Week 21: 8/21/05

<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> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 13: 6/26/05 "><B>Week 13: 6/26/05 </B></A></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> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f00000cc00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Week 21: 8/21/05 </B></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 21: 8/21/05 </div> <div> Hello Everyone!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> The days have been PACKED this week, a major event on the calendar for each day. We were trying to cram in all the things we wanted to get done with Josh, but Mother Nature had other plans! Of course, you've heard the saying "when it rains, it pours", so in addition to all the things we wanted to do while substantial amounts of rain poured down from the heavens, we had our own personal gray clouds to deal with here at home.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Typhoon!</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> A typhoon hit Hong Kong and southern China this week, which sounds exciting but was a bit anticlimactic considering all the build up and the typhoon stories that everyone was telling. Josh and I went to the Jade Market, a little gem of a place where you have to bargain hard for baubles and trinkets in many colors, not just the most common green color. Josh made out with some great deals, I only got a couple of things since I figured I'd have time to go back a second time... however, I don't think it's going to happen! While we were out, I noticed signs in storefronts saying "Typhoon #1 Warning Hoisted". I pointed it out to Josh and he asked how high the levels went. I said they go up to seven. He said big deal. I said, but between one and seven, there's only a level three. I know, it doesn't make sense to me either! We decided to go on back home where Mike was languishing in bed with another stomach bug while the kids went crazy with him. The rain started up, and we watched the Hong Kong Observatory issue several warnings in addition to the Typhoon Warning, which all sounded like Hong Kong was about to be wiped off the map at any moment: STRONG MONSOON SIGNAL, AMBER RAINSTORM WARNING SIGNAL, THUNDERSTORM WARNING, LANDSLIP WARNING. Needless to say, what was going on outside our window looked like we might be under water. The wind was so strong that up here on the 17th floor we watched the rain going up instead of down, and giant drops of water collected and floated around outside our window in midair. All the rain drove my two small children up the wall, so we decided to let Josh take Nathan on a couple trips to the indoor playground.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Bat Cave</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> I was on the phone with my friend from California while Benjamin was napping when I heard screaming in the hallway followed by our front door opening. There stood Nathan gripping his left arm while Josh shrugged. Nathan tends to be a little dramatic in his approach to things (have <I>NO</I> idea where he gets <I>THAT</I> from!) and even the smallest bumps and bruises cause much crying. Like Josh, I figured that Nathan was overreacting to falling off a climbing toy, and that in a few minutes he'd be back to normal. However, this did not happen. If anything, the screaming increased when I tried to look at it, and I noticed that his elbow appeared to be getting larger. So after hemming and hawing and trying to decide what yet another trip to the ER was going to do to our bank account, I loaded Nathan up into a taxi and we headed down the hill to Adventist Hospital. We got in immediately, and I was embarrassed to no end at the way Nathan made death treats to the nurse and the doctor who tried to look at him, all the while clutching his Mickey Mouse stuffed toy. Once again, I had to point out to the nurse that although Nathan looks six, he's all of four, and doesn't understand what she means by "indicate where you are having pain". "Where's your owie" is a little more his language. It was finally determined that Nathan needed an x-ray, as he could neither straighten or bend his elbow. So in a wheelchair ("I hurt so bad I can't walk, Mommy") we went to radiology on the second floor to have a peek at his bones. I must confess that I have spent a great deal of time in the radiology departments at Stanford and Torrance Memorial Hospital where Benjamin has had countless chest x-rays and kidney procedures. These are first rate, clean, even dare I say gorgeous facilities. Adventist is in the middle of a big renovation of their radiology department, so between the dim lighting, the strange ancient humming equipment, giant stacks of crates covered in plastic, and the brown vinyl table in the middle of the room, I can totally understand why Nathan let out an ear piercing scream when the tech wheeled him into the "cave". In the meantime, Mike was racing home from work to be with us in the middle of the biggest storm of the season, and my promises of "Daddy will be here any minute" were getting old to my fearful boy. They did an x-ray of him in the wheelchair, but couldn't get the angle right so we had to put him on the table, which was such an ordeal I was ready to say "just put a cast on it and call it broke! This isn't worth it!". They got a single decent shot while I held Nathan down and forced him to breathe with me, and we were sent back downstairs to the orthopedic surgeon who knew just the right words to say to Nathan to escape the death threats that the general physician got. With his arm in a splint, and covered in a sling with balloon holding teddy bears, we paid the $150 US and walked out the front door of the hospital where Mike was just getting out of a taxi. We all jumped back in the same taxi and went home, where Josh was waiting for a report. We had been told to return on Monday for a second look, and possibly more x-rays.