The Hong Kong Heritage Museum

One out of the many museums I've gone to here in Hong Kong is the Heritage Museum. Dad made reservations online for the Bruce Lee exhibit and we set off. It was a huge ways away but the MTR made it much easier. We had to take about four different lines with many stops. After about a hour we got of at our stop on the brown line called the Che Tung temple. It was a nice walk to the museum. When we arrived at the place we instantly went to the the Bruce Lee exhibit where I looked and read about Bruce Lees life. My favorite part of the exhibit was the cut films of the movies Bruce Lee was in. Outside of the exhibit there was lots of stuff with Green hornet and Kato on them. Green hornet and Kato are from a old film that Bruce Lee acted in. After the exhibit I went to the religion section where I looked at the old artifacts and watched at a movie about Tibetan culture. After that part I went to the small park outside/inside the museum. James played around a bit while the rest of the family sat down. Later we went to the restaurant next door called Mix Noodles. After eating spaghetti, roasted chicken wings with cheddar cheese sauce I went to the kid area where there were instruments from all over the world, and lots of interactive stuff like 3d Chinese letters and trains and cars. After playing there we started toward the Che Tung temple, a small walk away. When we got there and went up to the gate we realized that it was closed. That was the last thing we did in that zone. The last thing we did was take the bus back to Causeway Bay.

James playing in the park.

MTR map

Buddist God

Statue of Bruce Lee

  

Noon Day Gun

    

The noon day gun (午炮)

Here in Causeway Bay one of the famous tourist sights is the noonday gun (午炮). Going off at twelve o'clock the noon day gun is fired quite often. People can donate over hk$ 33,000 (us$ 5,000) to fire the cannon and get a souvenir. The noon day gun goes quite far back in history in the 1860's. The jardines would fire the gun when a Jardines tai-pan would arrive by sea. This tradition went on until a senior british officer came in and didn't know of the tradition. As a result the jardines had to fire the cannon every twelve o'clock as a penalty. The cannon, in 1941 was lost to the Japenese occupation but after british forces regained Hong Kong the gun was replaced with a six pound gun and the gun was operating again in 1947. As time went on there were many complaints so the six pound gun was replaced with a three pound gun.        

  

Amusement parks in Hong Kong

There are two popular amusement parks in Hong Kong: Ocean Park and Disneyland. In my opinion Disneyland has better characters, shows, and more family rides but Ocean Park has less lines, better transportation, and really good exhibits. They both have the same quality of rides, gifts, and food. I have annual passes for both of them. I have gone to Disneyland five times. Amazing. More times then all the times I've been to disneyland before this trip. The last time I went there was the best for it was not summer break, on a weekday, and a working day. That trio put together equals very small lines. Disneyland also started setting up the Halloween theme so Space Mountain was turned into Ghost Galaxies and so on. While we were there we got our Halloween costumes. The last time we went to Ocean Park wasn't as great as the trip to Disneyland. There were still lots of people and the park closed a lot earlier. Although there was still a lot of people I still had fun. Since we got the annual passes we got some coupons which allowed you a few free skill games and dollars off at gift shops and restaurants. They disappeared  pretty fast. Anyway, that's what I've been doing here in Hong Kong.

    

The Flash, Ocean Park

Mad Hatter's Teacups Disneyland

James in Grizzly Gulch, Disneyland

Orbitron, Disneyland

Us with Buzz Lightyear, Disneyland

Blackjack

Blackjack, a dwarf hamster, the perfect boat pet. I got him in Kota Kinabalu, in the Sunday Market. I had always wanted a pet. It all started when Mom wanted to go to the Sunday Market. I asked if I could go to the market to buy a pet. She said I could go. We took the bus there and got off at the beginning of the gigantic market. As we walked in we looked at numerous clothes, jewelry, toys, pets, ect. Choosing a pet was hard for there were so many. I was thinking about the turtle but, I thought that it would live longer than me so, I moved on. The next pet I ran into was the fish. A quick no. Eventually I came to the hamster section where, I stared at the rats, gerbils, Guinea pigs, hamsters, cages, and equipment. Mom eventually got me to move on to the end of the market where I found Blackjack and his equipment. I have now had Blackjack for about 6 months getting him toys, food and fluff (wood shavings).

