Eclipse in Hong Kong

I KNOW, I KNOW!!! My last post was in October! I've become a horrible blogger! Well, in an attempt to break out the paddles and try to bring the Happy Taylor Blog back to life I'm going to...pick up where I left off. I had some other pictures from our Hong Kong trip that were supposed to go after the ones I already posted, so I figured I might as well put them up. Better late than never, right? Right? Is anyone still out there???

Well, for the benefit of anyone who may be reading, I left off talking about Eclipse's performances in Hong Kong and how well we were received, but let me tell you, if you think the people in Hong Kong liked Eclipse, we were nothing compared to...
...our 4 month old daughter, Isis. I kid you not, carrying her around in the above-pictured baby backpack made me feel like I was wearing a Buzz Lightyear costume at Disneyworld! When we were walking the streets with the other members of Eclipse and their wives, the people would swarm us because we didn't have just one American baby, we had THREE!!
Paul & Becca's daughter is a month older than Isis and Jake & Ann's son is a month younger.
Everyone wanted to touch the babies and take pictures with the babies. It was crazy:
Hong Kong is just plain amazing. Skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. Here we are at the top of Victoria Peak, which is the best vantage point:
And here we are in front of the Skyline at night. They have lights on the outside of many of the buildings that are automated and each night they do an incredible light show where they flash the buildings on and off, choreographed to music:
The festival arranged for us to have escorts each day to help with transportation, translation, etc. Basically, they were supposed to keep us on schedule and out of trouble. Our main two "chaperones" were named Snowie and Sophia:
The Taylor fam with Sophie:
And with Snowie:
Whenever we go to Asia, our hosts take us out to at least one meal at a fancy restaurant so we can have a cultural experience by sampling some of the culinary delicacies of the region. First off, I would not really describe myself (or Heather) as an adventurous eater. Secondly, I am not really a fan of most seafood. That said, I particularly dislike seafood when it's staring at me:
No joke, when they served us the above-pictured fish, the locals at our table were telling us which parts of the eyeball were the tastiest. Here is the shrimp they served:
Finally they brought out some fried chicken and we thought our prayers had been answered until we realized they hadn't exactly prepared it "Kentucky Style." Instead, they had cooked it whole and then just chopped it in slices an put in on a plate...
...head and all:

I think part of it is a cultural difference where Asian people feel that they don't want food to go to waste. I am an American. I am of the strong opinion that certain parts of the animals we eat should be cut off and THROWN AWAY. Also, Chinese food vendors have very different ideas when it comes to things like, say, refrigeration. My food handlers permit may not be current, but I spent enough years working in restaurants to be just a little put off by the street market system of marketing food--particularly raw meat:That said, they feed a lot more people in China than we do here, so who am I to judge? It works for them and that's great. Overall, I have to say that Hong Kong is an amazing place. If you ever get the chance to go, do it! Hong Kong rules!!!