Many expats in Hong Kong take day trips to Shenzhen, China (directly across the border) for shopping and to have clothes made. I made my first trip, followed quickly by two more, the week before last with one of my neighbors. She had made her first trip the week before with a friend and had some clothes made. She needed to go back to pick them up. I went with requests from Dave and PJ for a few shirts and intending to buy a few gifts to take back to the States this summer. I had only intended to have two skirts made for myself.
My friend's driver drove us to an MTR station in the New Territories directly across from Shenzhen. The drive takes about an hour from our side of the island and then it is one stop on the MTR and a trip through customs. Very easy to do, but you have to have a China Visa which is the reason I hadn't gone before.
Now I have been to the fake market and the fabric market in Shanghai, so I was expecting something similar. In many ways it was, but the "mall" was much newer and cleaner. It was also easier to navigate the way the shops were set-up. I was not ready for how much more aggressive the people were. As soon as we entered the mall we had someone following us asking what we were looking for and offering to take us to a shop. "You want purses? Best quality. Brand name. Sunglasses? Oakleys, Ray Bans? I show you." The mall is four levels and the person literally followed us all the way to the top level even though we kept telling him we were all set.
We made it to the tailor shop. I sat down to choose the fabric for Dave's work shirts while my friend tried on the clothes she'd had made. I was so impressed with the workmanship on my friend's clothes that I ended up ordering 3 dresses and a skirt and jacket for myself! After selecting the fabric for Dave's shirts the tailor then took me into the fabric shop to select the fabric for my dresses, skirts and PJ's shirts. The fabric shop consists of many small booths selling different types of fabric. The tailor directed me to a couple and then I wandered through to find others. In the process of doing this I found one booth that sold quilts. I liked them so much that I ended up buying bath towels and quilts for all of our beds in San Diego!
Once we finished with the tailor we were back into the masses of shops. Once again we picked-up a follower who was trying to direct us to shops. Just like in Shanghai, you have to be careful to look at the quality of what you are purchasing. Continually ask for "best quality". When they bring it out, check it and ask again. Bargaining is key and don't be afraid to walk away. Use the price another place gave you as a bargaining tool. Many shop owners will start with a price three times higher than what they are willing to take. There were clothes, shoes, glasses, electronics, toys, jewellery, you name it.
My first trip was on a Wednesday. Dave and I went back on Saturday to pick-up his and PJ's shirts. Dave drove to the MTR station across the border. It was a pretty drive and we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. Dave was so impressed with the quality of his shirts that he ordered more and I ordered a couple of short sleeve shirts for PJ. This meant another trip back the following Wednesday with my friend.
On my last trip, as we were leaving a local picked up my suitcase (always go with a suitcase on wheels to carry all of your goods) and carried it down the stairs for me. He then thanked me and it was obvious he was hoping for money. I continued to say "No" and thank him. He then started rubbing his belly like he was hungry. We were passing a shop selling duck, so I told him I would buy him food. I spoke to the person at the shop and ordered the gentleman a duck. He was thankful, but looked a little less than happy. After he was given the food I thanked him again and my friend and I turned and left. As we were walking away I happened to glance back and saw something I have not seen before. The gentleman was attempting to sell the container of duck back to the shop! I guess he wasn't really hungry for food.
If you are willing to pay the $200-$300 for a China visa I recommend a trip to Shenzhen if you visit Hong Kong.
View
View from our house
Monday, April 21, 2014
Thailand River Kwai -- by Grace
Hi everyone, this year for PEAK (Program of Extended Activities for Kids), my trip was focused on service and adventure. I went to River Kwai in Thailand for five days, and did a number of great things in my time. Not only did I have service and adventure, but there was also a big aspect of history and culture in my trip, since River Kwai is famous for its POW camp and the Bridge on the River Kwai.
Day One - On Monday morning, I had to wake up at about 4:45 am to get to the school and catch the bus to the airport. After a 3-hour plane ride and a five-hour bus ride (which was torture; 100 degrees and humid, no air conditioning, and 60 kids in one small bus), we got to the Bridge. It was nothing like I expected, there was really nothing there except the bridge. After we walked across it, we left to go to our accommodations, which were the exact opposite of what they told us they would be. No air conditioning, bugs everywhere, tiny rooms shared by five people, rock-hard beds, and whenever the showers where turned on, storms of beetles, moths and hornets flew around the bathroom.
