Week 13: 6/26/05

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFCC80" TEXT="#080000" background="67cc8b83.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Random Things to Make You Giggle"><B>Random Things to Make You Giggle</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hong Kong Disneyland"><B>Hong Kong Disneyland</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Parkview Apartment"><B>Our Parkview Apartment</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 1: 4/3/05"><B>Week 1: 4/3/05</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 2: 4/10/05"><B>Week 2: 4/10/05</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 3: 4/17/05"><B>Week 3: 4/17/05</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 4: 4/24/05 "><B>Week 4: 4/24/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 5: 5/1/05 "><B>Week 5: 5/1/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 6: 5/8/05 "><B>Week 6: 5/8/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 7: 5/15/05 "><B>Week 7: 5/15/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 8: 5/22/05 "><B>Week 8: 5/22/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 9: 5/29/05 "><B>Week 9: 5/29/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 10: 6/5/05 "><B>Week 10: 6/5/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 11: 6/12/05 "><B>Week 11: 6/12/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 12: 6/19/05 "><B>Week 12: 6/19/05 </B></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f00000cc00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Week 13: 6/26/05 </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 14: 7/3/05 "><B>Week 14: 7/3/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 15: 7/10/05 "><B>Week 15: 7/10/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 16: 7/17/05 "><B>Week 16: 7/17/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 17: 7/24/05 "><B>Week 17: 7/24/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 18: 7/31/05 "><B>Week 18: 7/31/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 19: 8/7/05 "><B>Week 19: 8/7/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 20: 8/14/05 "><B>Week 20: 8/14/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 21: 8/21/05 "><B>Week 21: 8/21/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 22: 8/28/05 "><B>Week 22: 8/28/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 23: 9/4/05 "><B>Week 23: 9/4/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 24: 9/11/05 "><B>Week 24: 9/11/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 25: 9/18/05 "><B>Week 25: 9/18/05 </B></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Australian Sunrise" ><B>Welcome to Chase family planet!</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Australian Sunrise" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >    |    </FONT> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to Chase family planet!">home</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adventures in Asia">Adventures in Asia</A>   ·   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us">Contact Us</A></div> <bR> <div> Week 13: 6/26/05 </div> <div> Howdy Folks!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> It's all downhill from here as we begin the second half of our adventure in Hong Kong! But getting to that halfway point has sure seemed like an uphill battle the last couple of weeks! </div> <bR> <div> <B>Far Away</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> This week we were shocked to hear that Michael's sister Holly (who visited us here in Hong Kong) was in a car accident. She was sitting in the left turn lane waiting and waiting and waiting for traffic to lighten up so she could make her turn, when she saw a car heading straight at her, going about 40 miles per hour. At the last second the driver tried to swerve, but Holly's car was hit and the other driver kept on going. Holly got a hairline fracture in her knee, and a big cut on her scalp, and ended up going to the emergency room via ambulance since she couldn't put weight on her leg to climb into her parent's car by herself. She ended up with staples in her head, a leg brace from hip to ankle, bruises and soreness all over, and a totaled car. We were grateful to hear that she is for the most part okay, but filled with a longing to be "home" where she is, where Mike's mom is getting her very last radiation treatment for breast cancer, where a dear friend of mine is moving halfway across the country and taking our godson with her, and where life is going on as normal for so many others... It's hard to be so far away and feel so incapable of doing anything for anyone, missing out on the good things as well the bad. </div> <bR> <div> I feel that way even with my own husband, and we live together! This week, Michael and I celebrated the anniversary of our wedding nine years ago. Of course, I celebrated it at home with room service delivery and two kids deeply infected with cabin fever, and Mike celebrated it at work, neck deep in the first week of tech rehearsals for his show, and feeling pretty miserable about us all being here together in Hong Kong, but not