Hong Kong - Day 3

On our third day in Hong Kong, J. had to stand duty.  This meant that he had to be back to the carrier by 10:00 a.m. and wouldn't be back to the hotel until after 10:00 a.m. the following day.  It wasn't the best day of our trip, but I knew in advance that he would have to have duty one day and I was just glad it was in the middle of our week so we got time together on both ends.

I also was able to go out to the carrier and visit him while he was on duty, so I still got to spend some time with him!

The view of Hong Kong from the ferry boat

Stonecutters Bridge

Hong Kong Island

USS George Washington

It was a pretty cool experience going out to the boat.  It was my second visit to the USS George Washington (I blogged about my first trip here).  The ferry boat ride took about an hour and it definitely was not a smooth trip, but it was a great view of of the city and it was fun to experience first hand what the boys go through on a port call when the boat can't pull directly into port.

I also got another tour of the boat and saw some new things:

The freebie board.  

Every time they land on the carrier, the pilots get a grade on how well they landed.  The greens are the best ... I forget what yellow means, brown and white are bad.  J. actually got an award this half of cruise for being one of the best new pilots on the boat!  Even though he went on a partial deployment last year, he is still considered a new pilot (nugget) since he wasn't there for the whole cruise.  They award the Top 5 Nuggets and J. got second!  Another guy in his squadron got fourth, so obviously our new guys are doing pretty darn good!

The view of Hong Kong from the flight deck

It was so humid that my camera lens kept fogging up, so some of these pictures are blurry.  It was cool to actually see the jets on the flight deck.  It kind of puts everything in perspective, size wise.

Jets with the tower in the background

Nose to nose with J.'s jet

More jets + the tower

Hong Kong ... I thought this was the best view of Hong Kong I saw all week

The tower

America

After we wandered around the flight deck, we went up into the tower.  It was pretty cool and the guy standing duty in the tower showed me Hong Kong Disney through the binoculars!  I asked him if he spied on people on the flight deck with those binoculars and he told me yes!  Haha, he also told me it was amazing what people do out on the flight deck, thinking that no one is watching.

The flight deck from the tower

J. in the Air Boss chair ... he looks pretty good huh?

The boat does not have stairs ... it has ladders.  Just walking around the boat is exhausting.

The hanger bay with the American flag and the Chinese flag which was hung up for the reception that was held on the first night

I can't remember what the official name of this room is, but it is the anchor room

There were two huge anchors holding G.W. in place

Anchor #2

You could see right down into the water!

After my tour, we went back up to the flight deck to watch the sun set over Hong Kong.  This was my favorite activity every day!

The sun setting over the outlying islands and an American Destroyer

The sun setting over Hong Kong ... J. took these pictures so I'm not sure if he used a different setting or if this was just the color variance between the two sides of the sky

Hong Kong

Jets + Tower + City

The tower lit up

The sun setting over the jets!

Afterwards, I took the ferry boat back to Fenwick Pier where I met up with Mr. and Mrs. S.  We took a cab back to our hotel and everyone came up to my room to hang out for a bit.

This was definitely not your typical tourist day in Hong Kong.  I feel pretty lucky to have had the opportunity to see Hong Kong from a vantage point that most tourists don't get to see.  And it was nice to be able to see J. even though he had to be at the boat all day!

Hong Kong - Day 2

On our second day in Hong Kong, we decided to do some exploring!  

We headed over to the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon to have some lunch and do a little window shopping.  We walked around a bit and looked at all the high end stores in the area ... Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Ferragamo, etc.  

Along the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui

When we were tired of walking around, we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong Island.  Frommer's boasts that the Star Ferry is "one of the most dramatic - and cheapest - five minute boat rides in the world."

Mr. and Mrs. S. on the Star Ferry

Crossing Victoria Harbor

Crossing Victoria Harbor

J. and I on the Star Ferry

Our boat docked at the pier

From there, we hopped on the No. 15 bus to Victoria Peak.  I thought we were taking the bus to the tram station and then would be taking the tram up Victoria Peak, but the bus took us all the way to the top.  It was about a thirty minute ride, but very cheap ... it was $9.80 HKD which is roughly $1.26 USD.  I would recommend taking this route up Victoria Peak and then you can take the famous tram back down the mountain!

Once you are at the top of Victoria Peak, there are several ways to enjoy the view:

(1) You can walk around or take one of several "hiking" routes around the peak (we opted not to take this route since it was so hot)

(2) You can go to the top of the free viewing deck 

(3) You can go to the Sky Terrace at the top of the Peak Tower for $30 HKD ($3.87 USD)

We paid to go to the top of the Peak Tower and I think the views were well worth the $4.00 we spent!

The view from Victoria Peak

Looking down on Hong Kong Island and across the harbor to Kowloon

J. and I 

(please excuse my crazy hair)

Mrs. S. and I

J. and I

(and my Starbucks!  I had Sbux every day while we were in Hong Kong ... it's the little things people!)

