Sisters!

What timing! My sister Karen, her daughter Blaire and our Mom all arrived in HK during Ryan's graduation ceremony. As we were driving into our apartment building, their taxi was pulling up.

(There was confusion about their airline tickets and they didn't understand they would lose a day. So they thought they'd be arriving the day before graduation! Oh well.) Blaire graduated just a couple of weeks before Ryan and this was part of her graduation present - a trip to Hong Kong with her mom.

The first morning, we suggested that everyone take it pretty easy as they'd be jet-lagged

(12 hours ahead of Florida time).

But Karen and I got up and took a nice long walk - with a camera.

Here are some of Karen's first sights of the island:

The four light blue buildings in the center is our apartment building.

Below, at the end of Karen's finger is our home.

At the Tin Hau Temple near our house, Karen befriends one of the local dragons.

On one of our first trips, Ryan shows Blaire around the school, starting with the senior banner displayed at the front gate. David (HKIS class of 2006) created the banner, sent the file to Ryan, who (as a senior class officer) had it made into a great little banner.

All the seniors signed it.

The bus is our friend. Here are Karen and our Mom on the top front of one of the double-deckers. We're headed to Victoria Harbor for some exploring in downtown Hong Kong.

We arrive at the bus depot and we're in the heart of Hong Kong - the banking district!

We went all the way up the escalators -

the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire escalator system covers over 800 metres in distance and elevates over 135 metres from bottom to top. It was constructed in 1993 to provide a better commute by linking Central and Western District on Hong Kong Island.

(Thank you, Wikipedia.)

And then we went all the way back down. Karen, Blaire and my mom all had extremely sore legs the next day. Ryan and I were used to all the climbing, so it didn't bother us.

My mom poses in front of an ad "Single unattached billboard looking for love."

Blaire and Ryan pose with one of the HSBC lions.

Then we crossed the street and took some pictures around some fountains

with some very cool modern art.

Homeward bound. It was a long day, but these two still look very chipper!