Good Stuff Issue #12 04/13/2013

The Long Walk Home

Written by Jacob Burke / Good Stuff staff

April 13th 2013

I remember the walk home that night very well. It was late in October, near the end of the month, I think. It had been a cold day, and there were dark clouds piling up in the west. They had hidden the setting sun and were moving quickly over me, for there was a strong wind blowing. The dark and bare trees along the lonely road creaked and moaned as they were blown this way and that. Their branches seemed to reach and clutch at me like old and thin hands. I wish the bridge wasn’t washed out so I could have taken my usual way home.

As I hurried along, I noticed that the lights of my friend’s house had disappeared around the bend, and the other houses on that long, gravel road were dark. As I walked along among the cold, dark, houses I saw the old Finster house on the hill. A strange feeling occurred as I approached. I remembered all the tales the kids have told. I didn’t believe them or that the house was haunted and I didn’t believe the rumors about Mr. Finster either. I told the kids the road past Mr. Finster was the fastest way and I had to get my chores done before Dad got home.

I looked at the house closely as I walked along the road. Some of the windows were cracked, the paint was pealed, and the roof was caked with moss. I decided to take a closer look and see what all the rumors were about. I brushed through the cobwebs and cleared though the bushes and emerged closer than I planned. The house was huge and more like a mansion. There were spiders of amazing sizes climbing on the windows and a few rats scurrying on the floorboards. I started to see why kids would call this a haunted house. A lump formed in my stomach as I thought about my choice of coming this way to get home but still believed there was nothing to the ramblings of zombies and undead pets.

I looked in the window as I was walking along and I thought I saw a shape move from inside. The shadow was spiky and big. It was a creepy sight and I wondered why I chose this route to my home. I started getting goose bumps all over me. I heard a creak from the roof just as a big black bat flew into the sky. I started wondering and hoping that I would make it home.

My parents had told me Finster was a quiet old man and he had moved out two years ago. The rumors from the playground at school told of a grumpy man, mean to children who died in his home and each evening his zombie body arose from the dead and left his house to seek vengeance on the world for his death.

I shook off those thoughts as I saw the “For Sale” sign. I told myself no one could be home. The house must be empty; it should be empty. As I neared the backyard I saw rotted plants, mole holes, and creepiest of all a little cemetery made for Finister’s pets. Many of the kids said their zombie bodies followed Mr. Finster when he rose from the dead. I heard a crackle of lightning in the distance and saw old bones in the ground by a gravestone labeled “Ole Snoopy”. The lightning flickered again and I swore the bones moved. The rumors were true about Finister’s undead pets. I was wrong to ignore the warnings and stories. I had made a grave error.

I was paralyzed with fear and it took all my strength to force my feet to move. With what seemed ages I moved one foot then the other, building speed as I used all my strength to I ran away from the old mansion. As I ran away I thought I heard a ghostly voice moaning, “I will get your soul.”

As the distance grew between the Finster house and me I began to calm down. As I entered my neighborhood I felt safe being among the well-kept yards and friendly pets. As I managed my way up the front path to the door I put Mr. Finster out of my mind. I stared to list off the chores that need to be done before my father came home.

To this day I never take the long way home and advise all children to avoid Mr. Finster’s House.

THE END

 

Good Stuff Issue #11 06/06/2013

A Hamster’s Story

Written by Jacob Burke / Good Stuff staff

June 6th 2013

In a small cottage where deer roamed the meadow, it was fall. Yellow, orange, and red leaves littered the ground. A young boy named Billy lived in a small town called Ridley.

This young boy had a small hamster named Jack and he lived in a small cage. He had ginger fur and his eyes were plain black. He was friendly and furry but had one complaint. “I want a bigger cage.” is what he would say.

One day in September, Billy brought his hamster to school for show and tell. The roads were quite bumpy. Jack was getting grumpy. Then Jack’s cage, in one big bump, flew off the truck with Jack inside it. It landed and rolled right into a pet shop.

The owner of the shop brought him inside, took jack out of his broken cage, and put him in a giant hamster cage with several other mean looking hamsters. The shop owner went to the counter to wait for more customers.

Jack, in the a large cage was very scared, he tried to run out of the overcrowded cage but he kept tripping over the many bodies of hamsters. Jack missed his small cage and Billy.

Meanwhile Billy was very upset. He looked everywhere for Jack. He went from store to store looking for his little friend. He went inside the pet store almost out of hope and saw Jack. Jack yelled from across the store, “Billy! I am over here. I want to go home.” He jumped up in delight and got him from the owner of the pet store. Jack and Billy were happy together and Billy never complained about his cage again.

THE END