Kowloon Hills

Hello Everyone,
Over the past two weeks two good friends of mine died, Doug H and Bernice K.  I am sad and a little shocked about both.  They both blessed me in their own unique ways and I will miss them.

Time is moving along quite quickly.  There is talk of Christmas at the school, but it is hard to wrap your mind around the concept when the high today is 26 and all the trees are still green and lush.  There are a few plants that have some yellow leaves on them, but it is certainly not like home.  I had parent teacher interviews and spoke to quite a few junior high parents on how to motivate their kids to do better in PE.  Parents of junior highs are the same all over the world, a little perplexed and not sure how to handle their young teenager.  The only difference from the parents here to the parents back home:  The parents back home speak English a little better.

Talking about home the school board of CAIS feted us teachers on Friday night at the posh Hong Kong Golf and Country club with a dinner buffet that included steak, fish, pork chops, veal, corn, potatoes, a wide variety of salads and scrumptious desserts.  When your leaders feed you that well it is a pleasure to work hard for them.

Since the weather is getting a little cooler, the humidity is gone, praise the Lord, and it is now @ 25 instead of @35 I went hiking up a small mountain called Kowloon Hills that I can see from my bedroom window.  It took me about twenty minutes to bike to the base of this little mountain.  The narrow road leading up to the peak was called Lung Yan Road, which translated probably means; "Cough up a lung road," cause it was steep and nasty.  I am not much of a hiker, but I enjoyed the quiet, the lush semi-tropical forest, and the fresh air which had the mild scent of a tropical green house back home, of course.

It was a rewarding hike, too bad the air pollution over the city was bad because there were some spectacular views.  The hike is also famous for monkeys.  There are supposed to be hundreds of them lurking in the forest, but all I saw were some stray dogs.

Anyways I enjoyed my little adventure so much that I plan to bike hike or just hike next week.  The British did a good thing, putting trails throughout the wilds of Hong Kong.  Yeah I really like it here.  I thought Hong Kong was just a big city, but it is so much more.  Seventy percent of it is natural and so there are lots of trails, jungles, and beaches to explore yet.

Well have a great seven days and I will try to post something next week.

Adios and much love,

Dirk