Day Two - On the second day, we started with what would be our daily meal; fried rice, steamed rice, fried chicken, watermelon, and pineapple. We ate this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Then, we took our first strange form of transportation to Hellfire Pass. It was a truck, but it reminded me of going on a hay ride, and we were sure someone was going over the side with all of the bumps and turns. We then hiked Hellfire Pass for about 6 kilometres. For anyone who doesn't know, Hellfire Pass is the name that was given to the railroad made by the POWs. It was made by hundreds of thousands of POWs and Chinese laborers, many of whom died. They were forced to work for up to 18 hours at a time using small hand-held tools to dig into the ground and create a path for the train. There were times where the ground level was a good 30 feet above where the path was dug. Given the horrible conditions and health of the workers, they decided the name was appropriate. After the hike, we went to a museum dedicated to the POWs and learned about history. For the rest of the day, we practiced our kayaking skills.
Day One - On Monday morning, I had to wake up at about 4:45 am to get to the school and catch the bus to the airport. After a 3-hour plane ride and a five-hour bus ride (which was torture; 100 degrees and humid, no air conditioning, and 60 kids in one small bus), we got to the Bridge. It was nothing like I expected, there was really nothing there except the bridge. After we walked across it, we left to go to our accommodations, which were the exact opposite of what they told us they would be. No air conditioning, bugs everywhere, tiny rooms shared by five people, rock-hard beds, and whenever the showers where turned on, storms of beetles, moths and hornets flew around the bathroom.
Day Two - On the second day, we started with what would be our daily meal; fried rice, steamed rice, fried chicken, watermelon, and pineapple. We ate this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Then, we took our first strange form of transportation to Hellfire Pass. It was a truck, but it reminded me of going on a hay ride, and we were sure someone was going over the side with all of the bumps and turns. We then hiked Hellfire Pass for about 6 kilometres. For anyone who doesn't know, Hellfire Pass is the name that was given to the railroad made by the POWs. It was made by hundreds of thousands of POWs and Chinese laborers, many of whom died. They were forced to work for up to 18 hours at a time using small hand-held tools to dig into the ground and create a path for the train. There were times where the ground level was a good 30 feet above where the path was dug. Given the horrible conditions and health of the workers, they decided the name was appropriate. After the hike, we went to a museum dedicated to the POWs and learned about history. For the rest of the day, we practiced our kayaking skills.
Day Three - This day was probably the highlight of my trip. We started the day with our second (and best) strange form of transportation: a party bus. Even at 7 in the morning, the disco lights and blasting music woke everyone up. We drove to a local Thai school. I forget the Thai name, but I know that the translation is School of Heaven. There were about 60 kids, ranging from ages four to ten, waiting for us. From the very beginning, two or three little girls latched onto me and literally didn't let go for the entire day. Most kids didn't know a single word of english, and none of us knew any Thai, so it was really interesting. We did songs like the ABC's and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, which were both great hits, and the kids loved singing along. We also played games including soccer, tag, and patty cake. By the end of the day, I knew the entire Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song in Thai (that I of course forgot by dinner time). We also built a fish farm and a mushroom farm, but as I said before, there were always little kids dragging me around, so I didn't have too much time to work on those. We were at the school from about 8am to 6pm. The girl in the picture below that is standing in the back wearing the red-orange shirt is one of the girls who wouldn't leave my side. At the start of the day, I was sitting down, and she came behind me, stole my hat, then sat next to me. She wore it for the rest of the day.
Day Four - On the fourth day, we took a third strange form of transportation: still a party bus, but with louder music and doors/windows that didn't close so that everybody could hear us. (Someone lost a hat out of the window inevitably) We went to the school again, and the same group of girls found me. They decided that they were going to teach me the numbers 1-20 in Thai. They got a huge laugh when I couldn't pronounce a single word, and were taking turns trying to teach me. While I was playing with all of the little girls, I saw that all of the boys from my school were getting pinned down and beaten up by a few Thai students. They said they didn't want to fight back, but we all agreed they couldn't have done anything to save themselves. There was one little boy in particular, who we named Boxer Boy, who was probably about nine. He ran around chasing any boy in sight, knocking him to the ground, and punching him until a teacher would come over and try to stop the fight. He even threw a few punches at the male teachers, but not a single girl. Boxer Boy is in the picture below in the black shirt.
