Arriving in Hong Kong

Dad's friends Li and Holly decided to get married in China so we went out there for their wedding.

After a long flight to Hong Kong, we took the train into downtown Hong Kong.

Unfortunately we couldn't see much on the way into the city because it was night. But there were lights on the buildings once we got closer.

Here is our tiny hotel room which we stayed in. There are a lot of people in a small space so you don't get big hotel rooms there.

Wrapping up the trip in New York

Our 2 weeks, 3 weddings trip came to an end with a visit to New York City. We took the train from Newark Airport to Penn Station.


We rented a small room in a random guy's flat and did lots of sleeping there as we were very tired, and Dad forgot to bring his small backpack to carry us around in.

After several days of sleeping we finally took a flight back home to Sheffield.

Wawayanda State Park, New Jersey

After the wedding, Dad took us to Wawayanda State Park, which was near Carmen's house. She recommended it to me because of all the water bugs it has. Unfortunately it did not have any bamboo for SP. That shows Carmen likes me more since she recommended a place she knew I would like the most.


We went on a walk around the lake which went through a forest. We don't see many forests in England, so it was nice to see a forest again.


I went to catch some water bugs in the lake but SP was not so interested in them.

It was nice and sunny so we tried to make our bellies a little darker by lying in the sun.

This was a cool dam we found while we were on our walk. After the walk Dad went kayaking around the lake but he said it was too risky to take us as SP might fall in. He doesn't swim as well as I do since he is not a platypus. We both had a great time at the park and saw lots of other animals like geese, fish, a snake and a ground hog.

New Jersey wedding trip

After Nissim's wedding in Paris we went on to Kathryn's wedding in Raleigh, then to Carmen's wedding in New Jersey too! It was quite a wedding-themed trip.


Dad was not sure where to go when we were driving in New Jersey so I read the directions to him while Strange Panda made sure we were going the right way on the map.

After our day of travelling and the wedding we had a nice sleep at the hotel.

Back to Paris for a wedding

We took the Eurostar train to Paris for Nissim and Sarah's wedding. Luckily there was an empty seat next to Dad so we got our own chair.


We rented a flat in Paris and had a great time sleeping in it most of the time.


Dad was off at many wedding events so we spent the days checking email and the like instead.

Finishing in Madrid

We ended our trip in Madrid. This was the view from the room we stayed in. Unfortunately Dad got food poisoning so we spent a bit too much time examining this view!


Of course on the way home when we really wanted to get back, our flight was delayed for three hours so we had a lot of time lying around waiting.

Off to Ciudad Real

We took a bus and a high speed train from Fuente del Arco to get to Ciudad Real.


We had a good sleep in Ciudad Real at Jose Antonio and Elena's house.

Lazing around the house

Dad went off to pick aspargus and thyme on the mountain while we lazed around in the house all day, since it was really hot and dusty outside.

Walking around the town

We went for a walk around the town after picking asparagus. SP said it was dangerous to cross the railroad tracks, but you could see for a long way and Ade said there are only two trains a day to her village so we would be ok.

Ade's aunt was nice enough to let us stay at her empty house, so we had a good sleep there after our day of adventure.

Picking wild asparagus

Ade showed us how to find wild aspargus near her village.


This was a particularly good one that we found and picked to take home.

We learned that the aspargus people sometimes eat is the baby shoots of the aspargus, much how SP likes the young bamboo the best.

Fuente del Arco

Next we went on to stay with Ade, who used to live in Sheffield. That's her cute little village Fuente del Arco in the background.

And those are her hands holding us too! How lucky she was.

Tea at Café Hafa

Strange Panda and I went to Café Hafa in Tangier to have their famous mint tea while staring over the ocean. Apparently lots of other celebrities have come here before us too.

We were so deep in conversation it took us awhile to realise our photos were being taken originally.

Touring the Kasbah in Tangier

In the Kasbah in Tangier there was a nice garden where we took some pictures.


Here is one farther away.


This is a bench in the same garden.


This was on the fountain in the Kasbah's courtyard.


Bill and I are those tiny speaks in the center of the courtyard.

What else? Sleep of course

Dad went off to Tetuan in Morocco but the weather was very wet so we decided to stay at home and rest instead.

Touring Ceuta

Our hosts Raul and Ana took me, Bill, and Dad around town to see Ceuta.


Ceuta is a Spanish city in Africa which is next to Morocco.


Here's another good view of us and the city.

Off to Spain and Morocco

Dad took us on a trip to Spain and Morocco. Our first destination was Ceuta, but we had to spend the night in Algeciras to get there.


There was a cool sink that Bill really liked as he could have a swim in it and still see the floor.


The next morning we took a ferry to Ceuta and got to see the exciting port machinery.

Another glorious mug of us!

Dad says he's sorry there haven't been more pics, but his camera is misbehaving and rarely works now. He did manage to take a few pictures of a new mug he made which features us at the beach though!

Here Bill and I are parachuting into an ocean filled with snakes from the look of it.

Riding a wave on a surfboard

And relaxing on the beach in the sun!

White Christmas!

It snowed a lot starting on the night of Christmas day, so we woke up to Boxing Day with a ground covered in snow. Strange Panda liked it a lot since he has natural camouflage in the snow, or at least he did until he got so grubby.

Christmas Day

Finally it was Christmas day! We got up early from the jet lag, so we got to look in our stocking which was filled with lovely candy.


There were a ton of presents under the tree because a lot of the family was coming over this year.


After we opened all our presents, we had a lot of fun playing with the wrapping paper too!

Heading to NC for Christmas

We headed back to North Carolina for Christmas again this year. Due to all the snow in London, we had to sit around in Sheffield for a few days before getting a new flight on Christmas Eve. The Chicago airport was fine though, with nice comfy seats for waiting in.


We arrived so late that Natalie and her family were already there and waiting for us!