More of Hong Kong

Here are a few more things we did on our "mandatory vacation" in Hong Kong.

SWIMMING

and lots of it!

The hotel swimming pool on the roof was a big hit with the kids.

 But, who wouldn't love it with daytime views like this...

and evening views like this!

Plus, we felt like we were swimming with the birds as hawks soared level with us - it seemed we could just reach out and touch them.

Unfortunately, a few of Leah's attempts to see the birds or admire the view made me a nervous wreck.  Looking at this picture still ties my stomach up in knots.

PLAYING

Our hotel was across the street from Victoria Park, a gigantic play area that includes basketball courts, tennis courts, soccer oops I mean football fields (but not grassy), numerous playgrounds, running tracks, swimming pools, and 1 large grassy area (very hard to find here).

We spent some time playing and getting lost at the park. We also discovered the park is a major hangout for Indonesians and Filipinos on the weekends.  Many of them work as domestic helpers in Hong Kong and on their day-off they literally camp out at the parks.  

By the end of the day, all the walk-ways in the park and this large field were filled with these groups just talking, eating, singing, dancing, and even sleeping.

EATING

Dim sum is the popular style of Chinese food served in Hong Kong.  The food is usually steamed or fried and served is small steamer baskets.  We ordered a variety of dim sum dishes to try.  Kyle, Cade, and Leah sampled it all.  Abby had a few bites but stuck with the comfortable and trusted bowl of noodles.  Ian was in tears not wanting to eat anything but eventually tried the dumplings and even liked them.  I was not as brave as the rest of my family; I could only manage to nibble a few bites.  They probably shouldn't even be called bites.  When we sat down at our table, I was grossed out by the lady next to me who was eating a fish head and leaving the tiny bones on her plate.  My stomach just couldn't handle any food at the moment, especially anything new and foreign.

Fortunately, Hong Kong has a much larger variety of restaurants than Macau!  We found a few familiar ones like California Pizza Kitchen and Outback.  There was also a surprising number of Italian restaurants, many of which we tried.  And best of all, we found a real, authentic Mexican place called Mr. Taco Truck!

We had real refried beans, guacamole that wasn't filled with corn, tasty salsa, actual flour tortillas, and horchata all while sitting outside on a street corner and listening to mariachi music and even a few Selena songs.  I had a flood of mission flashbacks overcome me.  It was a great night!

RIDING

We became experienced subway riders.

Cade, Abby, and Ian are great subway surfers (standing without holding on while the train speeds forward).  And everyone, including Leah, knew the names of the different stops.

SIGHTSEEING

There is so much to see and do in Hong Kong that we could never it do it all, even during our extended stay.  But we had a great time going to lots of different places and just hanging out as a family.  

We wondered the streets both day and night just to see what we could find.  Sometimes we found cool shopping markets, parks, or temples, other times we found dead ends, and one night we stumbled onto the Victoria Harbor light show.  Music played as strobe lights atop many of the high rise buildings on all sides of the bay flashed and danced to the beat.  But Ian and Leah stole the show.  They were not impressed with the lights so they created their own dance show, moving and shaking to the beat.  Leah even sat on her butt spinning in circles - who knew she could breakdance?

We found the Hong Kong Library, which was not too far from our hotel.  When we (meaning Mom) needed a quiet break, we went here to read some books (lots of books were in English) or walk around their art exhibits.

 We also found the Hong Kong Space Museum.  We spent a few hours at the museum partly because it related to Abby's homework but also because kids love museums.  All the hands on exhibits are fantastic teaching tools. 

One of our favorite finds was this traditional Chinese junk, the Agua Luna.  It's a touring ship that resembles an old pirate ship.  With it's red sails it's easy to spot in the harbor so we saw it often.  We even gave it a nickname - Shen's boat (hope there's a few Kung Fu Panda 2 fans who get the name).

And, of course we found the Hong Kong Temple.  Kyle and I took turns doing a temple session and being with the kids.  Some of our Macau Branch members were there that day so we got to be with them too.