Instead of staying until 6 again, we left the school at about one in the afternoon. About half of the students had done this the day before, but I did it on the fourth day. We got to kayak about 25 kilometres along a beautiful river. We were allowed to jump out of our kayak several times just to float in the water along side our kayaks. This was a lot of fun. We got out of our kayaks right at the spot we were staying for our last night. This was a river-side resort that was really just a village made up of one huge hotel. It was called Home Phu Toey, and it was a huge upgrade from our previous nights. I'm pretty sure everyone took an hour-long shower, still not completely getting the dirt off. But, of course, they were just building us up to let us down.
Day Five - We were woken up at 4 in the morning to get onto our fourth and final strange form of transportation: three camouflage-painted pick-up trucks with platforms built on top of the back so that more people could be seated on the top level. At this time in the morning, no one was awake enough to complain. If someone did speak up, they were hushed by 30 tired teenagers. Luckily, after about fifteen minutes, we switched onto a normal bus, this time air conditioned, and drove back to the airport. Every single person slept for the entire bus ride. I finally got home at about 5pm, ready for a nice long shower and a bug-free room all to myself. I got all of the dirt off of my legs only to reveal a huge tan line from my tennis shoes.
Beijing--By Meg
Hey everybody, it's Meg! I was asked to write a post on my mom's blog about my trip to Beijing, China. I traveled to Beijing with my grade separated into 5 groups, so I traveled with about 40 other kids and 6-7 teachers. In this post you will find some of my adventures through an interesting city. While touring Beijing, I did many things. I went to a Chinese acrobat show, traveled through Tiananmen square, visited the Huiling center, walked across some of the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, ate lots of Chinese food, visited a local village, a few temples and hutongs, did morning exercises, and went to the Pearl Market. We packed all of those activities into 5 days, and by the time I got back to Hong Kong I was ready for a full day of sleep.
Day one~
On the first day, I left my house and headed to the airport to catch my flight at noon. I arrived in Beijing at 3:00 in the afternoon. A tourist organization called WildChina picked up my group. We were separated by small groups. Small groups are groups of 7 or 8 kids and 1 teacher. We put our luggage into the bus and headed straight for dinner because it was already 5:00 in the evening. That night we ate at a chinese restaurant. Sadly, there was no sweet and sour chicken. There were many things to choose from the restaurant, including tofu noodles, sticky rice stuffed into lotus, lots of vegetables and a beef dish. Luckily, we had some white rice because after trying some of the lotus I wasn't willing to try anything else. After dinner, we went to a Chinese acrobat show. I had done some research on the show for my part of our Beijing travel show project, so I knew what to expect. The show demonstrated the lives of people in ancient China. At one part they showed the lives of rice farmers. They switched between the lives of the women and men. The outfits were used perfectly to describe the different classes of people.
Day two~
We started off the day by visiting Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is very large and one of the most crowded places in Beijing. It is also one of the top tourist attractions. Tiananmen Square is right outside of the Imperial Palace, which we visited as well. The Imperial Palace, or Forbidden City, is where the Emperor used to live and is a really cool place to visit. It is called the Forbidden City because no one besides the Emperor and his workers were allowed into the Palace. Because of my blonde hair and blue eyes, many of the locals visiting the Imperial Palace wanted to take pictures with me and my friends who are American. There are many things to do in the Imperial Palace because there are a few museums, including the clock museum which shows all of the clocks that were a gift to China from places all over the world. Next, I went to the Huiling Center, which is a place were we engaged in performances and activities including crafts. The people at the Huiling Center are people who needed a special place to learn and interact with different people.
Day Three~
After a 3 hour drive, we arrived at Hexi Village, a village located near the Great Wall. We made dumplings and ate them while in the village. Next we hiked the Great Wall. The Great Wall was one of the most spectacular things I had ever seen. The hills went one for miles covered by the Great Wall and many Cherry Blossom trees. If you ever visit the Great Wall I suggest you go in the spring, because the hills are covered in cherry blossom trees blooming, and it is a beautiful sight. The great wall is a very difficult hike because the stairs are very deep and narrow and set at weird angles. You also have to watch your step because there is a strange drain system where there is bumps in the ground so the water doesn't over flow. But the Great Wall is something DEFINITELY worth seeing.
