Bamboo Graffiti.

We met some friends of ours at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens one afternoon. While we were waiting for them to walk down from their apartment in MidLevels, we happened upon this particular patch of bamboo graffiti. Messages to loved ones etched out on the stalks. There is something beautiful about graffiti that always makes me pause and take a second look at it. 

Edward Youde Aviary.

The Edward Youde Aviary, located within the Hong Kong Park and named after a former  Hong Kong governor, is a beautiful sanctuary inside the busy city. The wooden path through the aviary is raised, making your walk level with the tree tops. There is a stream at the base of the valley and plenty of trees for the birds to create a natural environment for them to thrive. 

We love to walk through the aviary as a family. The birds are quite tame and allow human's get relatively close to them, before flying away. There are signs posted in specific locations of the aviary letting guests know what birds to look for and easily allowing for a self guided tour. 

Fruits In The Open Market.

I love walking through any type of market, but walking through a fresh fruit market is my all time favorite market to walk through. I love the bright colors of the fruit. I love seeing all the different types of fruit. I love that the shop owner used a blue plastic crate to display his durian on. Market stalls are not fancy. They are economical. I love that.

Mui Wo.

Back in South Carolina, I would have thought twice about taking a quick day trip to visit a friend that lived 2 hours away. Living in Myrtle Beach, it would be the equivalent to a trip down to Charleston or a trip to Columbia. I would probably have spent the night. But here in Hong Kong, it just takes longer to get places, and my friend Meg, that I wanted to visit lives out on Lantau Island. When my husband looked it up on Google maps for me, it said the trip would take three hours on bus or two hours via bus and ferry. One way.

So off on a ferry I went, to Mui Wo. Mui Wo is a quaint little seaside village, with a lovely beach and many village houses. It has a completely different vibe to it than the city of Hong Kong that I am more familiar with. As soon as I disembarked from the ferry, there was a sea of parked bicycles chained up. Life seems to slow down in Mui Wo compared to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. 

I didn't see any skyscrapers and tall apartment complexes. Instead it was village houses with many a vegetable garden. I saw a waterfall and an old lavatory with a hole in the ground. I loved Mui Wo. It was relaxing and in a way reminded me of a sleepy Southern town that you might find in the United States. Ok... maybe not the United States since it reminded me more of the Philippines than the States. 

Easter.

Another holiday spent in Hong Kong, and this time we were fortunate to be able to spend it with my parents. Once again, I tried to maintain a few traditions we have previously held back in South Carolina. For our family, we celebrate Easter because we believe that Jesus Christ rose from the grave and it is Resurrection Sunday. To us it is much more than Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs, and new clothing. However, we do have traditions that include these things. 

This year our kids {primarily our daughter} kept asking to paint hard boiled eggs and to have an Easter egg hunt. I was thankful to have Grandpa and Grandma around to help them paint eggs so that I didn't have to deal with the mess that painting can create. All I had to do was boil the eggs and then my husband and I hid them in our back patio. Grandparents are seriously so special and the best because they can fill in our gaps as parents! 

We celebrate the season of Christ's death and resurrection throughout the week leading up to Easter Sunday, beginning with Palm Sunday the week before. Then we went to church for a Good Friday service where they stripped the alter and we remembered Christ's death on the cross for our sins. It's all leading up to Sunday when Christ rose from the dead.

Easter Sunday, after egg hunts and cookie decorating at church, we ate a picnic lunch that we had packed. We picked up some chicken from Great at Pacific Place and ate with family and friends in Hong Kong Park.  

So from our family to you, we want to wish you a Happy Easter. He lives.

Hong Kong Park.

Tucked away among sky scrapers and high rise buildings, Hong Kong Park is the ideal spot to retreat from the concrete and glass that is indicative of the city.

After an hour of our two kids playing on the slides, jungle gym, and monkey bars in the park's facilities, our family enjoyed walking through Hong Kong Park looking at the ornamental Koi fish swimming around the water garden. We would occasionally catch sight of little turtles swimming among the colorful fish.  

It was a Sunday afternoon when we walked through the park, and there were many other people out enjoying the grounds with us.

Mid Autumn Festival In Hong Kong.

I've been told that the Mid Autumn Festival is to Hong Kong what Thanksgiving is to the United States of America. It's a public holiday here in Hong Kong celebrating the harvest. We officially celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival this coming Tuesday, but the kids have a four day weekend off from their school, so as a family, we are celebrating all weekend long.

I've also learned that the festival is all about spending time with family. Having an evening picnic on the beach, grilling together as a family, and watching the moon. Families will have battery operated lanterns with them and children will carry glow sticks.

The moon plays a large part in this particular holiday.

We've eaten our first mooncakes as a family and my kids get excited about them every time they see them advertised on a billboard. Both kids have tasted the cakes in their Mandarin class and can read the Chinese characters printed on the surface of the mooncakes. The mooncakes we ate as a family were not what one would consider the traditional cake, but rather a more contemporary non-baked style of cake. We ate what is referred to as a "snowy mooncake". A glutinous rice crust with a pandan filling.