really being here <I>together</I>... We did get to go out several days later, quite by accident. I figured that even if Mike's going to be working until eleven o'clock every night, it doesn't mean that I have to stay here and wait for him. So I booked the babysitter and made a date with myself in the pouring rain. As I was getting ready to leave, he called and said he would meet me, since he was going to ditch work "early" to go out with me. We met at Victoria Peak, and we ate at a restaurant called Shooters 52, which reminded us a lot of TGI Friday's. They had a live "band" which was a husband and wife duo singing Jimmy Buffet tunes and sounding really great until you looked at them and saw them wearing these matching 80's pencil thin leather ties and vests which just didn't go along with the music. The food was overpriced and only so-so, but the ambiance was great, the nighttime view of Kowloon was terrific when the clouds momentarily lifted, and they have a huge indoor children's play area that our kids are sure to love. Mainly it was nice to be out with Michael without the kids, poking our heads in the kitschy tourist shops and eyeing a cool chess set with bone-carved Chinese warriors as the chess pieces. It was so horrible to go home, knowing the next day he'd be back to the grindstone. I know I'm not the only woman out there that thinks her husband works hours that are much too long, but while going through I sure feel like I'm the only one! Michael did surprise me with a giant bouquet of roses two days after our anniversary, which the doorman delivered to me with a bow, cheerfully proclaiming "Happy Birthday!". I got us a gorgeous twelve inch, handpainted porcelain Chinese vase which I bargained hard for, to commemorate this time in China, which I gave him four days after our anniversary (even though I bought it several weeks before). At the end of the night we drifted off to sleep talking about our plans for next year for our 10th anniversary... a business class trip to London (thanks to the oodles of frequent flier miles Mike has accrued with all his time away from us) to see a few shows, and then a few more shows. No kids, no working vacation, just lots of staying out late, intense sleeping in, with as many musicals as we can schedule, maybe a bite to eat or a trip to see Shakespeare's birthplace, but only if it doesn't interfere with our show schedule! </div> <bR> <div> <B>Red rum! I mean, Red rain!</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> The weather in Hong Kong is incredible. Within the first few weeks after our arrival, we got treated to thunderstorms unlike anything I've ever seen, even having lived in the High Desert of California for three years where thunderstorms are common. The intensity rain here is rated by color, and depending on how severe it is, schools are cancelled and public transportation ceases. The lowest warning is Amber, followed by Red, then Black. They also have signals for typhoons, and we are now in typhoon season. We've had quite a few Amber Warnings, and since we live high on a hill, we're generally right in the clouds getting battered like a ship at sea during a hurricane. At night we turn off all the lights and the boys and I snuggle on their bed and watch the electricity light up the heavens. During the day we feel cooped up and edgy, confined to our apartment, waiting for a break in the storm to run across the street to the market to pick up staples. Mike and I have frequently commented to one another and anyone else who will listen "if this is how bad an AMBER warning is, I sure don't want to see what a RED warning is like!". This week we had rain, rain, and more rain. Just never ending, soaking, dismal rain. About 10:00 p.m. each night it would clear up and the clouds would lift, giving us an unparalled view of the magnificent skyscrapers that cover the island. Of course, some time in the night the clouds would come together again and pour out rivers onto the land. The boys and I were going batty, every day Nathan would return from school disgruntled that the rain had stopped his class from being able to play on the outdoor playground. Every day was worse than the last, and I felt that around here things were getting to be a bit like Steven King's The Shining... the family cooped up in the house all go a little batty... I was afraid to look in the steamy bathroom mirror for fear I'd see Jack Nicolson's face leering back at me instead of my own. After a solid week of non-stop torrential rain, Friday finally arrived. Having been unsuccessful in getting to the grocery store all week, breakfast was a random assortment of odds and ends, warm boxed milk and stale heels of bread for toast with a forgotten sample sized packet of orange marmalade spread thinly to disguise the extra crispiness, some baby carrots, and a packet of maria crackers. I worried about what we'd eat for lunch and if our budget (or our taste buds) could handle another meal ordered from room service. All morning both of my children were zinging off the walls like crazed bumper cars, unable to calm down from their frenzied wrestling and running back and forth from the front door