Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

Monday, December 14, 2015

my trip to hong kong (part two)...

Day 3 was Friday and the day was beautiful.  We had the most amazing weather for our whole visit and today was the best day of all.  Beth had scheduled our Thanksgiving dinner for tonight, so we headed out early today to make sure we got in everything.

Beth drove us into the city and we parked at another mall and then walked to the Tram to the Summit Peak.  We rode the cable car up to the top and were treated to the most amazing views of the harbor and the city.  We took so many pictures, including a few of the three of us.  It was such a clear day and HK was beautiful from this view.







After the Peak, we took a cab down the mountain and then a subway to the escalators.  Which is basically a long street with escalators built into it.  It was crazy crowded, as was most of Hong Kong.  We took a bunch of pictures of the side streets and of the escalators themselves.  It was so interesting to see the use of space in this city.  I would have loved to walk around and explore this area more but we really didn't have time.





After the escalators, we drove pick up Beth's friend Lauren who was coming over for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had Thanksgiving dinner on Friday because its' not a holiday in HK (obviously) and therefore, no one had off work on Thursday.  We got to see Lauren's flat, which was tiny but an interesting use of space.  Hong Kong is a truly vertical city, since land is at such a premium they build up.  We stopped for some bubble tea on the way to get Lauren, which is an interesting drink that I'm not sure I liked.  Once we got home we hung out with her family and rested a bit before the other guests arrived.

We wanted to see and do everything Beth does here in HK, so we went to the market with her to get some last minute items for dinner and to their club to pick up the cooked turkey and sides for dinner.  Here are some pictures of their house and backyard.  As I said, we had the most amazing weather and were able to eat Friendsgiving dinner with the doors open.







After dinner we watched Inside Out, which I had seen on the plane coming over so I slept through most of it on the couch.  Beth, Gretchen and I wanted to stay up and talk because this was my last night but none of us could, so we went to bed early.

Saturday was my last day in HK and I was feeling super sad to be leaving.  We were heading to Big Buddha before taking me to the airport, so I had to say goodbye to Andy, the kids, Marina and Ben on our way out.  Beth drove us to the station where we were getting the cable cars to go up to the Big Buddha and the Ngong Ping Village.  The views were breathtaking and again we had a super clear day.  I loved the contrast of the huge city and the mountains in the background.




We had lunch in the village, which was amazing but I didn't take a picture of because it was good but not pretty.  And then walked through the village to the base of the Buddha.  All of the Chinese architecture was beautiful and we took tons of pictures.  The Big Buddha is basically just that - a big buddha that was constructed about 20 years ago, at the top of a mountain.  Some people go to worship and you could buy tickets to go inside the structure and have a meal.  The climb up to the buddha was over 200 steps.
 






After our visit to the buddha, Beth and Gretchen took me to the airport for my evening flight and then they went home to rest :).  It was super sad to be leaving.  I wish I could have extended my trip but there were too many factors at home that prevented it.  But I had an amazing trip and I'm so glad I was able to go visit Beth in HK.

Many thanks to my amazing husband who gave me the chance to go and held down the fort while I was gone.  Which is no small feat, when you have a child with special needs.  It was the best vacation I've had in a long time and exactly the time away I needed.  However, now the travel bug has bitten me and I'm trying to figure out where I can go next...

Photobucket

No comments: