Matt and Ashley Faus

After asking Ashley to marry me, I was invited to go on the Howard family vacation this summer.  Lucky me, it was slated for the 2008 Beijing Olympics!  As Hiro Nakamura (from Heroes) would say Yatta!!!

Frank (my father-in-law) does business as a woven-basket manufacturer in Hong Kong, so on our way to Beijing we stopped in Hong Kong for two days to see the town and also to see his office and learn where all the magic happens.

Of course, to get to Hong Kong we had to fly.  The kicker is that we flew Business Class (between Economy and First).  Frank wanted to make sure his parents (my Grandparents-in-law) were comfortable for the 13 hour flight, but thought it might cause strife if the rest of us didn’t get the same perks, so there we went.  Man oh man!  I’ve only flown coach before, and Business Class was mind-blowing.  The seats leaned back.  I had my own personal movie screen loaded with 50+ movies both new release and classics, plenty of games, and all kinds of music.  Beyond the space and entertainment luxury the in-flight service was what really knocked our socks off. As soon as we sat down we were offered drinks and hot moist towels to wipe our faces with.  After that, the service just didn’t stop.  They served a 3 course meal (which was really pretty good) and filled your glass anytime it was empty.  The stewardesses knew us by name and generally just did an outstanding job.  Ashley and I thought: “Man, next vacation we take we’re just going to fly to China in First Class and turn around and come back!”  Yeah, it was that good.

Finally, we got to the hotel and hunkered down for a good solid night’s sleep.  I couldn’t sleep on the flight, even with the super-duper flat bad chair.  The next day, we roamed around Hong Kong and walked through the Avenue of the Stars, Temple Street, and a few others.  I’m not too huge on doing all the shopping in the little marketplaces, but we did buy some stuff.  I bought some pretty sweet new shoes for $150 HKD, which is about $20 USD.

A little tired of the whole “buy little trinkets from a cute shop in Hong Kong” hoopla, I began searching around for something a little more cultural to do in Hong Kong.  I came upon Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan statue situated there.  The next morning, Ashley and her two siblings took off on our own to brave the depths of Hong Kong.  We took the subway to Tung Chung, then took a gondola from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping.  The gondola was incredible!  It took us 5.7km in 25 minutes.  It gave us an awesome view of the surrounding landscape and the city.  The high-rise apartment buildings they fill up in Hong Kong are incredible.  It really looks like the towers from the Matrix.

Anyway, we got up to Ngong Ping and looked around for a bit.  It got a pretty funny picture with Starbucks in the foreground and the largest buddha statue on Earth in the background.  We walked the several hundred steps up to the big buddha and took plenty of pictures.  One cool thing that happened while we were up there was that a “storm” rolled in.  It was sunny and humid one moment, and then you see this dense fog roll over the platform.  Next thing you know, it’s pouring cats and dogs.  We had literally climbed the steps and were sitting inside of a cloud with buddha.

Well, that’s about it for now.  We just arrived in Beijing and took it pretty easy, since we were all so tired.  Being the semi-insomniac that I am, I had to get up and walk around this evening.  I bought a bowl of noodles for $5RMB (less than $1USD), some flowers for Ashley from a street vendor, and some “Egg Roll” crackers to go with my noodles.  I’ve never been to Vegas, but what I’ve seen of Beijing makes me thing this place could rival it in some regards.  There are so many big flashing lights and signs.  What a sight to behold.

Well, tomorrow we’re heading to a basketball event in the morning, so I better try to get some rest.  Be sure to check out the pictures I have posted so far!  There will be plenty more to follow!

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