Well as you may remember a while back we found out that we had a visa problem where we would need to leave the country 2 days before our flight home was scheduled. We looked at all of our options which included:
2. Change our return flight. ( Because we bought the "cheapest" tickets we could find they were not changeable.)
3. Pay a fine ( The fine can range anywhere from about $70 USD per person to $600 USD, and we didn't want to risk our relationship with Taiwan in case we have the opportunity to return someday.)
4.Trip to Hong Kong. (Best Choice not only would it resolve our visa problem but also it would let Hannah fulfill a lifelong goal of going to mainland China.)
So after much thought and prayer we booked our flights to Hong Kong April 25-27th. There is also a Bethal branch in Hong Kong, so I called to schedule a tour for Friday. I wanted to get an English tour if possible, and the sister was very kind, she asked if we would also like to eat lunch with the Bethel family of-course we accepted. Aside from visiting Bethel we really didn't know what to do in Hong Kong. We are still really bad at this whole travel thing. More about that later though... Also Quick fun fact Hong Kong is the Cantonese pronunciation in Mandarin it is: Xiānggǎng. 香港
On Thursday we took a bus to Taipei where the international airport is located. Buses are much cheaper than the High Speed Rail. A single ticket to Taipei on the HSR will run you about 650nt or aprox 23 USD where as a single ticket on the bus will only run you 150nt or about 5 USD.
We arrived a few hours before our flight but after getting checked in we really only had a short time to grab something to eat. But none the less we made it with out any problems.
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| Taipei International Airport |
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| Hannah At the Hello Kitty Self check in counter. |
As we flew into Hong Kong we were amazed! It was clear and the way the sun was hitting the city and the ocean it was just beautiful! Nothing like we were expecting. Here are some shots from the plane:
So our first impression of Hong Kong was: "This is beautiful we are going to love it here!" As we walked around everything was in English and everyone we talked to spoke English very well. We felt like this was truly going to be a vacation. Much needed since school has been a nightmare lately. We talked with a lady at information and she told us the cheapest way to get to our hotel. We bought our octopus cards (used for all public transport except taxis) and headed to our bus.
Because Hong Kong has a very heavy British influence they drive on the left side of the street, very strange! We rode the bus for about an hour and a half and then got off at the stop we had been told. Then we promptly got very very lost and walked back and forth and in circles trying to figure out where we were and where we needed to go. Finally a kind man took pity on us and asked us if we needed help, which we did! He told us exactly where we needed to go in flawless English. As we were walking on the street to our hotel we saw several hamster sized (As Hannah puts it) roaches, come our of the storm drains. They were 2 to 3 inches long! When we first saw them a man walking right in front of us stomped one and then kept walking, like it was totally normal. We have heard that that will happen in older parts of Taiwan, but weve never seen it. We freaked out and picked up our pace to the hotel. The hotel was very nice and pretty new but in an older area. After checking in we went to get dinner. We didn't realize that in Hong Kong the main language is Cantonese not Mandarin so we could not use our Chinese that we have been learning. Very frustrating!
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| On the Bus driving on the "Wrong" side of the road |
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| Walking in Circles trying to find hotel |
The next morning I asked for directions to Bethel and the girl at the front desk helped me find the easiest way there taxi and then MTR (basically a subway system). We have been spoiled though with our apartment in Taiwan when we need a taxi we ask our guard they call us one and it is there in 3 min. We ended up waiting over 25 min for a taxi. We even saw 2 men in front of us get in a fight over who's taxi it was, when the taxi just drove off with out anyone in it. Finally we got a taxi and made it to the MTR at which point Hannah realized she didn't have her Octopus card with her! SHe had to go buy a one way ticket. Finally we made it to the correct station near Bethel. We were very stressed and very late and didn't know where to go. So our Second impression of Hong Kong was " We hate it hear it is dirty and gross and we can't get anywhere!"