to the couch, over and over again until I thought I would go mad. Outside the thunder was crashing constantly and the sky was dark enough to necessitate turning on our lights. I put on a movie for them to watch, hoping it would convince them to sit still for a few minutes, they just turned off the T.V. I pulled out the Legos, only to watch them toss them in the air like heavy confetti. I grabbed paper and crayons, and watched them get into a sword fight with the red and blue crayons. Our home looked a lot like it had been burgled, and I tried to see it though the eyes of the housekeepers who would be there any minute to change the towels and vacuum. It wasn't pretty, and I was sure we'd be the talk of housekeeping that day, but not for good reasons. I was counting down the minutes until 12:15 arrived and I could take Nathan down to the bus, put Ben down for his nap, and sink up to my ears in a hot stress-relieving bubble bath. At 12:14, I picked up my keys and buckled Ben into his stroller, and then the phone rang. <I>"Mrs. Chase? This is Miss Catherine. We are at a Red Storm Warning and therefore school is cancelled. We'll see Nathan on Monday. Have a great weekend!"</I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> My cry could surely be heard three floors up and three floors down:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> As I sunk to my knees with my hands on my forehead, Nathan started pushing the stroller around the carpeted living room with Benjamin still buckled in, then popped a wheelie and lost his balance and they both fell over. Nathan turned into a giggling maniac limp on the ground, while Ben just yelled "more! More!" from his upside-down position, feet kicking madly in the air. After extricating Ben from the wreckage I took the phone into my room and frantically called Mike, hyperventilating harder with every ring until he picked up when I exploded <I>"We're at a Red storm warning and the kids are going crazy and the school just called to say it's cancelled and the boys are trying to kill each other or possibly me and our refridegerator and cupboards are empty but I haven't been able to get to the market since it's been raining all week and the thunder and lightning are coming right on top of each other and it sounds like a plane is crashing into our building and it's sooo much worse than an Amber Storm Warning and I think that I'm about to loose my grip on reality and today is the exact halfway point between our arrival and our departure in Hong Kong but I don't think I'm going to make it another 90 days if I can't make it through the next 90 seconds!!!!"</I> I paused to take a wheezy breath, and Mike said "Uh, I can't really talk right now since I'm in a meeting, but please try to hold it together, you will survive this", and then he hung up. I tried to take a deep breath and get my wits about me. I flung the door of my bedroom open and like the ultimate mother figure marched into the middle of the living room with my hands on my hips, <I>"Children listen up, school has been cancelled so we are having a change of plans. Benjamin Martin, you get back in the stroller. Nathan Ernest, take off your uniform and grab your umbrella. NOW! Let's go".</I> </div> <bR> <div> Downstairs we marched, where an army of men and women in black suits stood peering out of the glass walls in the lobby. A giant sign in the lobby proclaimed "RED STORM WARNING" with a large red rain cloud (leading Nathan to believe that it was raining red water). I made to open the door, and the doorman stopped us to say surely we weren't going outside? I said indeed we were, step aside please, crazy we may be to venture out in the storm, but not the permanent kind of crazy that being locked in our shrinking apartment will bring about. We stomped through puddles staying as covered as we could while in the sky above us it sounded like World War III was being waged. Thunder roared and banged constantly, then reverberated off the buildings over and over again, even as the next CRACK hit. We went into the Spa and Resort part of Parkview, which houses the indoor playground. Of course, like everything else here, the <I>real</I> indoor playground is under construction, so they've thrown some foam squares and Little Tykes toys down in an attic area with exposed pipes running across the ceiling and said "sorry for the inconvenience". Normally I despise going to the playgrounds here at Parkview since they are filled with big kids who are even more rambunctious than mine who tend to push and shove my kids down while their helpers chit-chat amongst themselves and look the other way. But today I didn't care who was there, I figured that after what I saw in my own living room that morning my kids could more than hold their own against a group of wild eleven year olds. We pushed open the door and like a gift from heaven found we had the place to ourselves. For almost two hours the kids ran in circles and played while I leaned against a bright red foam dog with my feet propped up on a vinyl camel and read the book I had brought along (called "Undomestic Goddess" about a woman who is thrust into taking care of a house