So me and the kids finally got our passports and residence permits back, so of COURSE the first opportunity had we checked out Hong Kong. Guys. You really should go!
Our bus was scheduled to leave at 1245pm, so we left the house about a little after 11 (maybe 1130), took a didi (uber) over to the bus station, and it was PACKED. Keith had gone to hong kong the week before to see a movie, so we were going off his expectations on how long it was going to take to get on the bus but we cut it REALLY close.
Before you can head to the bus terminal itself, you have to go through customs both for mainland China and "special administration region" Hong Kong (I was very clear about this distinction with the children). Of course, it being Dragon Boat festival weekend, there were way more people than we were expecting, and it took about an hour to get through customs/immigration. We made it through at 1240 and booked it toward the terminal. When we get there, the bus was mostly loaded and we had to split up. The kids sat in the way back of the bus next to two women (they chatted the one lady's ear off the whole hour long trip), I sat three rows ahead, and Keith sat up near the front of the bus. The bus ride itself was fine, it was air conditioned and a smooth ride.
We were in the city for about 4 hours and it's pretty incredible. It's like if new york, London, and their respective Chinatowns had a huge multicultural baby with McDonald's and high end fashion.
We started by taking the ferry across the bay, and when I was a child I hated boats. Turns out, it's still true. The ride itself was fine, but trying to get on and off the ferry was very wobbly and I got a little nauseous each time. But we got some good pictures, and Oliver took some of these!
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| Walking into the ferry terminal |
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| waiting to board |
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i cant tell whats wrong with my eye
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| ollie lookin out the window |
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| i think i took this one? |
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| Ollie caught this (and the pictures after) |
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| BOAT |
When we hopped off the boat, we walked a little bit and there were a ton of tourists taking photos, so I figured, hey, why not
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| cuties |
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| its bright |
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| idk why he was posing like this for these pictures, I thought it was funny |
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Oliver thinks hes in Limp Bizkit or something
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It was really hot in Hong Kong (also its always hot this far south) and we walked along the pier for a little bit for the breeze and my freakin shoe broke! Luckily not too badly so I was still able to wear the sandals I'd picked but I was a little disappointed,. We headed into K11, which is the bougiest mall I've ever been in. Mostly high end retailers, but we stopped in their food court for a bit of lunch and we peeked around the Nintendo store, but we were good and didnt buy anything (though I really, really wanted to. I will be back.) This mall is where Keith had gone to go to the movies (I think he said it was on the 4th or 5th floor? i think its 6 or 7 floors.)
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| the first time I saw an alexander mcqueen retail store is around the corner |
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| stylish food court |
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| I did not get close enough to the foliage to see if it was real, but it has to be fake, right? |
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| Tears of the Kingdom photo op |
After the mall, Keith had mentioned this Daoist temple that he likes visiting when he comes to Hong Kong so we looked for the subway station. On the way, we walked by where they were having the dragon boat races later that evening (unfortunately we couldnt stay, our bus left at 6pm) but I took a picture of the sign:
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| found the subway! |
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Keith took the boys to the bathroom at a mcdonalds and this was the setup
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After many stairs, we reach the temple. Immediately, Nolan steps on the threshold to the temple (which is a big no-no) and Keith quickly yanks him down and we looked at each other hoping no one noticed. Inside the temple it was H O T. I wanted to stay longer but at this point we (me and the boys) were dripping on the floor sweating. The temple itself was pretty active. A couple of tourists like us, but many people were there lighting insense and praying. Keith said that the larger insense pots have been burning for hundreds of years.
We hung out for about 20 minutes and then walked through a section of the city it seemed was only selling souvenirs or thrift shops. We picked up a few charms and headed toward the subway.
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| this was outside |
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| I think these are prayers |
After we get back to Wan Chai station, we end up leaving out of the wrong exit (something we did several times over the course of the day) and had to do a bit of walking around to get to our bus terminal. We got there a little early and they were able to put us on the 535pm bus instead. We waited in the air conditioning (thank god) and loaded the bus. This time, we were able to sit together!
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| its almost like new york but not really |
We got home and showered up. Overall, a great day! What I learned from the experience is that I need to invest in cotton dresses and hiking sandals. Also, the whole city is covered in escalators, which I need to stop tripping on.
<3 K
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