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| On board the crowded MTR |
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| The Building where Bethel is located. Because Land is very expensive in Hong Kong they only own a floor instead of the whole building. They have many locations for residence through out Hong Kong and recently purchased another floor of this building so next year that will be open as well. |
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| Front Desk |
As we were trying to figure out where to go a Sister came up to us and asked "Are you witnesses? Are you going to Bethel? Let me show you the way." She was from California and currently serving in Bethel. We really felt it was Jehovah taking care of us since we were near our breaking point. When we arrived at Bethel the reception was so warm and loving and they didn't mind at all that we were late. The sister who gave us the tour was the one who I had talked to originally. Her name was Teresa. She asked us what we had planned after the tour and lunch. We told her we had no idea what to do, that we wanted to ask them what they recommended. She left for a few min then came back with a map and told us what we could do and exactly how to get there. She lined out 6 or 7 interesting places we could go. And all of the things had "pioneer rates" aka very cheap :). She even gave us her personal phone number in case we got lost. Her nick name at Bethel is "Mother Teresa."
The Tour was very interesting. And the growth in Hong Kong is extraordinary! The video that they showed said that there were over 30 serving at Bethel but the new figure is actually more than 230.
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| Our Tour Group |
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| "Mother Teresa" |
Teresa was on a translation team for 30 years she told us that it normally takes about 6 weeks to translate a 32 page magazine. She also showed us how the translation has improved. In the beginning they only did a direct translation instead of translating the meaning they translated the words. When a word didn't exist they would approximate the sounds like you would do for a name. This made the old literature much harder to understand
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| Old Publications translated into Chinese |
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| This was the First Our Kingdom Ministry. it was Hand Written |
At the end of the tour she told us about Harold King and Nancy Yuan's experiences in China. Harold King was a British brother sent to China as a missionary who was imprisoned for over 6 years for his ministry. Nancy Yuan was a Chinese housewife that got the truth in Shanghai She was baptized and began preaching. She was sent to prison for 20 years. We got to watch a video with interviews from both of them. Teresa also shared some parts of Nancy Yuan's experience with us, since she actually got to attend pioneer school with her. She told us how they would feed her rice mixed with sand. She said the hardest part of her imprisonment was not being visited by her children, the youngest of which was 2 when she was imprisoned.
Truly fine examples of unbreakable faith and trust in Jehovah!
After the tour we walked to another building where the kitchen was and enjoyed lunch with the Bethel family.
Entrance to bethals dining room
It was a little chilly so we decided to go to Starbucks where we were happy to find out that our gift cards work unlike in Taiwan. It was very crowded but a man called us over and said he was almost done and that we could have his table. As it turns out he is a teacher in mainland China and we got to talk with him and witness for about half an hour.
After that we asked a young man to take our picture. He was very nice and did so. We mentioned in passing that we were headed to the Ferry to go to the other side of the Bay. He said that was where he was headed as well and that he would go with us. It was a little awkward because he just attached him self to us for about 3 hours. However we feel we got to give him a very unique witness. Not only in just talking with him but also we ran into a sister that we had met at Bethel and he saw us talking with her and we met a group who were booth witnessing. The world wide brotherhood is so wonderful no mater where you are when you meet fellow brothers and sisters it is like meeting an old friend. Hannah was even able to help them since they had ran out of English magazines and she got to place a set with a lady that had approached them.
A "Chinese Junk"
Our journey with him ended as naturally as we could have hoped for when our plans finally differed. The Last thing that Teresa had recommended for us was to go up to the peak at night for an amazing view of the city.
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| Back on the other side of the bay there was a band singing "Poker Face" with Cantonese mixed in. There is just something really funny about that. :) |
We Made it Back to the Hotel safe, sound and exhausted. The Next day we headed to the airport this time taking the MTR which although was a little more expensive it was much faster and much easier. (Although the entrance to it from our hotel did not have an elevator so I had to carry our suit case up 4 flights of stairs.)
Our Flight was delayed by an hour. But the return flight to Taipei took only 1 hour 5 mins I don't know why the time was cut almost in half? Once back in Taiwan we went through immigration and we can now stay up to 180 more days. However we only have a little over 30 remaining, hard to believe!
After about 3.5hrs on 2 buses we made it home around 8pm. Its strange how 3 days in Hong Kong really only ended up being 1 because of travel time.
On Sunday we visited the English congregation in Taichung for what will probably be our last time. It was so nice to get to talk to all of the friends and fully understand the talk and Watchtower study. After the meeting we went to lunch and then preaching on the square.
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| Taichung English congregation |
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| Booth witnessing at the square. |
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| Also Had to include this Shot, look at the dog on the scooter. :) |
Love Phil & Hannah
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