Hong Kong and the Queen's Spa, Shenzhen in 2008

I am going back in time because so many of my travel experiences didn't get to be uploaded.  So here they are, in random fashion. 

Hong Kong Sometime in April 2008

Hello all! I have had a productive weekend in Hong Kong (April 2008) and just wanted to share it with you all. :] I went to HK to buy a new computer. I have been using our school-issued laptop and was afraid that I wouldn’t get myself a personal one unless I did so soon. I settled for an HP CQ60. For all of you enlightened on the latest computer products, I hope I bought a good one. I bought one at 17” in case my next year finds me without a tv. The size has been a little regretful since it’s so heavy. I have a hard time lugging it around unless I stay put in a coffee shop, but its screen is so beautiful.

Hong Kong was wonderful. On the way there and back, I crashed at a beauty salon called Queen’s Spa. You can’t beat their amenities (free food, movie channels, pools, hot tub, massages) and 24-hour rate (168 Yuan=$25). It’s like a hotel that way but your cover charge is dismissed if you order a certain amount of massages or food. The main lounging room is just filled with lazy-boy recliners with tv’s attached and small trays to put your drinks and snacks on.

Many people end up sleeping in their lounge chairs but they do have separate ‘sleeping commons’ for men and for women. At one time, the areas were just made up of massage tables but then the sleeping common was finished and it turned out to be an enormous sleigh bed with dividers. It’s not as uncomfortable as it sounds but there are 65 other women sleeping in the room with you. We are all in our pink striped spa pajamas. It’s very interesting. I can’t take pictures of it though. On a side note, I usually sleep pretty well in that environment, but this time there was a chorus of snorers making it difficult. The sound was so syncopated it could have been broadcast on OPB as a supernatural phenomenon.

I survived the Queen’s Spa (sometimes it can be kind of loud and raucous) and went to Hong Kong again for Sun gathering. I was really looking forward to it. Life Community is a much larger fellowship and there’s more freedom to worship here than in China. When I walked up the hill to their rented facility, I was disappointed to find that they had moved. I didn’t know where to start looking. I ambled over to a HK landmark St. Andrews and discovered that they were still holding services. It was a beautiful red brick and white mortar Anglican church. It looked like it had stood there since the founding fathers of HK disembarked.


It was the most refreshing time. It was Anglican in service (I expected tradition and liturgy) but everything about it felt alive and modern. The woman guiding the service spoke with conviction--even when she was just giving the announcements. They used modern worship songs, and the pastor spoke on forgiveness. The gathering felt really mission-oriented even though nothing was verbalized. I had the conviction that those attending lived their lives through their faith and believed that their time and place here on the planet really mattered.


That kind of attitude is nothing if but contagious! I left feeling like a part of the believing community at large. I also wished I could be ordained as an Anglican minister just to help relieve them of their need for lay pastors. It would be so neat if things would come to that--if pastors of any Bible-believing denomination could swap leaders with other Bible-believing denominations in order to fill positions.


These longings surface and I wonder what in the world I am doing teaching. I wonder if I should serve full-time in an area of need instead of working for what feels like a black hole of daily living expenses. I hate to put so much energy into making lucre at the expense of fulfilling my heart’s desire. I know there is a balance in here somewhere.