4-day Easter Weekend

We are just wrapping up a 4-day Easter weekend. In Hong Kong, we get Good Friday and Easter Monday off as a national holiday. We didn't take any trips, but we did do some local sightseeing.
Windows of the World Theme Park
On Saturday, we took a day trip to Shenzhen in mainland China to see this theme park called "Windows of the World". It's got a few kid-rides, but mostly its there to show off these mini-sized replicas of over 130 of the world's most famous sights. Some were small (same height as me) and some, like the Eiffel Tower, seemed almost 1/3 the size of the real one. (Of course the Chinese writing up the front gives it away that it's not real, not to mention it's surrounded by the Roman Forum)

Italy in China My parents were just saying to me on Saturday that this was the 1st time in 3 years we haven't been in Italy for Easter.

Well, here's Mark and I in Venice at St. Mark's Cathedral and here's me in St. Mark's Square -- the Shenzhen China version.

And, these are the temples in Cambodia (Angkor Wat). Hopefully someday soon, I'll have a real picture of me in front of this landmark.

Where else but China, could you find a theme park that shows Mt. Rushmore, the Washington Monument and Capitol with the Eiffel Tower peaking over the hill in the background?

And, they had a tiny New York City, pre-9-11 which had the World Trade Center buildings.



Hiking to Tai O Village
Today, Monday, we went on a hike on Lantau Island which is the biggest island in the Hong Kong string of islands (bigger than Hong Kong island where we live).

Lantau also has some of the tallest hills/mountains and nicest hiking trails. Here's one of the hills we conquered. If you look closely, Mark is posing at the bottom of the hill, and here's another picture from the top looking down.

Then, Mark had to sit for a break and point out exactly how much further we had to go. Which is the city way down on the bay. I think he muttered something like "maybe I'll fall to my death and be put out of my misery" Ahhhh, good times.

We hiked through the hills and ended up in this tiny village called Tai O which is famous for it's houses on the water which are built on stilts. Very old fashioned Hong Kong and it's also a very cute little tourist town.