Day four~
We visited the Lama and Confucius temple. It was very interesting to see. The Lama temple is a Buddhist temple. It is home to the largest Buddha ever made, and it is made out of a single tree. The Confucius Temple is home to a college. We were taught the details of the temple by a few activities, including us going into a museum and writing down 2 truths and a lie about the Confucius religion. Next we went to a market to buy gifts for our activities the following day. We bought apples, strawberries, lotus seeds, and Chinese apricot. We also did a few activities including Chinese calligraphy, Chinese paper cutting, mask painting and Chinese games. After that we headed back to the hotel and watched "Karate Kid" and ate pizza.
Day five~
We started off the day with morning exercises including Taiqi, Chinese Yo-Yo's, Devil Sticks, Ribbon Dancing and kung fu. Then we went to the Temple of Heaven where we got to see the tallest buildings of the ancient times. It was used for the Emperor to pray for a good year and a good fortune. Then we went to the pearl market and bought some souvenirs. Then we went to the airport and headed back to Hong Kong.
Day one~
On the first day, I left my house and headed to the airport to catch my flight at noon. I arrived in Beijing at 3:00 in the afternoon. A tourist organization called WildChina picked up my group. We were separated by small groups. Small groups are groups of 7 or 8 kids and 1 teacher. We put our luggage into the bus and headed straight for dinner because it was already 5:00 in the evening. That night we ate at a chinese restaurant. Sadly, there was no sweet and sour chicken. There were many things to choose from the restaurant, including tofu noodles, sticky rice stuffed into lotus, lots of vegetables and a beef dish. Luckily, we had some white rice because after trying some of the lotus I wasn't willing to try anything else. After dinner, we went to a Chinese acrobat show. I had done some research on the show for my part of our Beijing travel show project, so I knew what to expect. The show demonstrated the lives of people in ancient China. At one part they showed the lives of rice farmers. They switched between the lives of the women and men. The outfits were used perfectly to describe the different classes of people.
Day two~
We started off the day by visiting Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is very large and one of the most crowded places in Beijing. It is also one of the top tourist attractions. Tiananmen Square is right outside of the Imperial Palace, which we visited as well. The Imperial Palace, or Forbidden City, is where the Emperor used to live and is a really cool place to visit. It is called the Forbidden City because no one besides the Emperor and his workers were allowed into the Palace. Because of my blonde hair and blue eyes, many of the locals visiting the Imperial Palace wanted to take pictures with me and my friends who are American. There are many things to do in the Imperial Palace because there are a few museums, including the clock museum which shows all of the clocks that were a gift to China from places all over the world. Next, I went to the Huiling Center, which is a place were we engaged in performances and activities including crafts. The people at the Huiling Center are people who needed a special place to learn and interact with different people.
Day Three~
After a 3 hour drive, we arrived at Hexi Village, a village located near the Great Wall. We made dumplings and ate them while in the village. Next we hiked the Great Wall. The Great Wall was one of the most spectacular things I had ever seen. The hills went one for miles covered by the Great Wall and many Cherry Blossom trees. If you ever visit the Great Wall I suggest you go in the spring, because the hills are covered in cherry blossom trees blooming, and it is a beautiful sight. The great wall is a very difficult hike because the stairs are very deep and narrow and set at weird angles. You also have to watch your step because there is a strange drain system where there is bumps in the ground so the water doesn't over flow. But the Great Wall is something DEFINITELY worth seeing.
Day four~
We visited the Lama and Confucius temple. It was very interesting to see. The Lama temple is a Buddhist temple. It is home to the largest Buddha ever made, and it is made out of a single tree. The Confucius Temple is home to a college. We were taught the details of the temple by a few activities, including us going into a museum and writing down 2 truths and a lie about the Confucius religion. Next we went to a market to buy gifts for our activities the following day. We bought apples, strawberries, lotus seeds, and Chinese apricot. We also did a few activities including Chinese calligraphy, Chinese paper cutting, mask painting and Chinese games. After that we headed back to the hotel and watched "Karate Kid" and ate pizza.