Watching the tram go down the mountain

The tram disappearing into the forest!

Waiting for the tram that would take us down the mountain

Me and Mrs. S.

The only thing I would do differently about seeing Victoria Peak, would be to see it at night as well.  I've heard that the best thing to do is to go up about an hour before sunset and then you can experience it both during daylight and at night.  If you decide to go this route, I would definitely take the bus up as the line to take the tram to the top of the Peak at 5:00 was over an hour wait.

The tram dropped us off a few blocks away from Lan Kwai Fong, so we decided to walk over and see the area in the daylight hours.

A tree with cool roots we passed on our walk

A fun quote

Bamboo scaffolding on a building ... Hong Kong is famous for its use of bamboo scaffolding

Lan Kwai Fong

Whiskey Priest ... an Irish Pub we stopped into for happy hour

Very cute little place with free wi-fi!

The streets of Lan Kwai Fong

We stopped into Hong Kong Brew House next ... but it was so hot that we had to leave immediately.  There was no air flow in the bar, but they did have free peanuts so that was a plus :)

After the brew house, we walked over to Soho which turned out to be a really cool area.  It was also home to the world's longest covered escalator.  It spans 2,600 feet and has 29 exits to get on and off.  I *really* wanted to start at the bottom and ride all the way to the top, but it didn't happen this trip.  I've got several things on my to-do list for my next trip!

Looking down on Lan Kwai Fong from Soho

After exploring Soho, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening!

Hong Kong - Day 1

Hong Kong.  

As I said in my short post a few weeks ago, I loved this city!

I'll start with some background information.  I really knew nothing about the city until I started doing research for our trip.  Hong Kong was a British Colony until 1997, when the British handed it back to China as a special administrative region.  Britain invaded Hong Kong during the Opium War in 1839 and it became a British colony when the war ended in 1842.  Hong Kong has it has it's own flag, currency, political system and legal system but is technically a part of mainland China.  

It's one of the most densely populated areas in the world with a population of seven million people on a piece of land the size of Rhode Island.  I have to say that I didn't feel overcrowded while I was there, so don't let this discourage you from visiting!

The city is divided into 18 administrative districts (neighborhoods) over four geographic regions.  There is Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories and the outlying islands.  We stayed in Kowloon and spent all of our time in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Mrs. A. driving to Narita!

(I was navigating!)

The ladies in the back!

Welcome to Narita!

The double decker plane that we flew on to Taipei, Taiwan

We flew from Narita to Taipei, Taiwan and then on to Hong Kong.  Neither flight was too bad ... we were served meals and they played movies on both legs of the journey.  It also gave me some much needed time to really read the guidebook I had purchased for the trip!

We arrived in Hong Kong the night before the carrier pulled into port.  We checked into our hotel and then headed downstairs to the Waterfront Bar & Terrace to grab a late dinner and enjoy the view!  

The next morning, Mrs. S. and I went for a jog along the waterfront and then headed over to Starbucks with Mrs. A. and Mrs. D.  We enjoyed a refreshing iced coffee and the free wi-fi in Starbucks before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the boys arrival.

I hadn't thought about the fact that we were traveling internationally and our hair dryers, hair straighteners and electronics might not work.  The hotel did provide us with a converter, which was nice.  However, I plugged my hair dryer in and, before turning it on, it made a huge popping noise and all of the lights in our room went out!  We called down to the front desk to tell them that we thought we had blown a fuse.  They didn't take us very seriously but sent someone up to look at things.  It took them thirty minutes to fix the issue!  And I was in the middle of blow drying my hair (with the hair dryer provided by the hotel!) when J. arrived.

We hadn't made plans for our first day since we didn't know what time J. would make it to the hotel.  We decided to head up to the hotel's pool for the afternoon. 

The view from our pool ... looking over to Hong Kong Island

After our afternoon at the pool, we cleaned up and met The A.'s down at the Waterfront Bar and Terrace for happy hour.  One thing that Hong Kong does well, is happy hour.  Almost every bar has some sort of happy hour and most drinks were either buy one, get one free or half off. 

Watching the sunset from the Waterfront Bar

Watching the sunset from the Waterfront Bar

Sun setting

After happy hour, we headed over to Fenwick Pier to meet up with Mrs. S.  She had gone out to the carrier to attend a reception with her husband and we wanted to meet her at the pier so she wouldn't have to take a taxi back to the hotel alone.  The carrier couldn't pull into the harbor, so they had ferry boats going back and forth from Fenwick Pier to the carrier.  It was a pretty nice set up with computers for the sailors to use, a money exchange and a restaurant and bar.  We ran into some other people from J.'s squadron and had a beer with them while we were waiting for Mrs. S.

