ON THE ROAD AGAIN

One fun thing about taking a road trip is stopping in places for which you had not planned. Shoshone Falls along the Snake was one such place. Wow! Amazing view. At 212 feet, these falls are taller than Niagra.

Looks like there were lots of letterboxes around, too. Unfortunately, did not plan to stop here so did not do the research for it so no letterboxes found. Bummer.

OK, let's keep driving toward Redmond, Oregon. You will see this view - or something similar. Mile after mile.

Woo hoo! We made it!

We were in Redmond for a week and enjoyed climbing in the trees and on the rocks!

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

August 1

Well, Little B didn't think too much of celebrating her birthday this way, but we decided on a

ROAD TRIP!!!!

Ok, I'm not sure what we were thinking other than, haven't been there and haven't done that. Enroute from Colorado to Oregon, we stopped at Arches National Park.

Yes, these could probably be stock pictures of Balancing Rock, Delicate Arch and the Windows, but we still enjoyed them!

On to Salt Lake City. We did a brief driving tour around the city before heading off to Boise, Idaho. There were fires in California to which the haze was attributed.

CATARACT LAKE

July 30

A lovely drive to this location followed with some really fun boxing. We saw snakes, squirrels, birds and monster mosquitoes - they were so large I thought they would carry me off. Ouch!
















Isn't this one of the most beautiful places you have seen?

FLORISSANT FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Have you ever been here? It is an amazing place. They have helpful rangers and fun trails. Some of the hikes are a little longer, but they have some short ones near the visitor center. Younger people can even become Junior Rangers by completing several tasks outlines in their booklet. They have awesome examples of fossilized insects found on the property in the visitors center.

Just outside the visitor center you can see some of the few remaining petrified trees. Can you tell how huge these trees must have been? Wow! Amazing!

In the past they said you could not walk through the field below the visitors center for all the petrified trees. Sadly, few remain today for all of us to wonder over.

If you take one of the trails on the property, you will come to the crest of a hill and have this view.

Along the petrified trail. (No, that pine tree is not growing out of the petrified stump - it just looks like it.

COLORADO

We flew back to the States in July and headed first to Breckenridge, Colorado. Wow! I love this place. You can see the ski runs in the distance in this first picture. The thing I kept remarking on what the blue skies. I had grown kind of used to the overcast (smoggy) skies in Hong Kong.








I hope this picture doesn't give anyone's box location away. Yup, right by that tree somewhere in Colorado.














OK, more blue skies.






One day we headed over to this trail that was along an old railroad track bed. The rails are long gone. The original track was 63 miles long and ran from Como to Leadville, CO. It was operational from 1884 until 1937. The water tower has since been reconstucted.

Oh, there are a few letterboxes near-by, too!




We had to make a mid-week trip, and on the way to the airport we stopped at Jenny's in Empire. Wow! Great food, super people, and a letterbox with a sweet story.

LET'S GO TO MANILA! July 13, 2008

Here we are, in the cattle section (oh, that's supposed to read Coach) on Cathay Pacific headed to Manila, the capitol of the Philippines. Punkie Dominoes and I were a little squished, but since anything under a six-hour flight is a short one, we didn't mind too much. We got to watch movies and play games on the in-seat entertainment. Fun!


Evidently we did not time our travel too well since the evening we arrived, a tropical storm arrived as well, so the first few days were a little wet. We made trips to the shopping malls near-by, and let me tell you that is really different. In order to get into the mall, you have to pass through secruity and have your bags checked. The thing that was a little different is that the security guards were really armed - no handguns for them - let's use rifles!

We didn't try this common type of transportation - the jeepney. There are literally thousands of them plying the roads in Manila. People sit in the back on benches on the sides, and you enter through a door in the rear. The jeepneys would stop in the middle of the road (middle lane at that) to let people off. What a wild ride that must be! They are very colorful, too.





One day we went to Fort Santiago, built around the 1590's. It is strategically located on the banks of the Pasig River and overlooks Manila Bay. The Intramuros area has many historic buildings, but most had to be rebuilt after WWII.