Day five~
We started off the day with morning exercises including Taiqi, Chinese Yo-Yo's, Devil Sticks, Ribbon Dancing and kung fu. Then we went to the Temple of Heaven where we got to see the tallest buildings of the ancient times. It was used for the Emperor to pray for a good year and a good fortune. Then we went to the pearl market and bought some souvenirs. Then we went to the airport and headed back to Hong Kong.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Hong Kong Sevens
This past weekend was the Hong Kong Sevens. For those of you who know very little about rugby (like me) this is a huge rugby tournament. It is called the Sevens because there are seven players on the field for each team. Typically rugby is played with 15 players on the field. The Sevens is a much faster version of the game. Teams come from all over to play in the tournament. On the day Dave and I went we saw USA, South Africa, Samoa, France, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Scotland play. There were 16 teams in all. This year New Zealand won the tournament.
The tournament takes place over three days; Friday, Saturday and Sunday. People come to Hong Kong from all over the world. Many people say this is an expat event, however we did see a good amount of locals there. People equate it to the Super Bowl in the U.S. If you ask me, it's more like a 3 day long college football game between two big rivals. The tickets aren't as expensive as the Super Bowl, everyone is in a constant state of drunkeness and many people dress up in "costumes". When the games are done for the day they all venture into LKF (Lan Kwai Fong, the club district) for more drinking.
PJ attended the games on Friday and Saturday with friends. Saturday he went dressed as a minion (Despicable Me). The costumes ranged from innocent ones like that to flight attendant costumes that even my 16 year old son said were "inappropriate". I can only imagine what they looked like:) PJ had an absolute blast. He said it was the most fun sporting event he'd ever attended. That surprised me considering the Army/Navy games he's attended.
Dave and I went for awhile on Sunday. It was fun and I will say I did pick-up on the game pretty quickly. The most exciting game we saw was the U.S. vs. South Africa. The U.S. was down 24-0 and came back to make it 24-19. In the last play of the game they came within 5 yds of tying the game.
Just like most stadiums, there are different sections of the stands in which you can sit depending on what you want. The south stands are the party stands. They fill quickly and then a queue forms for people wanting to get in as others leave. The east and west stands are considered the "family stands". No drinking is allowed in these stands (therefore the concourses fill up) and this is where you sit if you want to watch the games. The north stands allow drinking, but are not quite as rowdy as the south stands.
Here are a few pictures courtesy of PJ:
The tournament takes place over three days; Friday, Saturday and Sunday. People come to Hong Kong from all over the world. Many people say this is an expat event, however we did see a good amount of locals there. People equate it to the Super Bowl in the U.S. If you ask me, it's more like a 3 day long college football game between two big rivals. The tickets aren't as expensive as the Super Bowl, everyone is in a constant state of drunkeness and many people dress up in "costumes". When the games are done for the day they all venture into LKF (Lan Kwai Fong, the club district) for more drinking.
PJ attended the games on Friday and Saturday with friends. Saturday he went dressed as a minion (Despicable Me). The costumes ranged from innocent ones like that to flight attendant costumes that even my 16 year old son said were "inappropriate". I can only imagine what they looked like:) PJ had an absolute blast. He said it was the most fun sporting event he'd ever attended. That surprised me considering the Army/Navy games he's attended.
Dave and I went for awhile on Sunday. It was fun and I will say I did pick-up on the game pretty quickly. The most exciting game we saw was the U.S. vs. South Africa. The U.S. was down 24-0 and came back to make it 24-19. In the last play of the game they came within 5 yds of tying the game.
Just like most stadiums, there are different sections of the stands in which you can sit depending on what you want. The south stands are the party stands. They fill quickly and then a queue forms for people wanting to get in as others leave. The east and west stands are considered the "family stands". No drinking is allowed in these stands (therefore the concourses fill up) and this is where you sit if you want to watch the games. The north stands allow drinking, but are not quite as rowdy as the south stands.
Here are a few pictures courtesy of PJ:
Rainy Season
Rainy season is here! After a couple of weeks of grey and humid, last week was beautiful! The sun was out. The humidity was low. It was about as nice as it gets. Saturday the clouds came back. This time they brought the rain.
Rainy season here gives monsoon season in Arizona a run for its money. Unfortunately, I believe rainy season is going to last a whole lot longer than monsoon season. The skies have been pretty grey since Saturday. The sun has poked through a time or two for maybe 15 minutes. We will go from a grey sky to a black sky in a matter of minutes. The wind will pick up and then the torrential downpour comes. It usually lasts for 15-30 minutes before easing up. Then it's back to grey sky until the next black one runs through. Many times we get the thunder and lightening with the downpour.
