Hong Kong Trip

This past weekend we took our obligatory trip to Hong Kong. We all had to leave at some point during our stay here due to our visas. We can only stay in China for 120 days at a time. Blasen's visa is about to expire, so we had to go. We had lots of planned and surprisingly did almost everything on our list.
We left Thursday morning taking a 3 1/2 hour bus ride. The only difficult part was going through customs when we got to the China/Hong Kong border. Just a quick geography lesson. I actually thought I was pretty good with geography, and my mother will likely be embarrased, but I didn't realize that Hong Kong is actually connected to mainland China. Hong Kong actually consists of a lot of islands, but a section is also connected to the mainland. I just always assummed all was islands.
We went through customs, China side and Hong Kong side. It was not easy. Our kids were asleep and did not like being woken up, especially Bliss. We all know and love the beast when he wakes up. To top it off, the China customs guy didn't believe Blasen's passport was actually him. I believe we finally decided that Blasen just needs to get a new passport. He always gets harrassed about his picture. It never fails. It is a pretty bad picture, but still, it's close enough.
The rest of the trip went well. Hong Kong was a lot different than what I imagined. It was more western than I expected. It reminded me a lot of Geneva. In the area we stayed, by the harbor across from Hong Kong island, was very touristy and a great melange of nationalities. He walked along the harbor that evening and found a really nice playground for the kids to play on.

Zade loving the play area.

Blasen was excited to find a 7/11 that had a soda fountain and coke slushies. I, too, was thrilled. We have 7/11's in China, but no fountain drinks. McDonald's, etc have them, but they use very little ice and lots of times, there soda is that good. Thankfully, that 7/11 was close to our hotel and we frequented it during our short stay. I also found a French deli, next door to the 7/11. I was in heaven. I know y'all think I'm crazy, but I've been craving western food so much. I didn't eat any chinese the whole trip. I even found a pain au chocolate that passed my tests.
That first night we went to the night markets, which was lots of fun. Bliss didn't really agree, but he got a wooden rubber-band gun out of the deal. Shopping is somewhat fun, but bartering gets old.

Bliss in front of the Bruce Lee statue at the harbor.

Friday, we spent the day at Ocean Park. We all had lots of fun. Bliss loved seeing the dolphins doing their tricks and the panda bears. Blasen and I even got to take turns on the grown-up rides. I haven't riden roller coasters in years, so it was lots of fun. The park, thankfully, wasn't that busy, so lines were short. There was a kids area too with rides and the boys got to ride those too. So, there was something for everyone. Of course, we had to have some drama. Bliss head butted a kid on the moonwalk and busted the kids nose. I felt really bad, but the kid was fine. It was a mistake, but Bliss wasn't being very careful, especially since he kept trying to tackle the kid. The kid was probably an only child...he needed the experience, right?

Blasen and Bliss on the Frog Hopper. Bliss rode this ride many, many times.

Blasen and Bliss on the Raging River, like the log ride at Six Flags. I was worried that Bliss would get scared, especially the drop at the end, but he loved it.

Bliss at the Panda habitat. We weren't allowed to use flashes with the pandas, so our pictures weren't too great.

Me on a roller coaster.

If that wasn't enough for one day, we decided to see Victoria Peak, since we were already on Hong Kong island. Victoria Peak is the tallest point on the island and you can see the whole harbor from up top. We took the tram up the mountain to the park. There is lots of shopping and places to eat. They even had Bubba Gump's Shrimp up there. It was really pretty up there. We didn't get to stay for very long...the boys faded fast.

The Fam at Victoria's peak. Hard to get good pictures. If you used the flash, then you couldn't see the background and no flash, meant blurry.

Saturday we went to the LDS temple there. Sorry Cheyenne, we didn't get to take any pictures. After we left, I wanted to shoot myself for not taking the camera. But Blasen and I did shifts, taking turns watching the kids. It was totally different in person, than what I've always seen in pictures. It is in a nicer area of Hong Kong. It was unusual to see the temple tucked neatly in with the surrounding buildings. It definitely sticks out from the other buildings around it. Everything is so close together, since the space is so limited in Hong Kong.

We didn't take this picture, but if we would have, this it what it would look like.

I hated to leave, but we had to get back to China Saturday night. We bought some last minute things...like imported Doritos and our beloved fountain drink...then we were off. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to eat at the Outback Steakhouse or the TGIFridays right across from our hotel, but I compromised by picking up a pesto chicken and fuselli on salad w/a balsamic vinegrette. I know that sounds crazy, but it was so good. I like Chinese food, but I'm a little burned out. It was nice having cheese and lunch meat again...I had a panini every day. Another thing we hated giving up were the beds at the hotel. They had "western" matresses. The Chinese are used to sleeping on the floor still, I guess, so there matresses are about one step up from a box springs. I didn't realize how big the difference is until I laid on that bed. Ah...it was great! Granted we stayed in a four star hotel, but it was tiny...and I mean tiny. But that's the norm for Hong Kong.
I think that's it. We had lots of fun and are hoping to somehow get back before we leave for the States. We're back in the swing of things here now.