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>BYOE- Bring Your Own Earplugs</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> I had read in the paper that the Shanghai Opera Company was going to be in town and performing some Chinese Opera in Mandarin, different from the Cantonese Opera that we tortured ourselves with earlier this year, and since it was a full production with sets and costumes, I bought a couple of tickets for Josh, Robbi, and I to go see it. Josh is a musician, and the mom part of me thought it would be awesome to expose him to a type of music not often seen in the U.S. We bought the cheap seats up in the balcony, and settled in for a production called "The butterfly's dream", a traditional story hundreds of years old. This opera had surtittles with the words in English shown in LED off to the side of the proscenium letting us know what we were seeing. I was surprisingly delighted! Mandarin is much easier on the ears than Cantonese, and the translation went very far at helping me understand that the long wails one of the characters were making were meant to be comical rather than the throes of death overtaking her. Robbi was glad she was there to experience it, but poor Josh was in agony. His biggest complaint was the story... one character would say "I'm going to trick my wife". Then he'd find another character who would say "are you going to trick your wife?". Then while doing the aforementioned tricking, he'd say the obvious. And finally, after the tricking was completed, he'd say "I tricked my wife!". Josh felt it was redundant, but after all my years of studying classical Greek dramas and Shakespeare, it was a format I was familiar with. At the intermission we got a call from Mike, who was in the area. Josh wanted to bail on the opera, so with me as the middleman on my cell phone, I told them where they could meet each other. At the conclusion of the show, we found Josh, still not with Mike. I called Mike, who mistook my directions and jumped on the Star Ferry and was trying to meet us on the other side of Victoria Harbour. Arrghh! We got home really late, in addition to having to wait for Mike, with the deluge rainfall there was not a taxi to be found. We gave the babysitter almost twice her normal rate, knowing that the poor lady wasn't going to be home until nearly 1:00 a.m.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Hong Kong Disneyland</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> August 16th marked the first "Rehearsal Day" for the new theme park, and Robbi had tickets to spare, and we had kids dying to go, so off Josh, the boys and I went to be among the first people on earth to visit Hong Kong Disneyland as a guest. We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride nearly a dozen times, and Josh rode Space Mountain (an exact replica of the newly refurbished model in Anaheim, CA) five times. It was an awesome day, because for the first time ever I got to see the fruit of Michael's labor... the show he has worked tirelessly on for nearly two years in full color right on stage in front of me. I was very impressed, as was Josh. We saw ourselves in the 0.5 second clip that made it into the show. The kids cheered and clapped when the bubbles and confetti (not at the same time) came raining down. After the show I had a huge grin on my face and I was filled with relief that what Mike had poured all the effort into wasn't a dud. We saw Michael very briefly to congratulate him, and he was shocked that we found it so great... we then found out that the show we saw had several things go wrong with the video, set pieces, flying rig, and pyro. It didn't matter to us though, we still thought it was great! It was a bittersweet day for our family, however, as the kids had not seen Michael for several weeks, and I only saw him at about 1:00 a.m. when he'd get home for about ten minutes before he'd pass out, and there we were, within 500 feet of his theater all day and he still couldn't be with us due to all the issues that had come up. We tried to make the best of it, grabbing three minutes with him by the stage door a couple times during the day. At the end of the night it began to pour rain and we hid out in the gazebo at the end of Main Street USA and waited for him to get off work so we could at least go home together. We did, and we got hosed by the downpour, but having Mike with us to race through the rain at nearly 10:00 p.m. made all the difference in the world!