Hong Kong

Greetings from Hong Kong. Got a little busy what with all of that shopping in Guangzhou! We took the train this morning into Hong Kong and got some good views of the countryside along the way. Hong Kong is very impressive so far although still very hot, muggy and extremely hazy. I think the combination of the heat, humidity, and pollution are really limiting our views. We went out for a walk tonight after dinner and saw a huge, coordinated light show along the harbor. We are across the water from the main island and from here they play music while all of the highrises on the other side light up or send out multi-colored beacons in time to the music. It's quite impressive. The streets are much like I had pictured: massive amounts of light-up signs all hanging out over the road and even larger lit-up billboards atop all of the skyscrapers.

Grace is doing well, although I think we all are getting pretty tired and worn out from all the traveling. She has definitely changed over the past ten days, each day becoming more and more like we would expect a 20 month old to be. She is "voicing her opinion" in both positive and negative ways. She can be gleeful and excited, laughing and jumping up and down one minute and then throwing herself on the ground and crying the next. We've already grown to recognize her "fake" cry and distinguish it from when she is truly upset. Overall she is still doing amazingly well for a toddler traveling through Asia, staying in hotel rooms and eating at restaurants. We will all be extremely happy to be home where we can let her run, let her play and eat in our own kitchen. We're considering whether to keep the seat that we purchased for her on the return trip. She really won't leave my lap and we'd hate to pay that much money for a seat that never got used. We have a call in to our travel agent to find out.