Womens Conference in Hong Kong

 

 

 I flew to Hong Kong for The Asia Women's Conference.  We arrived early Friday afternoon and headed straight to the Stanley Market.  To get to the market we took a taxi up a very steep narrow winding road.  So happy to get out of the taxi.  This is the view from the market. 

                                  The Stanley Market.  Great place to buy just about anything.

 I found some great treasures and I would love to come back with Tim Kennedy and Harrison.  They would love it.  After the market we all headed to the Women's conference.  After the conference it was out to dinner and downtown Hong Kong nightlife.  Reminded me of Times' Square. 

 

 

We had dinner at this little spot Din Tai Fung.  We ordered a several dishes to share and a few orders of their famous pork dumplings.  They were absolutely delicious! 

 

After more classes at the conference, which were really great, we headed to the Jade market. Let the haggling begin.

 

 

 Then it was more sightseeing.  We did lots of walking checking out shops and looking for food and heading towards the temple for our evening session.

 

 

 We made it to the temple in time for our session.  The Hong Kong temple reminds me a bit of the New York temple, tucked right in the middle of everything.

 The temple was lovely. I miss living close to a temple. This was comforting and refreshing, loved it.

Saturday morning was the closing session of the conference and then a few of us were off to hike "The Dragon's Back"  I forgot my camera, but I am hoping one of my hiking companions will send me a few photos of the hike.  It was beautiful, the weather was perfect and it felt great to get out in the fresh air.  After the hike we stopped at a large cemetery.  It was massive and the headstones where like small shrines and they were totally stacked on top of one another.  Very impressive. Again, I need to get photos from someone.  Then we headed to lunch.  Vietnamese.  The spring rolls were my favorite.  The phu had too many unknown cow parts for me.

 

Then we headed to the ferry.

 

                               You never know what you are going to see in a ferry terminal.  The book store made sense to me but the giant angry mouse?

We ran out of time so no ferry ride for us.  Off to the airport and back to Singapore.  I really enjoyed Hong Kong and hope we can visit again soon.  A weekend is just not long enough.

Haw Par Villa

 

 

 

While looking for condos we stumbled upon this treasure.  As described in a tourist blog, 

"Haw Par Villa, also known as the Tiger Balm Gardens has to be one of the weirdest tourist spots you can find in Southeast Asia, and the weirdest in Singapore. Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the two brothers behind the famous Tiger Balm, built the Haw Par Villa in 1937. It features over 1,000 statues and 150 dioramas inspired from Chinese folklore, history and mythology, and quickly became an attraction for people who appreciated Chinese culture."

 

 

 If I knew anything about Chinese folklore I am sure it would have been a different experience and if my children would not have been hot and tired it would also have been a different experience.  It was very interesting and one of Harrison and my favorite spots was the Ten Courts of Hell.  Beware:

 

 

 

 The Ten Courts of Hell are found inside this cavern guarded by some by some serious looking beasts.  Each court had a plaque explaining which sins were being considered and then the punishment for that sin was.  The  execution (no pun intended) was then depicted.  These scenes left nothing to the imagination.

 

 

 

 

A few of the other statues and buildings on the property:

 

 

 

 

                                               These statues were screaming "photo bomb"!