Noah's Ark Hong Kong

The day was beautiful (Saturday, January 16), so we decided to take a trip to visit the Noah Ark theme park on Park Island. It was just opened last year. We had heard about it and intrigued us. We caught Bus 11 to the Central Hong Kong Pier, walked to Pier 2, and caught the boat to Park Island. It took about 20 minutes. The Island is underneath the Bridge that connects Kowloon and Lantau islands. Besides the theme park and beaches, the island has several large apartment complexes. No cars, but a few vans and buses. The boat had very comfortable seats. It was not crowded. We walked about 15 minutes to the theme park after we docked the boat.

The Tsing Ma Bridge is the world's seventh-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion in 1997. The bridge was named after two of the islands at its ends, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan . It has two decks and carries both road and rail traffic, which also makes it the largest suspension bridge of this type. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 metres (4,518 ft) and a height of 206 metres (676 ft). The span is the largest of all bridges in the world carrying rail traffic.

The 41 metres (135 ft) wide bridge deck carries six lanes of automobile traffic, with three lanes in each direction. The lower level contains two rail tracks. There are also two sheltered carriageways on the lower deck for maintenance access and as backup for traffic when particularly severe typhoons strike Hong Kong. Though road traffic would need to be closed in that case, trains could still get through in either direction.

A comfortable ride across the Harbor on a jet ferry.

Our jet ferry parked at the dock.



A month later, (February 27) we were in charge of a couples' Saturday activity. We took 25 other senior missionaries and some Center employee for a day at Noah's Ark. The day was foggy, but the weather was warm after a cold early February. Sister Gibbons is explaining something to Sister Paul with Elder Gibbons at their side. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

Kevin Nield, our new DTA, and his wife joined us. Terry Oakes, the DTA for the last five years, is in the background. Sister Linford, wife of our medical doctor is on the right. She is older than us; is 80 and her husband is 79. This is their 5th mission!!!

The apartments were part of the Island development.

A lovely beach parallels the strolling path to the Resort.

The themes of the Park are painted on this cement hill under an overpass. Do you see the words "Goodness", "Love" and "Patience"?

The background of the Park is fascinating

The world’s first biblically proportioned Noah’s Ark was opened to the public on in May 2009 in Hong Kong. Its builders - Chinese evangelical billionaires - say they hope the ark will promote positive values. Speaking at the opening of the Ark to the public at Ma Wan Park in Hong Kong, Chan Kai-ming, Executive Director of Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) said, “Noah’s Ark is a new tourist attraction in Hong Kong. Ma Wan Park shows SHKP’s long-standing commitment to building homes with heart and contributing to the community."Noah’s Ark will give Hong Kong a new tourist attraction and help promote positive values of love for life, family and nature.”
“Noah’s Ark is a place where people can get close to nature. The facility is full of happiness and positive messages, with many interesting interactive facilities and activities. It will lift people’s horizons with new knowledge and let them rethink life and experience love,” said Moses Cheng, Ma Wan Park Advisory Committee Chairman.

The concept behind Noah’s Ark are the Kwok brothers, heirs to Hong Kong’s largest real estate developer SHKP. They have built the 450-foot-long ark and luxury hotel complex complete with 67 pairs of fiberglass animals to draw visitors from beyond the city’s limit. Thomas Kwok, an evangelical Christian, is the main champion of the project that has been in discussion for 17 years. The ark is inspired by his Christian faith, but will not be promoted in an overtly religious manner. Instead, the message being promoted is that the financial storm will soon be over and new life, represented by the animals emerging from the ark, will soon be opened up.

But despite avoiding an obvious religious message, the ark - the foundation of which was laid in 2004 - was developed in partnership with five Christian organisations.
The Ark is on a 270,000-square-foot site on Ma Wan Island overlooking the Rambler Channel and Tsing Ma Bridge. There are five levels with different themes. The lower ground floor has a sea-front restaurant and the ground floor has Ark Expo and Noah’s Hall. The first floor is devoted to the Ark Life Education House and the second floor houses the Treasure House. The top floor is Noah’s Resort. The ark is surrounded by facilities including the Ark Garden, Noah’s Adventureland, Noah’s Stadium and Fun Fun Track. The backdrop of green hills, a traditional village and Ma Wan heritage will make the area a new tourist attraction.

The agreement with the government calls for the park to be operated on a commercial basis without government funding. Ma Wan Park will create a fund to hold any surplus from operations for the repair, maintenance and promotion of the Park. Neither the Ma Wan Park Company nor SHKP will profit from developing or operating Ma Wan Park. The Park’s accounts will be strictly monitored.

Previously built arks include one in the Netherlands that could float on water and contained real animals. But the Netherlands ark was about one-fifth the size of the biblical ark. Another ark was built by Greenpeace in 2007 on Turkey’s Mount Ararat that was intended to be a warning of impending disaster from climate change.

"When you go to Disneyland, there's really no message there," says Ms Leung. "But at Noah's Ark, there is such a strong message that life goes on. "Ma Wan Park is intended to promote family values and teach love, social harmony and care for the environment.Noah's Ark is a multi-media vehicle designed to foster:
Love for Self and Others
Love for the Well-being of the Body and Spirit
Love for Life
Love for the Environment
Love for Learning
Love for Challenges
Love to Serve Others
The Ark also offers a platform where businesses, schools and organizations can show their commitment to the community by sponsoring activities for the less fortunate and offering their staff, students and volunteers an opportunity to serve society.

Even a tiled wall depicts many animals.

The eagle graces the top of the entrance way.

You can see the size of the ark as you compare with the people below. It is not made of wood, but it looks like it.

Many of the life-like animals are placed in beautiful garden settings. They are placed in pairs. A sign accompmanies the animals that names them, tells what part of the world they are found, and identifies how endangered they are. The Expo musuem that is on the first floor of the ark has hundred of displays that teach Christian values and environmenal principles. The entire Park has a definite educational and spiritual theme. (To see the animals in larger size, click on the picture.)

These raccoon panda statues are as life-like as the live ones we saw at Ocean Park.

Beautiful public sandy beach.

Hyenas ready to pounce.

The side of the ark has a door open with scores of animals exiting after the flood. The size of the ark can be seen in this picture.

Isn't this a beautiful setting? You have to look over a railing near the entrance to see this. We missed seeing them the first time we walked by.

Even a pair of bears to greet you. Reminded us of Yellowston Park in the United States.


2010 is the Chineses Year of the Tiger. This rare white tiger is really impressive as it stares at us through the flowers.

i couldn't resist taking tis pictureon my second visit. The beautiful bridge is centered between the two giraffes' neck and head.

The Ark Garden is on the island near the bridge. The setting is lovely.

Even the turtles were able to get off the boat. The Ark Expo inside the ark did not permit photos, so we were not able to include photos of that part of the day. The park tries to teach Christian values in subtle ways, highlighting the reality of the Ark and God’s dealing with Man. It also teaches environmental principles and warns of global warming. The expo has exhibits, interactive activities for children, 180 degree theatres, 4D productions, Noah Ark collections from around the world, and bible teachings. The Expo takes about 70 minutes to go through it, with docents speaking Chinese and English to help explain the exhibits. One of the interesting exhibits was the research being done by Hong Kong University on wood pieces (petrified wood)found on Mt. Ararat that some think are parts of the ark. They have had teams on the mountain and have been one of the leading research organizations since 2004.

Other attractions include a hotel on the top floor of the ark, the 3rd floor with an area for rope-building team activities for teen-agers and corporate people, interactive video games with messages of improving ones self image, developing health attitudes etc. We did not explore these sites on this visit.

We were tired when we arrived home about 5 p.m., but we felt rewarded for our efforts.

Thanksgiving and Christmas- Hong Kong Style

As Thanksgiving and Christmas approached, we were concerned about being so far away from home and family. But we found that in addition to our regular missionary work, we were involved in many festive dinners, activities, conferences and devotionals; all designed to help us remember to be grateful for our many blessings, to celebrate the birth of our Savior and to bring harmony and unity to everyone here. The couples all joined for a turkey Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday afternoon following Thanksgiving Day. Of course, no one in Hong Kong celebrated Thanksgiving except the ex pats. Sister Smith contributed a delicious cranberry salad based on Deb's wonderful recipe. No one asked me to make dressing, and I must say, the one they purchased here was pretty dry. Maybe someone in the family will let me make dressing for next Thanksgiving.

Our branch had its normal share of weekly group activities during November and December that included some birthdays. Our lone brother, Brother Noel, had his birthday and the sisters in our group had a big meal that included a cake. The branch choir performed a beautiful concert on the Sunday before Christmas with narration from a sister and Elder Linford, our 80 yeear-old beautiful bass voiced medical missionary. On Christmas afternoon, the branch had its annual social with games, skits, singing, and dinner. We had over 140 in attendance. Our normal Sunday attendance is about 120. The four senior missionary couples in the branch: Arnold, Linford, Paul and Smith, performed "The Friendly Beasts". I played the sheep and got the "b-a-a-a" down pretty good. The five group skits were dances from Africa. The sisters had lots of fun making up their faces and creating costumes for their dances. The music was authentic. President Oakes and the wives of the couple missionaries were the judges. There were five categories for prizes, and diplomatically, every group got a prize. Our group was especially good with Brother Noel leading the sisters in their courting dance. We received the "best performance" award.

The Area Administrative Office staff, under the direction of the Area Presidency, decorated the entire building for Christmas. The building has a large glass entrance way on the ground floor that opens onto Gloucester Road. In the foyer behind the entrance they placed a beautiful life-sized nativity set. Passerbys would pause, look at the scene, listen to Christmas music, and feel the spirit of the season. This was the only large nativity display we observed in the downtown area. Lots of lights and displays on the buildings, but nothing about Christ. Each of the ten floors had wreaths, balls, bells, nativity sets, trees and festive colors. All 100 employees and missionaries put the decorations up right after Thanksgiving under the direction of Sister Arnold, wife of the Area Executive Secretary. On Monday, January 4, 2010, all of us assembled to put everything away for another year.

