Out & About with Grace: August 2005

Mass, Mahjong & Big Buddha

August 28 -

Today Mark and I went to mass at a local school in Tuen Mun.
The mass was conducted in English and Filipino.
Most of the household help in Hong Kong are from the
Philippines and their only day off is on Sunday.
I chatted with a girl after mass who was telling
me she is in Hong Kong on a 2 year contract.
She is given a one week vacation at the end of the 2 years.

Mark taking pictures after mass.
Mark is an Orlando-based photographer hired by Disney
for the Hong Kong Disneyland project. He
loves shooting pictures on his own time, as well as for work.
I have a link to his blog...you should check it out.

After mass one of the ladies from the church invited
us to visit the "prayer room". It was a classroom that was setup
as a chapel. The choir was practicing...we sat in for a while,
took some pictures and learned a line of the song they
were rehearsing. Repetition, repetition--
they were pretty tickled when we joined in.

Mickey and a few other characters were in the
tile floors around the school.

We came upon a group of men playing Mahjong as we
were walking to the bus stop to catch the 962 to get
back to Gold Coast. It reminded me of how Cubans get
together to play dominoes.

Clothes hanging out of apartment windows

Me, Trish, Sherry and Joan
We piled into a taxi and headed to the ferry pier.
Mark took this photo from the front seat of the taxi.

In the afternoon we took the ferry from Tuen Mun to go to
Lantau Island to see the Tiantan Buddha at Po Lin Monastery...
also known as "Big Buddha".

Fisherman off the Lantau Island ferry dock

I have never been so happy to see a sign!!
We had instructions on how to get to the Big Buddha from
the Tuen Mun ferry (2 sources - guidebook & Gold Coast concierge).
Turns out none of our directions were quite right.
We arrived at the ferry dock and the bus we were supposed to
take was not in the lineup of buses listed. Then we
decided to walk not knowing if we were headed in the right
direction. We found some people who directed us to a mall
area with a bus depot...there we found this sign.
We were so happy!

Photo by Mark

Monk on his way to the Po Lin Monastery.

Vista from the bus as we took. The bus trip was via very steep,
winding, narrow roads to get to the Big Buddha

Temple gate at the foot of the Big Buddha

Big Buddha is 85 feet high. There are 268 steps
leading up to the Buddha.

View from the top level

Me, Sherry, Joan, Trish and Mark

Thanks for visiting the Big Buddha!

Jade Market and Philharmonic

August 21 -

Gary making friends on the MTR

Busy MTR station

Jade Market sells a little bit of everything from
Mao watches to pearls to jade.

Tad and Doug invited us to see the China Philharmonic Orchestra
in Tuen Mun. The gentleman playing the violin is the orchestra's
music director, principal conductor and violin solo. Busy man!
It was fun to attend an event among the locals of Tuen Mun.

Michael, me, Doug and Tad

More Hong Kong Disneyland

August 23 - Another day of shooting

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Entrance to Tomorrowland

Entrance to Adventureland

Camera crew on Orbitron shooting POV (point of view)

Darla, me, Gary & Matt

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August 18 - Night shots

After work we walked through the park to get to the
MTR (subway), it was a good opportunity to take

some night shots of the park.

Space Mountain

Orbitron

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Main Street, U.S.A.

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August 15 - Rehearsal Days

In preparation for park opening September 12th,

HKDL is doing a series of rehearsal days. It's a
great tool to get cast members ready
and to test the flow of park operations.

Nydia invited us to join her for her
preview breakfast at the Plaza Inn

Dale (red nose, two teeth), Nydia, Steven,

me, Kerry & Chip (black nose, one tooth)

Me and Mulan
Mulan speaks english and cantonese!

Grace (DLR Broadcast Services)
saying hello from the Main Street double decker bus

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August 9 - "Be Our Guest" event

The media was invited to preview the 2 hotels located at HKDL...
Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Hollywood Hotel.

Disney's Hollywood Hotel cast members
stood along the main road and waved at
the media as they arrived at the hotel.

Chef Mickey

Grace

Custodial Cast Member
Disney's Hollywood Hotel

Me and a local camera crew
We were running around documenting the hotel.
I'm using an umbrella, not due to rain but, to protect from the heat.
You very quickly adapt to the locals use of umbrellas to ward off the sun.