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Junk Ride</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Here you can go for a free ride on the Duk Ling, a 50 year old Chinese sailing ship called a junk, provided you are a visitor to Hong Kong. Junks date back to the Han Dynasty, 220 BC, and whenever you see a photo of Hong Kong that features a teak boat with giant orangey-red sails, chances are you are looking a picture of the Duk Ling, the sole remaining authentic junk in Hong Kong. I think that they do this free trip to lure you into the Hong Kong Tourism Board office where you are sure to spend money on all the other tours that they offer for a fee. We have wanted to go on the junk ride since we got here, and we've been waiting for Josh's arrival to do it. Of course, being in the middle of rehearsal meant that Mike had no days off to come with us, which was sad since this topped his list of what he wanted to do. Robbi also really wanted to do it, so we went down to book the tickets and used Josh's student ID card to get past the whole visitor thing. On Thursday, the rain was coming down in what looked like a waterfall. I checked the tickets, and they said that the junk ride would go on as planned provided it was not a Red or Black Rainstorm warning. Since the Hong Kong Observatory said it was "only" an Amber Rainstorm Warning, we headed down to the Queen's Pier to await our ship. The wind was fierce enough to create white capped waves in the Harbour, and I held tight to the boys' hands so that they weren't blown out into the water. Finally in the distance we saw the outline of the junk with no sails, as with the rain and wind, they'd be torn off. By the time we boarded the junk, the rain was just a trickle and the wind calmed it's ferocious whipping. We sailed around Victoria Harbour with 20 other tourists from all over the globe walking around the slippery deck, while the crew went barefoot on the wet wooden walkways which pitched and rolled on the turbulent water, not affecting their balance or grip one bit. It was very pleasant, and a nice chance to experience what the common mode of transport was around Asia 150 years ago. Nothing like the nice air conditioned fast ferries you see crossing the sea today! Robbi, Josh and I were met by Mike, and we ended our evening with a trip to Repulse Bay where we enjoyed Shabu-Shabu for dinner. We had told Josh it was all you can eat beef, which he was really looking forward to and he and Mike kept the waiter coming and going with refills of meat for the hour we dined.<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> The role of "houseguest" previously played for four weeks by my cousin Josh will now be played by our friend Jeff Davis, and for the first time in weeks, the sun makes an appearance in Hong Kong! Until then, check out the great photos for this week!</div> <bR> <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= 535 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="51c680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Poor Nathan in the X-Ray room at Adventist Hospital.</div> <div> He got a badge for bravery, </div> <div> I was just as frightened as he was!</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="51e68e00.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> All done and now willing to smile.  Notice the Chinese characters over the door.  I guess there isn't a good word for "Radiology" in Chinese!</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 488 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="51758c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Deja vu!  This is the same parade we saw at Tokyo Disneyland four years ago...</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 472 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="51658c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Josh and Nathan coming back from Tarzan's Island at Disneyland</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 518 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="50468e00.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Come home with us Daddy!</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="50668e00.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Riding the Mickey MTR Train</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 502 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="50868e00.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Josh and Ben aboard the Duk Ling Junk boat</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="50a680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The rain has slowed down!  Quick!  Take a photo!</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 292 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="50c680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Nathan and Miss Robbi</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="520680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Nathan and Josh explore the Junk</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 292 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="51a680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Wanna play?  Jump on!</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="512680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Lunch at Ocean Park</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 504 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="51458c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Truly the strangest "Science Museum" exhibit I've ever seen.  Beneath the pig were different cuts </div> <div> of meat and dishes made of pork, and if you pressed the button beneath it, it would light </div> <div> up the corresponding part of the pig that it came from.  </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>