We stayed mostly low key for the holidays this year. Well, as low key as we can get for our unusual family. We split the last few weeks into two trips – the first to Hong Kong, and the second to Macau, with Christmas right in the middle at home. We had to be home for Christmas, right? I mean, that’s where Santa brings all the presents. And Kevin (our Elf on a Shelf) was there, right?
Let’s tackle the Hong Kong Trip in this blog. From where we live, there are a few ways to get to Hong Kong – with the two most popular being a one hour ferry ride or a one hour bus ride over the longest (over water) bridge in the world. We’ve traveled both in the past, and I can’t say I really have a preference. Okay, maybe riding on a ferry is cooler, so I guess you could say that is my preference. This trip we took the ferry to Hong Kong. And for those of you who are interested, here’s what I typical family trip on a Ferry looks like for us:
Yeah, so that’s our typical ferry ride. Abby is overly excited. Logan is on his tablet, and Alanna? She usually has motion sickness. For the record, she didn’t actually throw up.
The Ferry dropped us off at the HK port where we moved as quickly as we could through customs, though it seemed to take a little longer this trip than most. Yes, HK is part of China. But yes, you still have to go through customs. It seems like people around here don’t like all this rigmarole. Maybe they should protest it. Oh wait, they are. Currently. We avoid that political mess though and move along with our vacay. We stayed at a lovely hotel on the northern part of Hong Kong called Kowloon. We had specific goals in mind for this trip. My main goal? See the new Star Wars Movie. So my kick booty wife booked a hotel that’s literally connected to a huge mall with a cinema. Goal accomplished. And I don’t care if you didn’t like the new Star Wars movie. We all enjoyed it. I got emotional.
My kick booty wife also has 3 kick booty sisters, and one of them just happened to arrange to hang out with us in Hong Kong. Sho (that’s her name) is a bit of a go-getter, so after raising funds by participating in a triathlon in Bali, she and her awesome BoFro George headed over to HK to spend time with the fam. We hit up the typical tourist destinations around the hotel, including the mall, a street with nothing but flower shops, a street with nothing but birds for sale, and then a street with EVERYTHING EVER CREATED for sale. You know, cause its Hong Kong. Sho even sprung for childcare at night so we could all have some adult time. We had some fantastic Sichuan cuisine (hot food) while hitting up the most expat area of Hong Kong, then ended up a local spot for after dinner drinks.
Sho and her Bo headed back to the States and the rest of us continued to relax in the hotel pool/hot tub and/or visit more touristy destinations. We hit up a monkey park. No, not a zoo. A park. Its just a large wooded area with trails that happen to sport a lot of wild monkeys. We didn’t stay long, as these monkeys weren’t the most friendly of creatures. They kept yelling at me when I tried to take pictures. And they even blocked our path in the road at one point. Do they thing they own the place or something? Privileged monkeys! We also took more strolls through the city, finding more weird streets filled with weirder things – like an entire street selling tropical fish and other sea creatures, all in a bunch of plastic bags filled with water. Just pick what you want and take ’em home I guess! We also visited Victoria’s Peak while we stayed in HK, which is the highest spot in the area and offers amazing views. Of course, the day we went it was overcast and the views weren’t spectacular, but still pretty neat. They also had some kind of Monopoly museum/amusement park… thing.. at the top. We didn’t pay to go in, and were pretty confused about what it was even after reading the brochure. We left the peak with a few cool souvenirs though. Okay, we left with two fidget spinners and ONE cool souvenir – a hand painted picture of our family names in Chinese Characters. So touristy but a nice addition for our family’s collection of stuff from around the world.
And on our final full day in Hong Kong, we did what parents do to make their kids happy – Disney. That’s right, back to Disneyland Hong Kong. Since this was our second visit in just a few months, we knew the routine well enough. We hit the rides we wanted pretty early, making sure to do anything we missed last time. I am happy to say it went smoothly, no one was sick, and no child had any major breakdowns. I call that a success.
OK, I’m tired of typing. I’ll fill ya’ll in on Christmas festivities and our trip to Macau next time. I have spoken.
Oh.. wait! Outback! Yes, we went. It was of average taste, smaller portions and pricier than the States, but hey… steak and cheese fries, people!
