to be away from my dashingly handsome sidekick and the three "middles" for so long. I feel thankful that I was able to visit home for a couple weeks. Next time I'd like to take everyone with me and stay longer!