We left Bali in early Aril 2016 and headed to Hong Kong on our way to the USA. I was really excited about heading back as we had been twice before but never with kids. If I am being really honest, I couldn’t wait for all the great food!
The first thing we noticed was how big all the buildings are. There are sky scrapers everywhere and there were just so many of them! We caught a cab to the Cosmopolitan Hotel where we were staying for a week. We checked into our fabulous suite and headed straight out for dinner. As we were staying in Wan Chai district right next to the Hong Kong Jockey Club we could walk everywhere. The tram also stopped right outside our hotel which the boys were thrilled about.
While we were in Hong Kong we met up with friend from New Zealand who had also booked to stay in our hotel with us. It was so good to finally meet Bethaney from Flashpackerfamily after having chatted so much online for a few years. Our kids are a similar ages and got along really well! It was so much fun to be able to have breakfasts together and also catch up later in the evening if we wanted to. Staying in the same hotel was a godsend, as were the free mobile phones the hotel gave us so we could communicate with each other while out and about.
We went for dinner a few times together. My favourite place was Din Tai Fung (we went three times LOL) The dumplings are all made right in front of you and they are to die for! Hong Kong is famous for dumplings and this place is akin to visiting Mecca. Honestly by the time we left Hong Kong we were close to entering triple digits in dumpling consumption. Even Tom and Milo liked them which was quite impressive as Tom is such as finicky eater!
While were in Hong Kong we took the kids to Ocean Park. We chose it over Disney (as we didn’t want to go to two theme parks) because it looked nicer and was very close to Wan Chai. We took a 10 minute cab and after a 5 minute wait we were in. Honestly I didn’t have my hopes up (I am not a theme park kind of gal) but it was AWESOME! We all loved it! There was so much so see and do. The kids thought it was the best day ever and naturally loved every minute.
My favourite parts were the giant aquariums. Everything is really beautifully created. However they don’t let you take strollers in to quite a few of the exhibits, which was a bit of a pain, but other than that it was great.
We also got to see giant panda’s right up close which was so beautiful. I loved watching them slowly move around. Tom was particularly interested in seeing one and had asked me if I could arrange it while we were in town (…Voila LOL).
There was a sea show in the Ocean Theatre with dolphins and performers which was also great and also gave you a beautiful view out over the bay and islands.
One of my favourites was the polar exhibit which was temperature controlled to feel like you were in the north/south pole. The Penguins were gorgeous and so much fun to watch. The boys loved that part of the floor was glass so you could see the penguins swimming underneath. I could have spent all day in there but as it was freezing we moved on quite quickly!
We also got quite close to a massive walrus who was having a great time doing raspberries and blow kisses. He was hilarious and divine and such a treat to see up close. You could go down to underneath the water and have a look at him playing around which was really funny and quite special!
The kids had a ball in Whiskers Harbour which is a mini theme park just for little kids. There were lots of rides that were suitable for Milo and Tom (4 and 7) and even a few that Ollie (10 months) enjoyed.
Another activity we did with the kids was take a river cruise. We jumped on an afternoon Water Tours Victoria Harbour Cruise and headed down the river. Initially it was a bit confusing to find (we left from Wan Chai instead of Kowloon) and we found ourselves standing on an empty pier for a few minutes wondering if we were in the right place. However it all worked out in the end and we had a lovely few hours viewing the city and urban sprawl. So many buildings, so much construction. Being on the river was great as it took out the noise and bustle and was actually quite peaceful!
The kids loved it and really liked being able to look back at the city. They were also given a complimentary lemonade which may have helped LOL.
We headed back into Victoria Harbour at the end of the day and managed to capture the sun hitting one of the buildings making it look like a tower of gold!
Scott had a few meetings in the city so I took Milo and Tom out for the day to check out the big Buddah. Ollie was back at the hotel with a nanny that we had found (she was wonderful and adored him) so off we went. Much to Milo’s delight, we took the train out to Lantau Island so we could experience Ngong Ping 360 which is a 5.7km gondola/cable car travelling from Tung Chung Town Centre to Ngong Ping (Buddha statue). We had magnificent views of the whole of Hong Kong and at one point even went above the clouds. Earlier that Day I had asked Milo what he wanted to do and he told me he wanted to touch the clouds. Naturally I had no idea how to arrange for that to happen, this just was a fabulous coincidence. He thought I was wonderful for pulling it off! Who am I to disagree?
When we we finally arrived at the Buddha there is about a 1km easy walk and then lots and lots of stairs. There are lots of shops and little cafes, but it is very touristy and the boys and I agreed that we would be best to wait to get some lunch when we landed back in Tung Chung as it all looked very average.
Much to my delight, right next to the bottom of the cable car entrance/exit in Tung Chung was a massive shopping mall. I managed to buy the boys some new shoes and squeeze in some Japanese Ramen and Chinese Chicken all before heading back to Ollie in the hotel. It was really fun just to hang out together without the baby and although I would have loved to have Scott with us, it was still fun. We are trying to do more stuff one-on-one and I managed to also have a day out in Hong Kong with each of them while we were in town.
Milo’s day was spent on trains, buses, boats, cars, cabs and trams. Nothing went well, we got lost and I spent the whole day trying to get to someone, somewhere in Kowloon that appeared not to exist. Nevertheless he had the best day of his life. At one point I felt so bad about lugging him around and not taking him somewhere fun so I asked him what he really wanted to do. He told me he wanted to catch a bus. I did not want to catch a bus. I wanted to get a fast cab that would end my search for the building and person I was looking for and then head home. He started to cry because I said that we might do it another day and just as that happened a bus pulled up with the name of the building I was looking for on the front (I swear I don’t know how these things keep happening LOL) so on we hopped. He was elated and 10 minutes later so was I.
Tom (as far as I am concerned) had a much better deal. We went for noodles and dumplings, checked out the river, went to a toy shop and bought a toy and caught a tram back to the hotel. We had planned on taking the cable car up to Victoria Peak, however the cloud was so low that we wouldn’t have been able to see anything so we didn’t bother. We just wandered through the streets chatting and holding hands! He was far less excited about his day than Milo was. They really have very different personalities and I find if I took Tom to a toy shop he would be less excited than if I took Milo to a drycleaners! LOL
The boys favourite thing to do was to ride the tram. On a few occasions we would do a double loop just so they could have a bit more time hanging their heads out of the windows and enjoying the ride. Hong Kong looks fabulous at night so I was happy to come along for the ride and take as many photos as possible.
On our last night the front desk managed of the hotel took me up to the top floor to a very central room and we opened an un-openable window so I could take a photo of the city! Go figure! It was great as I was on my own so I had a bit of time to set up my tripod and get the settings right and after a few shots I finally got one I was happy with!
We had a great time in Hong Kong but if I am being honest it was a really hard city to get around with kids. The roads are busy and fast, there are stairs everywhere which makes it hard with a pram, no one knows where anything is and even google maps kept losing me! I LOVE the super fast internet (over 100 Mbyte download speed), love the food and I loved meeting and spending time with our friends, however I might wait until our kids are old enough to cross the road without holding my hand before we return!
