Symphony of Lights

After 8 months in Hong Kong, I finally saw the Hong Kong light show from Tsim Sha Tsai. The first night Vicky and John were here, we took the old Star ferry over to Kowloon, wandered the markets, and made it back to the waterfront in time for the 8pm light show.

The light show has just been admitted into the Guinness Book of World Records because it has the largest number of independent or company buildings participating and has been going daily for the longest period of time.

The best view is from Kowloon because you can see the entire business area of Hong Kong Island from across Victoria Harbour. Strobe lights flash, buildings change colors, and some even sport pocka dots. It is quite a show although it would be interesting to have the music in the background to help coordinate the symphony of lights. I will have to find out what symphony they actually used when coordinating the light show.

Year 6 Camp

Year 6 was split into two groups that traveled between two locations. The group that I was a part of started on Tung Lung Island where we camped in tents and had outhouses for toilets. The activities on the island were the best of the two locations though. On the first day, my group did the zip line across the ocean between two cliffs and then we moved on to rockclimbing. The kids took pictures of my climb while yelling encouraging suggestions about where to put my hands and feet. Unfortunately, my feet and hands are about 5 times bigger than theirs and the suggestions didn't always work.

One of the activities at the Sai Kung location was raft building. In teams the kids had to build a raft with inner tubes, rope, and bamboo sticks. Then they had to paddle across a little bay, rescue their teacher, and transport the teacher back to the other side. Marcus and I weren't sure the raft would actually make it across to us, but both teams made it.

Two kids in my group heading over the cliff towards the zip line. In the backgrond, you can see the rockclimbing spot and the absailing (repelling) spot.

A far away view of a team headed to the zipline.

Camp Reflection

It was great to see the kids open up over the 3 days. Most of the kids had never experienced anything like this before and even hiking on non-concrete paths was new. Unfortunately, they weren't good with bugs either and one tent of boys kept me up all night because of a spider. One girl brought a powder that was supposed to keep away snakes, so her tent had a big yellow powder circle around it.

Things to remember for next year:

1. Don't get stuck in the tent that is on the way to the bathroom on the first night because the kids don't sleep at all the first night!
2. Bring snacks because the kids are responsible for cooking the food and sometimes it was a bit interesting.
3. Don't volunteer to be the only teacher supervising the girls in the dormatory at the youth hostel.

Hong Kong Rugby 7's

The Kiwi team meets just after a game at the Rugby 7's. It wasn't the professional All Blacks playing, and unfortunately the team didn't start the games with the traditional Hakka.

This photo of the South stand doesn't really do a good job of capturing the craziness. In this part of the stadium, fans are allowed to drink and most have on wild costumes. The heat on Saturday made the guys in Speedos and swimming caps the best dressed, but various superheros and literary characters filled the seats as well.

During the team procession, the Kenyans danced in traditional dress. The French seemed to have the best sense of humour though. After hearing the amount of booing on Saturday, they showed up on Sunday with cardboard shields with chickens dressed in French colors. At each corner of the stadium they stopped, huddled together and allowed the fans to throw various objects at them. Even a few eggs were hurled!

After the procession of teams, a traditional lion, dragon, and unicorn dance was performed in the stadium.