This is the Catholic Cathedral which was originally built in 1590 and subsequently destroyed by fire, typhoon, earthquake, and the war. This is the sixth building rebuilt on the site and was refurbished in 1954.








This was in a courtyard in a typical (wealthy) Spanish home that was commissioned by Imelda Marcos.

















On the walls of Ft. Santiago, guards kept watch!

CHEUNG CHAU ISLAND

You just have to love that notification of new boxes feature on Atlasquest for your favorite searches! It let us know that someone had planted a box on Cheung Chau Island. So, off we went!

We headed to Hong Kong Island and then jumped on a ferry heading to the Island. Cheung Chau Island is around 6 miles southwest of Hong Kong Island and has been a fishing village since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is noted for its beaches and particularly for the Cheung Chau Bun Festival. In ancient times, a devastating epidemic attacked the people of the island, who held the first Bun Festival in an attempt to clear their little homeland of disease. The epidemic suddenly disappeared and the festival is held every year now. There is a large parade and celebrations fill the streets and alleys. There is a Lucky Bun competition where climbers scale a tower of lucky buns grabbing all the high scoring ones they can - largest total number wins!




We started our hike at the waterfront and quickly made our way to the Pak Tei Temple which is dedicated to the Northern King. Then we climbed up, and up the trails. Did I mention it was a very hot, very humid day? But, please notice that is was a "blue sky" day. We count them over here, you know.






OK, this is something you don't see every day. These are fire beaters used to put out hill fires. Accidentally start a little fire? Whack it out with these and then return them to the holder.










Yup, we're just hanging around here! It was tough getting up that boulder!

We were really hot and needed more water and something cold, so after monkeying around here and taking the trail to one of the pavillions, we headed back to the main road for water and ice cream. Yum!







After being refreshed, we hit the beach! Let's start with a sand castle or two and then . . .










Let's get in the water! Wow! That feels good!

You can see some of the other Hong Kong islands in the background.


Well, we didn't have time for a seafood dinner at one of the restaurants along the main road, so we had to head back home. Bummer!

THE BRIDE'S POOL

June 22, 2008


We decided to take in the Bride’s Pool Nature trail in the Northern New Territories one hot, steamy June afternoon. The Bride’s Pool legend says that a bride was being taken to her wedding when one of her sedan bearers slipped as they passed the pool and she fell into the pool and drowned. Some even say the see the bride combing her hair and using the pool as a mirror. Well, we can verify that the falls are still there, but we missed seeing the bride. Of course, there were quite a few people there when we were so perhaps they had frightened her off.

The trail down to the falls was quite nice and the shade was enjoyed by all. To get to the falls, you have to cross the creek using stepping stones (rather large ones at that) and then walk up the left-hand side of the creek carefully stepping from boulder to boulder.




(Check out the rocks in the middle of the creek - they are treacherous)













(Then walk up the left-hand side!)









(To get here!)

We finally arrived at the pool, and it was rather nice. We decided to stay dry and not stand under the falls, but there was a heavy mist coming off the falls which was refreshingly cooling.

The hike back was a little different. In order to re-cross the creek, you had to jump across the stepping stones, but instead of jumping down you had to jump up and over. Well, we almost made it, but not quite. Our wet clothes dried fairly quickly, but it happened as around 20 other people were waiting to cross as well, of course. I am sure they were amused by the spectacle!

Ten Thousand Buddhas

June 9, 2008


This Monday was the day after the Tuen Ng Festival and was a Public Holiday. Due to excessive amounts of rain and the Public Holiday, Fluffy has not be able to get to the market yet! :(

On the previous Saturday, 16.5 inches of rain fell in Hong Kong. That is not a typo! There were quite a few mud/rock slides and the road to the air port was blocked for the better part of the day. Thankfully, the trains were running.



The skies cleared for a few hours, so we headed over to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin (that's in the New Territories). First we finally located the correct sidewalk and then up, up, up the stairs we went. There are over 500 steps to reach the top and there were Buddhas lining the entire walk. Here is Fluffy with her new pal Punkie Dominoes getting to know one of the Buddhas - he was kind of quiet! When you finally reached the temple area, it was really a sight to behold.

