A Glimpse of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is beautiful!  Little did we know that Hong Kong is made up of quite a few islands.  The city Hong Kong is on the Hong Kong Island, but there are many others, including Lantau- where the airport, our hotel, and Hong Kong Disney are located, as well as Kowloon where the famous Nathan Road is and where many people see the Hong Kong at night views.  Today we took the airport shuttle to the metro and then took the metro to Hong Kong Island.  The metro was very busy with peopled headed to work.  We noticed a couple things- the metro stations are very large, the metro is very clean and easy to follow, and the people are very very quiet in the morning on the metro and even when walking off and in masses that feel a bit like cattle going off to the barn.  No one hardly made a sound- you only heard the tapping of shoes.

 When we got off the metro, we walked right to the Victoria Peak tram place and where glad we went early...it just kept getting busier as time went on.  We took a tram up at a very steep incline and when we got out, we headed up to an observation deck.  We had incredible views of Hong Kong from there. Evan even got to play on a playground- his current favorite part of the playground is the monkey bars!  We checked out a few of the shops up there, had some gelato, and headed back down the tram.  We then walked to the 'escalators.'  Again....had heard about it, but had no idea what it was really.  We seriously road up Hong Kong island on escalator after escalator.  Evan loved that!   We then had to walk back down- no escalators down!  But down was of course easier than trying to walk up the steep incline.  We walked through many markets, shops, and various restaurants showcasing food from all over the world- some very fancy.  

We then took the Star Ferry- would highly recommend that (it was super easy and very cheap) to Kowloon Island.   We walked around the island for awhile, checking out some shops, markets, and the big Kowloon park.  The park was cool- inside they had an aviary, a pond with turtles, a pond with flamingos, a pond with other ducks and swans, some neat fountains, and a couple fun parks for kids.  Evan was happy to see those, as the humidity, sweat, and sore feet and legs were starting to take a toll on all of us at this point.   We then headed for the metro station and back to Lantau Island.  While we waited for our airport shuttle, Evan fell asleep on me.   We got back to the hotel and cleaned up and are now just taking it easy until bedtime.   We have to pack up the few things we got out because our flight leaves tomorrow at 8:50 a.m. for Fuzhou, Fujian- the capital of our daughter's province.   We will have to be up early to get to the shuttle and to the airport in plenty of time!   Not looking forward to that part, but anxious to finally be going somewhere for more than a day or two...we can settle in a bit.

Tomorrow we will meet our guide, Penny, and I am not sure what else.  She will get us checked into our hotel and then we will maybe see a few things and rest to prepare for gotcha day!  It still feels a little surreal...I'm not going to lie!   I'm very excited and anxious, but nervous too.  I think the fact that she can't hear us try to soothe her or calm her down has me worried.  I hope our faces and actions show a lot of love and that she will feel our love during her time of grief.  Please pray for her heart and for the staff who have cared so deeply for her for the past 2.5 years.   This has to be very hard on them too.

Signing off from Hong Kong!