April 9, 2008
Hong Kong, China

Yesterday, Fiona Zhu and I took one of the many double-decker buses down Kowloon’s main drag, Nathan Road. We got off the bus at Haiphong Road, walked behind the mosque, and entered Kowloon Park. The park was an unexpectedly pretty and relaxing place in the midst of the city, doing for Kowloon what Central Park does for Manhattan—making urban life more bearable. But this peaceful little place was once all about war.

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Instead of only reading about travel and adventure, how would you like to also see videos that show you fun, beautiful, unusual, relaxing, exciting places to go? I thought so. I have a new camcorder, so every now and then I’ll offer you a more active peek at my adventures. This week, my husband, Dale, and I went for a simple hike at Betasso Preserve, just outside Boulder, Colorado. The 3-minute video below will give you the highlights of the 3.2-mile Canyon Loop Trail. I always take progressively more challenging and spectacular hikes as summer progresses, so keep coming back! This is going to be fun…

HIKING BETASSO PRESERVE from Cara Lopez Lee on Vimeo.

April 8, 2008
Hong Kong, China

Eleven years since the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese government, and crossing the border between Mainland China and Hong Kong is still an ordeal. It took Fiona Zhu and I nearly four hours to travel from Guangzhou to Kowloon, even though they’re little more than a hundred miles apart. The delay is partly because we had to stop at a checkpoint, get off the bus with our bags, and be granted departure from China… then get back on, stop at another checkpoint, get off again, and be granted arrival in Hong Kong.

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Thanks so much to Tammy of The Blogging Bradleys for passing on the Beautiful Blogger Award to Girls Trek Too. What a delightful honor, which I can’t wait to pass on. But first, this new tradition dictates that the recipient list 10 things that others might not know about him or her. So here goes…

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April 8, 2008

After two weeks in China’s Guangdong Province, I saw my first day of unequivocal sunshine on April 6th in Guangzhou. It turns out the old Chinese saying about this festival season was wrong: sometimes it does not rain at Qing Ming. But Fiona Zhu told me about another adage: if it rains at Qing Ming, it will be a rainy spring, and if it doesn’t rain at Qing Ming, it will be a sunny spring. In turn, I tried to explain Groundhog Day to her. ”What is a groundhog?” she asked.

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