Although it is listed as having 10,000 Buddhas, actually that's not true - there are over 13,000. My guidebook says that the Chinese use 10,000 as another way of says just lots and lots! The Buddhas were made by Shanghai craftsmen and donated by worshipers.







This is just one side of the temple. The other side was like this - just as many lighted Buddha statues. The central section was a little different - more ornate and includes the mummified corpse of one of the monks.
















This pagoda structure included Buddha statues in all of the windows. You could even walk up several stories.

You could walk to another section of the monastery where the mausoleums were located; these contained many more statues.

Fluffy and Punkie enjoyed watching the monkeys - there were several running back and forth on the side of the steps. Actually, I think the monkeys enjoyed watching all the people.

Well, that was about it for this adventure.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

June 2, 2008

It has been raining steadily here in Hong Kong which has prevented us from making a big trip to the markets. Fluffy wants so much to visit the Ladies Market, the Goldfish Market, the Flower Market, Bird Market (although that's kind of iffy with the BirdFlu they have going around right now - lots of chickens have been culled), and of course, Sneaker Street!

She has met a new buddy, Punkie Dominoes, from The Land Pirates of Washington. They were rather bored the other day and got out the Scrabble board. Yeah! Instant fun!

Another day, to beat the boredom, they travelled to the New Town Plaza in Sha Tin and visited Pacific Coffee. Wow! Punkie and Fluffy enjoyed that icy cold drink!

More later!

Visit to The Peak

One weekend we made a really fun visit to The Peak. The Peak is where the Governor used to live (before the hand-over of Hong Kong back to China). Lots of history here. Max the Monkey was visiting when we went to The Peak, so that's who that funny looking fellow is hugging my neck - we were really great friends.

To get there we took the train to Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounce this like Chim Sha Choy) on the Kowloon Peninsula. Then we got to take the historic Star Ferry across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. This is the side of the harbor that you see most frequently photographed.

The really tall buildings are located here - my favorite is the Bank of China building (look for a related letterbox shortly). The tallest building is the International Finance Center building. Very majestic! I haven't been down here at night yet, but the B's promise to take me soon. Every evening at 8:00 PM they have a laser light show that is pretty impressive. Anyway, back to my story.

After arriving in Central, we waved goodbye to the Star Ferry (that's it leaving in the picture) and jumped on the bus. You can take The Peak Tram, but we happen to know that the line to take the tram up the hill is usually terrible, and the bus is much quicker. What a ride, too! The road is very curvy as it climbs the mountain, and you get a great view of the city below. Up, up, up we went to the top. Actually, if you must know, it doesn't go all the way to the top, but they call it The Peak anyway.

When we arrived it was lunch time, and since they have already dined at some of the super restaurants here (check out Art Deco or the Peak Lookout on line), we headed for an easy favorite - Burger King. Yes, there are a lot of American fast food places here in Hong Kong, but we have only ever seen two BK's. The only down part about BK in HK is that they don't offer all the kids crowns - darn, I wanted one! Refreshed and ready to head out, we bounded for the trail.

We found the Circle Walk and passed waterfalls and lots of interesting views of the South China Sea and the Harbor. One old India Rubber Tree has amazing roots hanging everywhere. In addition to the walk and the sights, we stopped by the Star Ferry Letterbox and checked on it. Unfortunately, we forgot our markers, so the image is just in black, but Traveln Turtle did a nice job on the stamp. On around the walk we went taking a few pictures here and there.

After the walk, it was almost time for Little B and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to head to tennis. On the way up the mountain, there was terrible traffic heading in the opposite direction, so we decided to take the tram back down the mountain. Wow! What a fun ride. The tram is supposed to be the steepest funicular railway in the world. It makes a steep 373 meter path up the mountainside and has been in operation since 1888. The view is terrific. Here's a picture of me and Little B on the tram. How cool is that?

See the picture that is kind of sideways? That's the angle of descent - whoa!

Do you like the one of the slope registration? They register the slopes the check them regularly - "Safe Slopes Save Lives". Never seen that one before!