HK Day 2

It became abundantly clear to me on Day 2 in Hong Kong that the whole time change thing was going to take awhile for me to adjust to.  I was up at 4 am.  I think we all know that is just not right for me.  I tried to force myself back to sleep, I tried to be quiet, but I finally couldn't take it anymore and I woke Ryan up at 5 am and since nothing in Hong Kong is open that early in the morning we sat around our hotel room and drank tea, ate pastries Siel Ye had brought us the night before, and talked.  We eventually ventured out for breakfast and this is what we got:

Noodle bowls with coffee for Ryan and milk tea for me.  Yes, please.  I could learn to live with breakfasts like that everyday.  One note I should make is that it is very easy for English speakers to get around in Hong Kong.  Because it was a British colony/territory for so long most things are written in English as well as Chinese.  Also, English is taught in schools so many people speak fluently.

After Miu Ye (aunt), Winnie (friend), and Mom all got up they met up with us to show us around town all day.  First we walked through Kowloon Park, which happened to be very close to our hotel.  The gardens were so lush and green and a lot of the plants were not familiar to us.

It was really cool to be in the middle of a beautiful garden with the big city skyline in view.

We went into a visitor center that was in the garden and were able to see and read a lot about the history of Hong Kong.  Then we went to the harbor, which was decorated for Christmas.

We had a delicious lunch of barbequed pork and duck with veggies and noodles.  Turns out I really like duck cooked Chinese style even though I've never really liked duck fixed any other way before.  By this point in the trip I was really beginning to think I could eat Cantonese food ALL the time. 

We got to ride the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island.

We walked around and saw where Miu Ye and Winnie work.  We rode a cable car.  (Mom was very intent on getting us to ride in every form of transportation while we were there).

Then we road a tram up the the top of Victoria Peak.  It was really cold, foggy, and windy up there that day but wow, what a view.

The Peak is a very sought after place to live, causing the real estate prices to be extremely high, so you don't really see much housing up there other than a few beautiful mansions. I really liked this one. 

Ryan was such hot mess up there.  Check out his hair (you can just ignore mine, thank you).

More pics from The Peak:

There were a bunch of shops and restaurants at The Peak and inside I kicked Bruce Lee's tail.

We took a double decker bus down the peak (which was kind of like riding inside the crazy Harry Potter bus) and then I think we got on the subway to meet Mo Ching (cousin) for dinner.   We definitely accomplished Mom's goal of using several forms of public transportation (in addition to walking several miles).  We were SO tired by the time we got to dinner that Ryan and I were both extremely spaced out the entire time.  At one point I had to give Ryan the Mom arm (you know like when a Mom stops her car quickly and her arm shoots out to pin you back against your seat) to keep him from falling out of his chair...TWICE.  I am not exaggerating.  He actually fell asleep sitting up and then about slid out of his chair.  Did I mention he did this twice?  Haha.  So eventually we made the long journey back to our hotel room and I only ended up getting one random picture of Mo Ching and Mom.

I discovered at this meal that one of my favorite dishes I have EVER had is abalone with Chinese black mushrooms and lettuce.  LOVE.  In fact, it's been a topic of discussion often since we've been home because I so badly want it.  By this point in the trip I had decided that Cantonese food is the best food on earth and I didn't know how I was ever going to live without it.