I've been trying to time my dog walks accordingly. Yesterday we were caught in one of the torrential downpours about halfway through the walk. By the time we made it home I looked and smelled as much like a wet dog as the two dogs did! Wet dog is the new smell of our house.
The rain reeks havoc on the roads. The sides of the roads fill with water. People start triple parking to try to let passengers out as close to doorways as possible. Horns are honking and people are losing their patience. Monday I was on the bus downtown and a taxi had broken down in the rain about three car lengths after getting off the dam. The road is so narrow and curvy at that point that it very nearly caused both lanes to come to a full stop. My lane was able to inch by very slowly, but the other lane was beginning to back up onto the dam.
I've learned to carry my shoes for CrossFit along with an extra pair of socks in a water proof bag. By the time I make it downtown to the box my shoes and socks are completely soaked. The nice thing is that when I'm leaving people don't know if I'm sweaty or just soaked from the rain:)
It's a good thing that I don't worry too much about my hair, because it never looks good!
With the rain comes the humidity. I had to turn the air con back on in our house. Even with that and the dehumidifiers running we can't keep up with the humidity in the house. The kitchen is in a constant state of dampness.
With the rainy season comes the colds. Everyone seems to be fighting something. Last night I was at the high school for a presentation and half of the students were coughing.
I cannot end my blog about the rainy season without bringing up one of my favorite things about Hong Kong...the umbrellas! Yes, the umbrellas are back. I nearly lost an eye on my walk to the MTR today:)
Dave is told that we will have occasional breaks between now and when we leave in June. We'll take any sun we can get, even if that means steam and humidity with it.
So now I can officially say that October through December are the best times to visit. Any other time will be hit or miss. January and February were fine, just not always clear.
As Dave says, there's a bad season just about everywhere (not San Diego or Hawaii) and we did have a very mild winter.
Rainy season here gives monsoon season in Arizona a run for its money. Unfortunately, I believe rainy season is going to last a whole lot longer than monsoon season. The skies have been pretty grey since Saturday. The sun has poked through a time or two for maybe 15 minutes. We will go from a grey sky to a black sky in a matter of minutes. The wind will pick up and then the torrential downpour comes. It usually lasts for 15-30 minutes before easing up. Then it's back to grey sky until the next black one runs through. Many times we get the thunder and lightening with the downpour.
I've been trying to time my dog walks accordingly. Yesterday we were caught in one of the torrential downpours about halfway through the walk. By the time we made it home I looked and smelled as much like a wet dog as the two dogs did! Wet dog is the new smell of our house.
The rain reeks havoc on the roads. The sides of the roads fill with water. People start triple parking to try to let passengers out as close to doorways as possible. Horns are honking and people are losing their patience. Monday I was on the bus downtown and a taxi had broken down in the rain about three car lengths after getting off the dam. The road is so narrow and curvy at that point that it very nearly caused both lanes to come to a full stop. My lane was able to inch by very slowly, but the other lane was beginning to back up onto the dam.
I've learned to carry my shoes for CrossFit along with an extra pair of socks in a water proof bag. By the time I make it downtown to the box my shoes and socks are completely soaked. The nice thing is that when I'm leaving people don't know if I'm sweaty or just soaked from the rain:)
It's a good thing that I don't worry too much about my hair, because it never looks good!
With the rain comes the humidity. I had to turn the air con back on in our house. Even with that and the dehumidifiers running we can't keep up with the humidity in the house. The kitchen is in a constant state of dampness.
With the rainy season comes the colds. Everyone seems to be fighting something. Last night I was at the high school for a presentation and half of the students were coughing.
I cannot end my blog about the rainy season without bringing up one of my favorite things about Hong Kong...the umbrellas! Yes, the umbrellas are back. I nearly lost an eye on my walk to the MTR today:)
Dave is told that we will have occasional breaks between now and when we leave in June. We'll take any sun we can get, even if that means steam and humidity with it.
So now I can officially say that October through December are the best times to visit. Any other time will be hit or miss. January and February were fine, just not always clear.
As Dave says, there's a bad season just about everywhere (not San Diego or Hawaii) and we did have a very mild winter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)