and home who is not particularly good at it. I laughed, I cried, I saw myself in every page). It was glorious! The thunder still echoed through the rafters, and by the time other kids (the wild older ones I'm always trying to avoid and two runny-nosed germy coughing toddlers that my healthy-for-once kids don't need to be around) showed up, my kids were tuckered out and willingly followed me to the grocery store where I loaded up the stroller with the basics. We made our way back across the street without an umbrella, as the rain was just a light sprinkle, and we feasted on fresh fruit, bread from the in-store bakery still warm from the oven, spread with delicious raspberry jam, hand jarred in New Zealand. Full and happy, Ben got his nap, Nathan quietly poured through a new book that comes with a CD of the story, and I filled our giant bathtub with hot water and Eucalyptus Stress Relieving Bubbles and let Calgon (or I guess Bath & Body Works) take me away.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Kidnapped!</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> My friend Robbi arrived from California this week to work on the Task Force that opens the new park and brings it up to the proper Disney level. I was happy to see her, and thrilled to see what she had brought with her... three Costco-sized bottles of Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup! The poor woman lugged them in her carry-ons all the way to Hong Kong, and then all over Hong Kong as I met her on Saturday with the boys for the transfer of syrup... She came with the boys and I to a little deli for lunch, then Toys R Us, then we walked around Causeway Bay and boarded one of the double decker trams that run all over the Island. Funny thing was that I had both the boys, the stroller, my backpack, and Robbi had a giant duffle bag that weighed more than Nathan containing the syrup and some other goodies for the kids, and we were trying to board this packed tram through a tiny turnstile and then make our way up the stairs which are more "ladder" than "stair" while carrying Ben, the backpack, and stroller... it was funny, but one of those things like "hey! There's a tram! Let's get on it!" before we really thought about it. We took it all the way to North Point and then back to Causeway Bay, where the kids and I got in a taxi to go home. Robbi waited in line with us for the taxi, and I didn't tell the boys she wasn't coming with us, so she closed the door to the taxi, we drove off, and both boys spun around, saw her at the curb, and promptly started crying! Ben fell asleep on the ride home, so the doorman had to help with the stroller, the duffle bag full of syrup, the backpack, and the Toys R Us bag while I carried the sack of potatoes with his blankie. Nathan was despondent over the fact that Robbi wasn't coming to <I>live</I> with us... he kept asking if she was our cousin. I told him we would spend the next day with her, and he was happy. On Sunday she met us in Wan Chai, and we hopped in a cab for our second trip out to Jumbo the floating Chinese restaurant. When you order dim sum, it's not like ordering a regular meal, where everything comes at once and everyone digs in. Little plates of things keep appearing over the course of twenty minutes. We thought we'd gotten everything Mike had ordered, so we asked for a couple more things... and then they brought out more food that we'd originally ordered plus the new things we'd added. We were all stuffed! We walked through the seafood exhibition again, and then saw a shuttle boat was about to leave, so we hurried onto it. What we didn't know was there are two different piers you can go to that have shuttle boats, the one we've gone to twice is the "fancy" one, with yachts in the harbor and Porches parked nearby. The shuttle boat we got on took us to the <I>other</I> pier which is right in the middle of the boats that people live on, and they are a far cry from yachts. We found a little playground for the boys to run around on, and then we saw the sky darken and we ran for cover as the rain started up again. It didn't last too long, but our next goal of finding a taxi proved to be pretty tough, and we took a couple of wrong turns. We found a taxi stand next to one of the betting offices for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and sitting outside were dozens of men in sweaty tank tops with their racing forms and portable radios listening to the races taking place up in Sha Tin at the race course. </div> <bR> <div> In our taxi we raced to our next destination, the Hong Kong Convention Center and the pier in front of it where we had reservations for a two and half hour cruise around Hong Kong Island on a three story ship with a giant gold dragon on the top. I've been wanting to go a sightseeing cruise since we got here, and having Robbi with us was the perfect excuse to go, so I researched until I found the best deal, the longest cruise for the least amount of money, which included all the free non-alcoholic beverages you could guzzle! After boarding the ship, we were amused to find there was only one other group of people, four Chinese men. So together