Mainland China!

 What made us think that just because we had Visas for Hong Kong, we had permission to enter Mainland China?

We expected to see The Great Wall of China before our mission ended, but have since learned our visas are not valid for Mainland China.  We have a lot to learn about traveling the world.

The Balls were turned down when they applied to go across the border, so we had decided not to bother.  But, when others told us if we have Vivian at the area office help us, there wouldn't be a problem.  She takes care of getting visas for all the missionaries,

 and knows the proper steps in applying.

So with her help, we each applied for a 1-year visa.

The process seemed to be going smoothly, that is until we picked up our visas.

We were told to expect a long wait, but when we got there, we were pleased to see the line was short, and we didn't have to wait long to be directed to the next available clerk.  We paid what we thought was the normal cost for visas, only to find out later that $2200HK is an exuberant amount.  We were then directed to another window to be handed our passports.

We were thinking that was easy.  However, when we looked closely, we discovered our visas were only good for a 1-time visit, and not to exceed 10 days, and expired in 1 month from that day.

We wouldn't have 10 days available until the next temple closing 6 months later.

A lot a good these visas were to us.

The best we could do was go to Shenzhen at the border for a day.  

We teetered between going and not even bothering with it.  But, when a few of the other missionaries encouraged us to at least go to see the Cultural Village in Shenzhen, we decided to go ahead.

Besides, this would give us another stamp in our passports, and that has got to be special.

We went to church on Sunday in Elder and Sister Ngais branch, and then took the train with Sister Nora Chan to Shenzhen.  It is only a 45-minute train ride from Hung Hom, but after going through customs, Nora showed us a few things to know about, and then we waited in a long line for a taxi.  So, it was evening before we actually walked into our hotel room.

As we stood facing this large building, we were standing in Mainland China. On the other side of this building is Hong Kong Territory.  

Sister Nora Chan escorted us past the border, and showed us around a little before 

we went on to our hotel.  

We had a little hiccup with checking in though. We discovered the hotel would not accept our credit card.  Something about needing to notify our bank about traveling to another country.  We kind of thought Hong Kong and China are all the same.  Guess not!  

Glad to say, we had enough cash with us.

Nora accompanied us to our room to make certain everything met our expectations before heading back to Hong Kong.  She is quite the lady.

To our surprise, our hotel room had a bath tub in the middle of the room.

We couldn't resist doing something we just recently learned from Elder and Sister Judy Chan - its the 'Asian Pose'.

Nora and Shirley were both looking out for us, and wrote down several questions in Chinese that we might possibly need to communicate to someone.  You see, not near as many speak English in Shenzhen, so there was a possibility we might not be able to find our way back to Hong Kong.
Nora said if we didn't show up to the temple on Tuesday morning,
she would have to come looking for us.
The next morning we took a taxi to the Chinese Folk Cultural Villages,
which wasn't far from the hotel.
It was actually built after a Chinese government official had visited the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, and wanted something similar for China.
Sidenote:  It was 20 years ago on this day when my mother passed away.
She had hoped to travel to Hawaii.  She would have enjoyed seeing China too. 

The guy on the right wearing the cowboy hat, stared at us for a good couple of minutes.  With a serious look on his face, he took a picture of us without saying a word.

I guess he had never seen Americans before.

The Wei Village - The Tianshan People

I was summoned to participate in the dancing.  I wouldn't say my performance was all that graceful, but it was fun.

This is Lin-dah.  She came running up to us as we walked through the villages, and said very clearly with a smile on her face, 'Helll-oh!'  We said hello back and told her she had a pretty dress.  She immediately lost her smile and ran back to, who we guess was, her grandfather. We ended up at the same village minutes later and sat next to each other.
She had a beautiful big smile except for picture taking.

Lin-dah gave her own performance as we waited for the show to start.  I would guess she was about 6 or 7 and was adorable.

This woman tried to coax this little girl (possibly her granddaughter) to smile for our camera, but she would have no part of it.  She refused to even look our way.  

Tibetan Village

Prayer Wheels on the back tables are spun for luck and health.

The Tibetan's Tug-o-War

The Long Sleeve Dance

Elder Bodily just had to walk on this grassy area.  The most grass we have seen in China.

Notice the hedges shaped in Chinese characters in the upper left?

Still using ancient methods in modern times.  Great balancing!

Can you find Grandma B?

Heartwarming cucurbit flute singing in the Peacock Kingdom

Thousand-Hand and Thousand-Eye Guanyin Buddha

The Va Village

Weaving demonstration

The black princesses' charming dancing and swinging their hair with wooden drumbeating, brings you good luck and best wishes.

Can you find Grandpa B?  This one is for the little ones.

'I'd be more than happy to smile and wave for your camera'!

This poor little donkey looked like he could hardly pull this carriage loaded with people.

He stopped just shortly after we took this photo, and refused to go any further.

Quite the outfit for an elephant.  

That is one big tree!

Colorful Chinese umbrellas hanging from the trees.  It really was quite pretty to see.
Umbrellas date 2,000 years ago in China.

We sat next to this woman during the Va Villages performance. 

 We don't know her name, but she was always smiling.

This is a real Chinese Checkers board game.
 Clay balls are used as playing pieces rather than glass marbles.

Bamboo Tubes shown below.

An interesting device developed by villagers in southwestern China.

This tree had hundreds of colorful ribbons attached to the branches.

They may have been prayer ribbons, but not sure.

A nice young man took our last pose before we left The China Folk Culture Villages.

We were dripping wet from the heat, but we had a good time in spite of it, and learned a thing or two about Chinese history, culture, and folk arts and customs before heading home.
We can say we have been to Mainland China now.
Maybe after our mission is over, we'll have an opportunity to see the Great Wall of China.