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Warning: This is going to be a super long post. But if you make it through all 40 pictures, 3 videos, and however much I end up writing, you'll have a pretty good understanding of our new community. Good luck.

We live on Lantau Island. And here is a map to remind you where in Hong Kong that is. (Lower left corner.) The SALT office is on Hong Kong Island. (In yellow.)

More specifically, we live in Mui Wo. Do you see it?

It's pronounced something like moo-e waw.

Ok, so here we are. That's the ferry just arriving into the Mui Wo Ferry Pier. There are two types of ferries, fast and ordinary. The fast ferry takes about 30 minutes to get to Central (Hong Kong Island) and the ordinary ferry takes about 50 minutes. The fast ferry is more expensive, but the ordinary ferry doesn't have barf bags. Sometimes the choice to spend more money is a no brainer.

This is the sea of bikes outside the ferry pier. Nathan's will be parked there daily.

Don't steal it.

And this is the very non-descript entrance/exit to the ferry. You can pick up a newspaper and a snack on the way in.

Once you walk out of the ferry pier, there are buses to take you to your next destination. It's about 30 minutes to Tung Chung/Airport.

But we don't need a bus, we're just gonna walk.

This is the Mui Wo "town." It's small and quite unlike other parts of Hong Kong.

It actually reminds me a bit more of Taiwan.

There's a McDonald's, 7-11, Wellcome, Park-n-Shop, numerous restaurants and other shops. What more do you need?

To many local Hong Kong folks, Mui Wo is not convenient enough. But we like the more small town, relaxed feel. It is also much more family friendly (and cheaper) than other areas, so we choose to give up a bit of convenience.

Here's a look back at the ferry pier.

I have to say, I wish they would put a fence along the water.

The big building at the end of the street there is a vacant school. Apparently Lantau International School is planning to begin occupying that building. That will certainly be one schooling option for Josiah.

Our last look at town. We looked at several flats in town, but the ones in our price range were all 500-something square feet. And while we certainly could have made that work, a 10 minute bike ride to the village for 700 square feet is definitely worth it!

We just walked in a circle through town. Did you catch that? Those pointy buildings ahead are the Mui Wo Cooked Food Market. It's to the right as you walk out of the ferry pier. (McDonald's is to the left. You really don't need to know all this, but just in case you're curious. Or plan to visit us and want to instantly know you're way around.)

There are lots of Chinese restaurants lining the water. We've eaten at a number of places and all the food has been great!

There are always fishing boats in the harbor outside the cooked food market.

This is a look inland at the beach.

Now a video. For those of you that aren't able to view this video, I'm sorry. I now realize that I should have taken more pictures in case you weren't able to.

This is the walkway we've been walking down. It went along the harbor and now follows the River Silver inland.

This is the Mui Wo Government Offices. There's a Post Office and Medical Clinic and I'm not sure what else. I've been told that I'll be able to do most of my prenatal visits at this clinic, which is nice and convenient.

On the other side of the river from the Government Offices is a playground.

With swings.

And beyond the playground is the beach.

The beach has a volleyball net, two lifeguard stands, the ever important shark net, nice sand, bbq pits, and shower facilities We've already had a lot of fun there. And since all that's required is an easy 10 minute bike ride to get there, we'll be there lots!

Back along the river headed inland is this building. It has a wet market, library, and gym/fitness center. I haven't been to the library or fitness center yet, but I'm glad they're available!

Inside the wet market are the typical flower and produce stands.

And live fish. Which one do you want for dinner?

Further along the river is the Mui Wo Swimming Pool. It's a really nice facility, though the pool is pretty much just for swimming laps. It's goes from a depth of 3 feet at one end to 4 feet at the other. Since the beach is free and the pool costs a bit, we'll be at the beach more often.

Outside the pool are the old people exercise machines and rock path. I love that there's a rock path. I also love all these open community spaces.

Here's a look back down the river. See the bridge down there? To the left is the play ground and beach. To the right (and down a bit further) is the ferry pier and town.

But we're continuing inland still. Towards the mountains.

The beautiful cloud-covered mountains.

Oh look, there's a guy carrying two kayaks on his tricycle.

Behind the pool is this community sports complex. There's this big soccer field and also a basketball court further down. I guess we need to get a soccer ball and a basketball.

Another video to give you some perspective as we continue the walk to our house.

And one more video, taking you into our village. (Sorry if you get motion sickness from this video. Everything gives me motion sickness these days.)

And here we are. We went through town, along the river, and finally came to our village. This is Luk Tei Tong. So technically we don't live in Mui Wo, but that's the easiest way to identify our location.

And this is our building. Can you find it in the picture above?

We live in the middle floor. Which is Hong Kong is called the first floor because the bottom floor is called the ground floor. That's our beautiful green and blue awning out over our non-balcony where our laundry hangs. It's weird that we don't have a balcony. But at least we have a place to hang clothes.

And this is the door to go upstairs. Isn't that a cute doorman?

If I were to take you further into our village, you would see this little village square. There are no shops or anything, just a temple. There is also a group of guys that like to practice their temple drum and cymbals about once a day.

We also have a super old watchtower in our village. I don't know anything about it.

Although we came down the smaller sidewalk, there is actually a bigger emergency access road that also reaches the village. This is how we got our crate and furniture to the house.

This was our ride for the day. Josiah loves it.

(No, he was not on back in the video where I rode and filmed.)

This is the view from our apartment. I like the green. I also like that I can see people coming and going on the sidewalk, just to the right of this picture. The white building in the distance is the market/library/gym building.

And this is the herd of cattle that live in this area. They wander around the area and use the sidewalks occasionally. We go past them all the time and haven't ever been bothered. There are also 3 water buffalo remaining in the area. They are grey and much bigger than these creatures.

One final picture. The mormons and the cow.

So there it is. The place we'll call home for a while. I know, I know, you really wanted to see the inside of our apartment. But I'm just not ready to take pictures of it yet, so give me another couple of days.

You know, assuming our internet keeps working. :)

P.S. I'm not sure why some of the text is underlined. I couldn't fix it.

P.S.S. Remember you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger and see more detail.