with the five of us, the four cruise ship staff members, and the four men, we had the ship to ourselves! The ship we were on seemed to be primarily used for night time harbour cruise parties, judging by the huge bar, the parquet wood dance floor with deluxe sound system and moving lights, and the constant 80's karaoke songs playing throughout the ship on TV's placed everywhere you looked. I wanted a cruise that told us a little bit about what we were seeing, and when I booked it, I was assured they had narration in English. Well, that's true. But the only narration on the ship was a little blurb at the beginning "we're so happy you are with us today, we're here to serve you, please have a nice trip!". Then it was just "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" and "Country Road, Take Me Home" coming through the sound system, in English, for the rest of the trip. We did cruise to the south side of Hong Kong Island, passing a bunch of tiny islands, including Green Island and Little Green Island. Little Green Island was about the size of our backyard in Lomita! Hong Kong is made up of over 250 islands, and I see now how that count can be so high if a tiny speck of land can be counted as one of them. When the rain let up enough, we went to the top outdoor deck where under the giant gold dragon hung a ride-on whale and dolphin, suspended with chains. The boys were excited to be in the for about three minutes, and then we all got tossed about by the choppy sea, trying to make sure the boys didn't get too close to the edge. When we got back to shore, we took off for home while Robbi continued exploring Hong Kong. She told us she got in at 11:00 p.m., and her bosses had been worried that no one had seen her all weekend. Thinking the worst, they actually called the police and put out an alert to look for her. We Chase's are a bad influence! You hang out with us we'll drag you all over the country, get you in trouble with your bosses! Fortunately it's a pretty small country...<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Next week...</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Bye-bye "baby" Benjamin... we've got a two year old toddler on our hands! Bye-bye school year, as Nathan finishes up his first year of school. Bye-bye rain as the skies clear up. Bye-bye Michael as he dives into working seven days a week. But hello giant pandas! We get up close with An-an and Jia-jia, the giant pandas at Ocean Park, and walk through a butterfly house with giant black butterflies diving around us like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's <I>The Birds</I> while the boys and their friends scream in terror. But for now, go check out the photos for this week!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Happy traveling!</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00BF00" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>Heather, Michael, Nathan, and Benjamin Chase</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="771" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 324 WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="3ec680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> On top of the cruise ship going through Victoria Harbour</div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3ee680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Running through the rain puddles</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 414 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3f00e680.jpg" border=0 width="270" height="360" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Benjamin found a toy umbrella, </div> <div> climbed on top of the table and held it up.  </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3f20e680.jpg" border=0 width="270" height="360" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> On top of the cruise ship.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 414 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3f4680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The totally empty temporary indoor </div> <div> playground during the Red Rain Warning.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3f60e680.jpg" border=0 width="270" height="360" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Robbi and Nathan</div> <bR> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 292 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3f8680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Fishing boat in Aberdeen Harbour</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3fa680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Aberdeen Harbour</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 325 WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="3fc680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Green Island with the Tsing Ma Bridge in the background that links the Kowloon Peninsula to Tsing Yi Island and Launtau Island (where Disneyland is).</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3fe680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The gold dragon on top of the cruise ship.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>