okay...so technically it did not land in hong kong. the city's three billionaire kwok brothers built the world's first life size replica of noah's ark. they even built it to the biblical specifications. as stated on wall street journal's article, "The message in its 450-foot-long hull, its rooftop luxury hotel and 67 pairs of fiberglass animals: "The financial tsunami will be over," says Spencer Lu, the Kwoks' project director at Noah's Ark, which is opening soon. The land-bound ark wasn't built in response to the current global turmoil; it has been in the planning for 17 years. But the financial storm provides a nice marketing hook for the Kwoks' ambitious project, which will probably need to lure visitors from beyond Hong Kong's city limits to be an economic success." the kwok brother's also tried to install a permanent rainbow but apparently the science became too difficult.

the project reflects thomas kwok's christian faith. in the 1990s, he set up a church in the top floor of the sun hung kai's central plaza office complex. the noah's ark project was initially conceived as a theme park with rides, until Mr. Kwok decided the project should be something more. the construction on the ark's foundations started 2004. the kwoks' version of the ark, which sits on 270,000 square feet of space and was developed in conjunction with five christian organizations, houses a restaurant, exhibition hall (important: which will have a full presentation of the gospel) and children's museum in addition to the noah's resort hotel.

i find it impressive this group of businessmen and pastors have completed the project and especially in hong kong. with hong kong being part of communist china now, i am very surprised that the government approved the project, which i partially a christian education theme park. maybe in this time of economic turmoil, the citizens of hong kong, china and asia will discover god's grace.

b & i have been discussing a trip to asia/hk soon. we'll have to make a stop to see noah's ark and the 67 pairs of fiberglass animals. looks pretty darn cool to me!

click here for the complete article and more images of recreated arks. for more photos, check out flickr.com's tags.

courtesy of pawnation.com and wsj.com