Our Christmas activities included a Christmas devotional with our Area President, Elder Perkins speaking, special missionary couple music, group pictures, and a delicous buffet lunch. Earlier in the month the 12 senior missionary couples were all invited to Elder and Sister Watson's 11th floor apartment for a Christmas party with food, music, and white elephant gifts. Our Hong Kong Senior Missionary Conference (including temple, missionary office, and senior sister misionaries) was held in early December. We were taught beautifully by the Area Presidency with slides and testimony, had a delicious lunch, and then went on an outing to the Hong Kong botanical and zoological gardens in nearby Central Hong Kong The temperature was in the 70's. What a delight. The Hong Kong Temple even had a party for all temple workers in the large garage basement of the temple. With the temple president's wife doing the catering, we had a delicious dinner with entertainment after by Sister Elia and Kau, two missionaries with Hawaiian pedigrees. They even had many of us doing the hula with them.

There were even other events that some of the couples enjoyed such as a Chinese acrobatic opera, Christmas choral concerts, symphony concerts, New Year's Eve fireworks etc. Because part of December Sister Smith and I were overcoming colds, we didn't join in all of them. In the midst of these our missionary partners and trainers, Elder and Sister Woolsey, completed their missions and returned home. Elder and Sister Dodson replaced them. They are from Provo as well. We also were surprised when our Area Welfare Manager, Stanley Wan, was assigned to Beijing, China for 12 to 18 montths to be the China Service Center Manager. In his place, a member of the finance deparment and management trainee, Floyd Ko, will guide our work. So things are set for 2010. Our mission is going too quickly. Just over 5 months, and we will be on our way back to family in Provo. But these 2009 holiday events will long be remembered.



Our home teaching group with food furnished by Sister Trinidad. l to r: Elder Noel, Sisters Violeta, Gloria, Trinidad, Elder Smith, Sisters Gloria, Dioneta, Paz, Sally, Luz.

Thanksgiving dinner was of high quality and quantity.

We sat at the table with Elder Watson.

Senior Missionary outing with Sister Kewish, Sister Smith, Elder and Sister Halvorsen and Elder Kewish. The Filipino domestic servant is in Sister Halvorsen's branch. She is watching her employer's baby.

The botanical gardens were beautiful. This dainty flower caught my eye.

Beautiful fountains at the front of the gardens.

These beautiful orchids make a delicate picture.

These Gibbon monkets were very noisy. They talked by blowing up their throat sacs and tried to outdo each other with their shrieking calls. You could hear them all over the park.

Elder Noel's birthday party. He is 50 years old today.

Another group picture. We had a good turnout today.

The happy Elders. We are truly in the minority in this branch

Hawaaian entertainment at the Temple social. Sister Kau and Elia, Hong Kong Mission office missionaries, were very graceful.

Sister Smith and her dear friend, Sister Trinidad. She has become another daughter to us.

Sisters Kau and Elia lead the lessons taught

Elder and Sister Elia enjoying lunch.

Elder and Sister Poon, missionaries from Canada.

The beautiful life-sized nativity set was a hit with the passer-bys who took time to look at it.

We pose before one of 3 trees decorated on the first 6 floors.

Two of our favorite security guards, James and Sunny. They greet us warmly each day they are on duty.

A Mongolian creche. Note the yak and the Mongolian faces. This belongs to Elder and Sister Gibbons.

Elder and Sister Woolsey say goodbye. Back to Bakersfield, California. We have truly enjoyed them.

Elder and Sister Dodson from Provo enter their new apartment as they replace the Woolseys.

A Chinese creche in Elder Watson's apartment.

A missionary quartet entertain during our dinner in Elder Watson's apartment. Elder Perkins, our Area President, looks on. Sisters Erickson and Kewish, Elders Kewish and Gibbons are the singers.

The Christensen family entgertain us. He is a counselor in our District Presidency.

The white elephant gift exchange was fun. We ended with the three Chinese Wisemen: Longlife, Happiness and Prosperity.

The theme for the skits at our Branch Christmas Social was African Dances


A typical costume complete with face painting.


President Oakes gets ready to be the chief judge.

Sister Angel gets to look like a handsome cowboy (Not sure how Africa fits in)

This was our group of Kenya dancers. Elder Noel is dressed all in black.

This three floor size tree was in the atrium of the Festival Walk mall near the Temple. We walked to it after our temple holiday service on December 31.

The mall has its own ice skating rink-- The Glacier

We watched this junk take or tourists and then roll up the three sails. The wind immediately pushed it along.

The flowers in this fountain near our office are poinsettias for the season.

s We have our own Times Square mall near our apartment. They had a big New Year's Eve gathering. The large flower balls are part of the New Year decorations.