Visit to Victoria Peak

Today, Saturday August 22, was our third day with no rain and very clear skies. It has been hot with the temperature about 93 degrees. With the humidity in the 70s, that translates to about 103F. We decided that this was the day to visit “The Peak”. We have been in Hong Kong for over 7 months and still have not visited this landmark which most tourists see in their first day or two. The Peak is one of the highest points on the Hong Kong Island and is located just south of the Central District of Hong Kong. It has long been looked upon as a wonderful place to see the entire Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories areas. In the late 1800s, the rich built houses on the Peak and were carried up the mountain in sedan chairs by their personal servants. In 1888, a tram was built with stops along the way to take residents to their homes. Today a tram still takes visitors on a 7 minute ride from the bottom of the Peak to the stores, shops and tower on top. It is not the only way to get there as roads now wind to the homes on the mountainside and go completely to the top, but it is the most picturesque way.

We decided to go early in the morning to avoid the Saturday tourist traffic. We took a taxi to the tram. The tram has two connected cars and each one holds about 60 people. We were almost alone when we ascended at 8:30 a.m. We were on a 27 degree angle most of the way, and went through deep green foliage with peaks of the tall buildings and the Victoria Harbor as we ascended. On top we saw the Peak Galleria with its scores of shops and the Peak Tower, a building with shops, restaurants , a wax museum, and escalators that took you to the top of the tower. Rather than a “tower” as we normally picture such a building, the top spread out in a flattened wok dish-like structure that enables visitors to walk around for a panoramic view of Hong Kong for about 270 degrees.

After taking pictures and admiring the view, we visited a wax museum called Madame Tussauds. It is named after a Hong Kong woman who developed the technique of making life-like figures in wax. Most of the figures were prominent Chinese artists and public people, but there were several prominent historical and sports figures as well. The figures were situated so visitors could stand by them and get into the pictures. We had fun with a few of these shots. The figures were very realistic.

A trail goes from the developed area around the Peak that gives a view through the foliage of the harbor and beyond. Hong Kong was dedicated for the Preaching of the Gospel in 1949 by Matthew S. Cowley. It was dedicated from the Peak, and along the path there is a rock with the date scratched into it. We were told to look for it as we decided to take the 2800 meter walk (1.5 miles). We didn't find the marker, but we enjoyed the walk anyway. The weather started getting hotter, so we walked slowly. There were many visitors on the trail. We passed a waterfall, many varieties of trees and bushes, a park area for picnics and exercise, and some private driveways and homes. It took is over an hour, and we were hot and sweaty when we finished, but we felt that we had really “seen” Hong Kong. We had a cool refreshing smoothie and a pasta lunch before going back down on the tram. The following pictures try to capture some of the sights we saw during this, our first visit.





A tram coming down meets us part-way up the mountain.

Beautiful foliage surrounded us on all sides. Quite a contrast to the urban high-rises below.



You can see the angle we were on in this picture.

Several sets of escalators took us to the top of the tower for our panoramic view of Hong Kong.

On the top of the Tower, there were several historical displays showing old Hong Kong. If you click on the images, they will enlarge and you can see the description in English.

Happy Valley is still a Race Track. It is also used by runners and walkers. I now go over at 6 a..m. every morning but Sunday and walk around the track twice. By the time I walk to the track, walk around twice and walk back, I will have gone 2 1/2 miles. It has been hot since I started doing this in July, so I am pretty wet by the time I get back to start the day just before 7 a.m. Now the track is surrounded by high rise apartments. I will put some pictures of Happy Valley today on a later blog.

A view of the patio area beneath the tower. The green tram car on the right is the Peak Visitor's Center. We rested a bit there before starting our walk around the Peak.

If you click to enlarge these skyline pictures, they will be more breath-taking. It was truly a wonderful view on a clear day that we "Could Almost See Forever."

The tall building on the left is in Kowloon and when finished, is supposed to be the tallest building in the world, at least for now. The building in the center in Homg Kong is now the tallest building in Hong Kong.

Victoria Harbor has many boats and container barges continually plying its waters. We are looking at Kowloon across the bay in this picture.

Two female attorneys from the US working in Hong Kong took this picture for us on the tower. Enlarged it is truly unbelievable. This picture proves we have been to the "Peak".

This map depicts the circular trail. We started on the yellow trail on the left and came out on the right.

