Walled City, Wet Market, Big Buddha--December 3-10, 2012

It is Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 so we decided to go exploring. Tom eyeing the world renowned warm egg tarts at Hoover's Bakery for only $5 HK each. They were very good.

As we wandered through the park where the Walled City used to be we saw these ladies doing Tai Chi with large red fans.

 Garnalee and Sister Bertin standing in a moon gate. Also note the beautiful mosaic walkway.

 This large rock formation and the whole park reminded us of the garden we visited in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

 This is a bronze replica of the walled city before it was torn down. The buildings were so close together that the interior buildings didn't receive any light. The buildings were constructed without footings. The apartments were 200 to 400 square feet. The old Hong Kong airport was nearby.

This is the remains of the South Gate into the Walled City.

 This engraved stone slab was mounted near one of the gates into the city.

After visiting the  Walled City we ventured over to the Kowloon Wet Market. We could buy fresh fish. Some were live in tubs. We could also buy frogs, turtles, and toads.

Squid anyone!!

The butcher would cut off the piece of meat you wanted or you buy one of the hanging pieces.

 Another shot of the open meat market. Fortunately in Hong Kong there are very few flies, at least that we have seen. I haven't been brave enough to buy meat this way.

A bit smaller than the sewing room many of us have. You could hire someone to make something for you or do an alteration.

 Crabs anyone!! We saw thousands of crabs invidiually tied up. They appeared to be alive.

 On Saturday, Dec. 8, we took the MTR (train) to Lantau Island to visit the Big Buddha statue and the Po Lin Monastery. This is the gateway leading to the monastery which is used today and visited by many Buddhists.

This giant 112 foot seated Buddha is the largest outdoor statue in the world. It seats atop a hill that we could see from several miles away.

 Guarding the way to the monastery there are 12 warriors representative of the 12 signs of the Zodiac each had a different weapon.

 Tom preparing to climb the 268 steps to the statue.

Whew! We're  halfway there.

 At the base of the Buddha there are six smaller bronze statues known as "The Offering of the Six Divas" and are posed offering flowers, incense, lamp, ointment, fruit, and music to the Buddha. These offerings symbolize charity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom, all of which are necessary to enter into nirvana.^[2]

 The fence was made of ornately craved granite. In the background you can see how rugged the mountains are.

 Inside the base of the statue there is a museum. For a fee of $28 HK you could visit the museum. There were artifacts of some of the original written pray books dating back several hundred years.

 Along the staircase to the monastery were pots of beautiful flowers.

 Standing on the steps of the monastery with the statue in the background.

Of course there is always time for shopping in the dozens of shops.





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For Fast Sunday, the Indonesian sisters took a turn at cooking for our Break the Fast meal. We expected them to nasi goering which is fried rice. Instead we had beef and seasoned rice and hard boiled eggs in a spicy sauce. The eggs are cooked with the beef. For dessert we had fruit in warm coconut milk. We get to experience different foods at our meals.
We had a wonderful Family Home Evening with the other senior couples. The couple in charge had downloaded several Christmas messages. It put us in the Christmas spirit.
We have been working on the goals for 2013 for Family History for the Asia Area. With the messages from conference there is a new focus and a greater push for ALL to do family history and then temple work.
We made a presentation to Elder Wilson and President Hawks on the value of using family history work as a missionary tool. We will training all of the young missionaries at the zone conference in February.