Once she arrived, we headed out to the night life district of Lan Kwai Fong.  Most of the air wing from the carrier was staying on Hong Kong Island and we ran into quite a few people while we were out in Lan Kwai Fong.  It was a lot of fun!

Me in front of my favorite store :)

On our walk to Lan Kwai Fong!

Mrs. A., me, Mrs. S.

I don't think that I mentioned that it was hot and humid while we were there ... temperatures were in the 90's and there was little relief from the heat when the sun when down!

Deployment Goals

Happy Monday Friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I was going to do a post about our weekend, but we did a lot and I feel like each event deserves it's own post.  So hopefully later this month, after I finish blogging about Hong Kong!  The first three posts for Hong Kong are written, so look for those starting tomorrow :)

As I said last week, J. and his squadron are home for "summer break."  When J.'s squadron was attached to the USS George H.W. Bush, they deployed for 7-8 months at a time.  Here, they deploy twice a year instead of once a year, but for a shorter amount of time and they are able to come home for a few weeks in between deployments.  

The first half of this deployment was eight weeks, but I was able to see J. in Hong Kong, so it didn't feel too long.  I still set goals for myself, as I find that they help me have something to work on while J. is gone and I also like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I can cross one off my list!  

My goals were:

1.  Clean the junk off the radiator in the living room.
2.  Pack up the box in the living room and put into storage.
3.  Hang pictures in the office.
4.  Hang pictures in the living room.
5.  Set up voicemail at Softbank.
6.  Pay off my credit card.
7.  Pay down J.'s Career Starter Loan.
8.  Keep saving 15% of our monthly income.
9.  Keep up with yoga and body pump.
10.  Read The Five Love Languages.
11.  Book Hong Kong trip.

I am happy to report that I accomplished all of these goals, except #4.  However, once I got the living room re-arranged, there wasn't room for the pictures I wanted to hang.  So, I think it's safe to say I accomplished all of my deployment goals!

Time to start thinking of goals for the next round of deployment!

Learning Japanese

One thing I would like to do while I'm here (but haven't done much of yet) is learn the language!  I am hoping to go home for a visit in September, but when I return, I'd like to find someone to teach me Japanese lessons.  Kind of the opposite of what I do!  

Anyways, the little that I do know are phrases or Romaji (Japanese words written in Roman letters).  However, I do know one kanji (Japanese words written in characters).  I thought I would share my little bit of knowledge with you all.  

EXIT

A very important sign to know :)

And I will never forget it, after someone described it to me as "double pitchfork, box"

Happy August!

Hello Friends!

Happy August!  

I am sorry for my long absence ... I've had a lot of things competing for my attention these past few weeks and my little blog is being neglected.  First, it took me a full week to recover from Hong Kong.  I kind of thought that once we were in Asia, traveling around Asia would be a hop, skip and jump.  Not so much.  It took us a full day to get to Hong Kong and a full day to get back.  Traveling like that is just exhausting for some reason.  

Second, J. is home for his "summer break" from deployment!  Yay!  They really are home just long enough to get used to having someone in your space and then they will be gone again.  But they had to completely move out of their room on the boat, move the entire squadron out of their spaces on the boat and then will have to move back on.  They had 100 boxes to unpack last Friday at the squadron.  It's a little bit ridiculous.

J.'s Welcome Home Banner

His squadron is actually called the Shadowhawks, not the Shadowcats.  Someone on the boat thought they were the Shadowcats, called them that once and Mrs. S. and I have run with it.  I find it very fitting since we are in the land of Hello Kitty :)  I added a Shadowhawk sticker to the middle of Hello Kitty's bow and the sign is pure genius if you ask me!

  And the third reason is that I have been glued to my TV watching the Olympics!  I am obsessed.  I was just reflecting back on the 2008 Olympics and I was lucky enough in 2008 to be employed part-time so I could spend a lot of time lounging on the couch, watching the Olympics.  And, here I am, four years later, with the same luxury :)  We have been DVR'ing everything and then watching until all hours of the evening which has been terrible for any sort of routine around these parts :)  

Source

J. was on leave this past week, so he will be going back to work on Monday and I hope to get back into some sort of routine next week!  Not only has my blogging suffered, but so has my working out, cooking and cleaning!  So it's not just the blog! 

We have some fun outings planned for this weekend and I, of course, still have to tell you about Hong Kong so there will be some good posts in the future :) 

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday Friends!  

Hong Kong is hands down my new favorite city.  I had the best time last week and can't wait to tell you all about it.  I hope to find some time to catch up on all of your blogs and do some blogging later this week.  Until then, I will leave you with a few pictures: 

Our double decker plane

The view of Hong Kong Island from our hotel pool

Hong Kong from the U.S.S. George Washington

The sun setting over jets on the flight deck

Hong Kong at night

Just looking at these pictures make me want to start planning a trip back!  I cannot wait to tell you all about it later this week!