About 15 minutes into our walk, we came to the waterfall. On rainy days, we imagine there is a lot of water running over this side of the mountain.

A reservoir is nestled below in the valley. It helped solve a water shortage problem in the dry season here in Hong Kong (November-March)

A rest area for weary walkers.

A bamboo grove along the walk. No rain, but the umbrellas are used to shield one from the sun.

One of the residences on the mountain through the trees.

We could even stay here if swe could afford the rent.

All types of trees. Several had very imaginative root structures.

I guess I needed to balance myself after the long walk. I added a back pack to my equipment for this trip, so I feel like a real hiker. The water in the pack came in very handy.

This is a beautiful picture, especially when enlarged.

The white top square building in the center of the picture is the Hong Kong Convention Center located just north of our administration building in Wan Chai. Our 12 story building is dwarfed by the other buildings.

Here I'm learning to write like Shakespeare. He doesn't look real happy.

I'm trying to learn what Einstein's formula really means.

Two old-time movie stars, Humphrey Bogart and Alftred Hitchcock.

I guess Yao Ming is actually this tall. We are both standing on the ground. I barely make his stomach.

A little to the right Tiger!!

In the hey day of the Beatles. It looks like a picture, but they are wax figures.

A nice remembrance of our day on the Peak and our 57th wedding anniversary next Thursday. It is in a nice frame for our wall at home. My name in Chinese means "keen". JenaVee's means "treasure, adorable, and wild fern". Hers fits better than mine. We will count this day part of our anniversary celebration. On Thursday, we will be in the Temple for our regular assignment. That is fitting too.

Typhoon Hits Southern Taiwan

On August 7, 2009 a typhoon struck Southern Taiwan with torrential rains that triggered massive mudslides in the mountains where many small villages are located. The rains continued for several days dumping more than 80 inchs of water on the countryside, the heaviest rainfall in Taiwan in 50 years. Taiwan is one of the countries we are assigned for disaster and welfare work. We visited Taiwan in June (see June blog), but we did not get to the southern area. The towns that were hard hit included Kaohsciung, Tainan, Taitung, (all on map), and Chisan, a town north and est of Kaohsiung. The church has stakes, branches and wards in the affected areas.

The extent of loss was not immediately recognized by the government, but as the reports came in, the loss of roads, bridges, houses, and even entire villages became known. The great amount of water triggered mudslides that wiped away houses and even villages. Our welfare missionaries in Taiwan became immediately involved with Elder Chung, the Area Seventty with responsibility for Taiwan and Carl Liang, the Taiwan Service Center Manager. Trips were made from Taipei where these leaders lived to the destruction area. No damage was felt in Taipei and the rainfall was much more moderate. The church leaders in the south immediately worked to account for all members, missionaries, and assessed the damage to meetinghouses and members' homes.

Although over 200 fatalities have been identified after two weeks, no members have been identified as casualties. President Hoer of the Kaohsiung Mission immediately mobilized his missionaries and they were out shoveling away the mud from member's homes and assisting members and nonmembers alike as they sought to overcome the water and mud. Yellow vests with the church logo were worn by missionaries and members alike. Trucks with sprayers and generators were rented and the work force cordinated with Government officials and other relief agencies as food and supplies flooded into the affected area. Our immediate supervisor here in Hong Kong, Stanley Wan, traveled to the area to help coordinate the Church relief efforts. We have agreed to work with Tsu Chi, a buddhist charitable organization well know throughout the world for its environmental and compassionate charity work. We will help furnish homes that are being constructed to house those who lost everything. The pictures that follow try to capture the destruction and some of the relief efforts that the church is involved with. We have been working with coordinating the efforts with Salt Lake and communicating with the Sparrows on their needs. It has been an eye opening experience to see how rapidly destruction can hit but also the kindnesses of people as they reach out to help each other.


The southern tip of Taiwan took most of the water.

The streets were littered with refuse, mud and water.

Lots to clean up. The military brought in trucks, frontloaders, and other equipment to open roads and clean out the front of homdes.

The force of the water can be seen in this picture where cars were rolled onto a bridge.

Many houses near the rivers had their foundations washed away. One family of Church members were trapped on the 2nd floor of their home for two days before rescuers were able to bring them out. The first floor was completely covered with mud and water.

Bridges fell, roads crumbled, and many of the mountain villages were completely cut off. These villages are usually occuped by the indigenous people of Taiwan who suffer from poverty and lack of communication facilities.


This truck was rented to help the missionaries after they shoveled out the mud from a home. Then it was time to power spray the houses and inside before the mud cakes.

Misionaries donned their yellow helping hands shirts and played in the mud. They were featured on Taiwan TV and identified as American University students. The Church name was prominently displayed on the back of the vests.

This was the inside of a member's home that was covered with water.

Stanley Wan is visiting with Sister Weng, a member who spent two days with her family on the 2nd floor of their home before they were rescued.

The youth in northern Taiwan assembled 3,000 personal hygiene kits for delivery in the South.

The Northern Stakes assembling goods for the survivors.

Our special visit to the Country of Laos

The major destination for our July trip was Laos. After we spent three days in Thailand, we flew in a two prop plane to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. You can see its location in the center of the map right next to a border with Thailand. The eastern border country is Vietnam and part of the Northern and Western border is next to Myanmar (Burma)and China. It has no seaport, and thus has many economic challenges. It is considered to be one of the poorer Asian countries.

It's history is one of tribal warfare and more recently, great devastation from the Vietnam War. During that war, many military supplies came from China through Laos. The trail that brought the goods became known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. Laos had declared its independence from the French after World War II. A great civil war ensued between the Communist Pathot Lao Party and the Royalists with its historic royal support. The North Vietnam government supported the communist counterpart and this led to great bombing by the United States. Laos is said to be the most bombed country in the world. It is estimated that between 1964 and 1973, every 8 minutes an American B-52 bomber dropped a load of bombs on Lao. About 1/3 of the bombs dropped did not explode leaving a dangerous legacy on the ground even today.

The original Laos people came from China. There are many different ethnic groups in the country. One of these, the Hmong, were driven out in large numbers as refugees at the end of the war. 69% of the Lao people are Buddhists. Christians make up only 2% and are regulated by the Government. Muslim populations are centered near Myanmar in the North.

The plane ride took less than two hours from Bangkok. We flew on the Laos Airlines. This beautiful Laos woman on the airline folders has the traditional colorful scarf over her shoulder

We stayed at a lovely hotel in Vientiane know as the Parkview Suites. We were on the 2nd floor. The currency is the "kip". The current exchange rate is 8500 kip to a dollar. The largest bill is 50,000 kip, or about $6 US. They do not use coins, only bills. Our suite was $75 US, a real bargain compared to other countries. The couples live across the street from the hotel in apartments. The road is one way, but 4 lines wide. No stop lights, just watch for a break in traffic and move quickly. There are many motorcycles and motorcyle taxis known as "tuk tuk's"
that can take up to 15 in the bed of the motorcycle. There are no tall buildings in Laos. The law indicates that no building will be taller than a government monument in town of about 10 stories.

The Missionary couples live in apartments to the right of the picture.

These are the wonderful couples serving in Laos. The middle couple are Scott and Jolene Riser from Roosevelt, Utah. They have been in the country a year. The other couple on the two ends are Edward and Joy Fountaine from Veloy, Utah, near St. George. They replaced Elder and Sister Oldham in June. These two couples are the only LDS missionaries in the country. The Church is known here as Deseret International Charities, or DIC. That is the name on their badges. They are allowed into the country to teach English and do humanitarian work for the people. There is one branch of the church in Laos with about 200 members. No proselyting is permitted by their visas. We spent several hours in their apartments training them on the new computer humanitarian database systems and helping them to know how to develop new projects. We were able to visit some of the ongoing projects. (See separate blog on these projects,) We stayed over Sunday so we could attend the branch. It is part of the Thailand Mission. (See separate blog on the Church visit.)

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and entertainment one night. The couples are helped greatly by a native member who is the branch president and a driver and interpreter for DIC in Laos, President Khamphee. He knows many influential people in the country. He speaks English well. He is on the left above with his wife who joined us for evening dinners.

President Khamphee is retired and is an extremely valuable asset to the Church. He was converted from Buddhism five years ago, and was called to be branch president 3 months later. The DIC has been in Laos since 1994.

Another dinner visit. The bill at a nice restauarant for 8 came to about$65 US.

These are rice fields. 80% of the agricultural farmland is devoted to growing rice. It grows in flooded fields as shown above.

