Hong Kong

Over Christmas break we were able to meet my mom in Hong Kong and renew our Thai visas. None of us had been to Hong Kong before, but were very excited about going! It seemed like an ideal choice for the holiday season, and an easy place to travel due to its long period of affiliation with Britain. It was everything we had hoped for and more!

We started by meeting my mom at the airport. We had not seen each other for six months, and the kids were dying to give her a hug. As you can imagine, there were plenty of hugs and kisses exchanged during our time together.

Hong Kong is made up of a peninsula and different islands, and we spent a little time in each region. We stayed in Kowloon, which is on the peninsula. Our first two days were spent exploring various parts of Kowloon, including its many markets. We visited the Flower Market, the Goldfish Market, and the Temple Street Night Market. We also explored a couple of parks with really nice playgrounds. One of E’s requests was that we go to a Christmas Eve service, and we were able to attend a very nice English service at St. Andrew’s Church. Definitely a highlight of our week!

Our Christmas gift to our kids was to spend two days at Hong Kong Disneyland. This was their first time to a Disney park, and we had an absolute blast! Some highlights were a character lunch at the Enchanted Garden (thanks, Grandma!), jedi training and a sneak peek of the new Ironman ride in Tomorrowland, watching the Lion King show in Adventureland, and meeting Elsa herself in Fantasyland. It was fun to see all the joy and wonder on the kids’ faces as they met some of their beloved Disney characters, and to experience a lot of fun rides together.

The next day we applied for our Thai visas. That’s always a nerve-wracking experience, and I was glad when we finally received them. The rest of the week was spent exploring other parts of Lantau Island and Hong Kong Island. This included taking a cable car to see the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, hiking the Dragon’s Back Trail and seeing Shek O Beach and Big Wave Bay, and riding the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak to get a bird’s eye view of Hong Kong. We packed a lot into just a few days, but the experiences were unforgettable!

We loved our time in Hong Kong. You can find just about anything you want to do there: amusement parks, nature hikes, shopping, gourmet food, etc. It has a little bit of everything! It was a great place to spend Christmas and introduce my mom to life in Asia. Hope you all had a lovely holiday season!