There are many vendors on the streets with their carts. We purchased some delicious pineapple from this vendor. for 10,000 kip ($1.15)

We were able to meet with two members of the Laos Government that work with our DIC projects. The man on the left is Sayamang Vongsak. He has a Ph.D. in agronomy from Moscow University in Russia. He speaks very good English. The other gentlemen second from the right is Khampheuy Vannasopha. We discussed the clean water projects and the goal the government has to diversify its crops more. We had an enjoyable hour long visit with these men.

The man second from the right is the Executive Secretary to the Prime Minister in the Laos Front Government, Phayvanh Chandavong. His interpreter is on the left. This was a more formal visit. I sat next to him in the front of the room. His background is Hmong and he wanted some help with a school he is helping build with donations for his people in the North. We didn't promise anything, but said we would consider some project to help. Normally, we keep the projects closer to the center of church strength.

Notice the truck bed on this motorcycle. An example of the Laos busses.

A motorized three wheeler on the highway.

The most ornate Buddhist shrine in Vientiane.

Our visit to Laos is over. With the two blogs that follow, we hope you now know a little more about this distant land.

Our airplane meal. Sure beats Southwestern Airline's peanuts!!

One of the large rivers from the plane.

Attending Church in Laos

Today was a very special day. We attended the Laos Branch of the Church. It is a converted mansion leased by the church and renovated for branch use. We were picked up at 9:00 a.m. in a Tuk tuk that the missionaries use each week to take them to church. The driver comes back at 2:30 p.m. to pick them up. The vehicle is an open truck with a top and benches on each side. We had a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit and juice before we left. It took about 10 minutes to get to the church from our hotel. The chapel had 100 chairs set up in the large hall. I had a meeting with President Khamphee for a few minutes. He was made branch president about four years ago three months after joining the church. He has two counselors. One is younger and went with his family to Hong Kong in October to be sealed. The other one seldom comes, though he did come today.

Sister Smith and I were the speakers in Sacrament Meeting. We each had young interpreters. Hers was a young high school girl who had learned her English from the missionaries. Mine was Bro. Tiengsack, a young missionary who went to Thailand on his mission. In between we had 8 young women and 6 young men sing the song “If the Savior Stood Beside Me”. Sister Smith introduced her family, showed the family calendars, and referred to the Welfare Principle of Service and King Benjamin’s Address. I spoke about our Area Presidency, Mormon pioneers and their attributes (it was July 25), Christ’s admonition to serve others as a way of serving Him as found in Matthew 25. I was able to bear my testimony and urge them to be faithful and keep the commandments. We had headphones with Bro. Tiengsack interpreting for us as he does each week for the couple missionaries. We were able to hear President Khamphee’s introductions. He speaks pretty good English.

The tuk tuk is a popular taxi in Laos. When it rains, they have a canvas side that rolls down to keep the passangers somewhat dry.

This is a closeup of the tuk tuk. Notice the benches on the sides. We sat facing each other.

The Church is not yet officially recognized in Laos, so we meet under the Deseret International Charities name. We hope to be able to be registered soon. This is the only branch that meets in Laos. Our couple missionaries are the only missionaries in the country. They are great shadow leaders to the branch members.


The building is very spacious and works well for the Saints. The grounds have fruit trees and some play area for the children.

Although members are scattered around Vientiane, the capital city, there is a grouping of members about an hour away. This bus is rented for Sunday to bring about 35 members to Church. Otherwise, many of the members would have a difficult time attending.

The young girl on the left with the "Roxy" shirt was Sister Smith's interpreter. The mothers carry their children in slings so that the young ones can look out more than if they were tight against the breast or back. The children were adorable. They loved to dance for us.

This sister was a Laotian refugee to America that is now living in West Jordan, Utah and who is visiting friends and relatives here in Laos. She was so excited to meet us.

The children loved to pose for us. Not too different from children all over the world.

After meetings, they cleared the chapel of chairs and put out long cloths on which they put their plates for dinner. The sisters cooked rice and noodles in large containers and served them on serving plates. Everyone took off their shoes and sat on the ground to eat their noon meal. This is done each week. We had our share of the food and enjoyed the friendship of the group.

It takes a large container to cook enough rice for such a large group of members.

Everone has shoes off and kneels. We were offered chairs, but Elder Smith sat on the floor and joined in.

The little girl in glasses in the middle is almost blind, but she was clearly the leader of these dancers. We have her on video as well. They use their hands to tell stories and dance.

It's time to wash dishes assembly-line style. A dish goes through each of the bucket stages.

We appreciated the love and hospitality of these wonderful Saints. We will never forget this experience