Adventures with four girls: Pre-holiday trip to Hong Kong

The kids get three weeks off for Christmas which makes the week before Christmas a great week for taking a trip. We still get to take advantage of the long break but make it back in plenty of time for a relaxing Christmas. This year (after I ruled out a lot of *cold* places!), we decided to go to Hong Kong. December is supposed to be one of the best times to visit - moderate temperatures and the dry season. Well, the dry season memo must have gotten lost as the first 1/2 of our trip was very rainy but the sun eventually came out. We didn't mind traipsing around in the rain as well since we don't get much of that here, but it was a little cold for our bodies so used to the warmth here.

We flew through Doha to avoid having to take a red eye flight. Trip there was fine - trip back was difficult! Standing in a long immigration line at 3 a.m. with four tired little girls isn't fun. But we made it and all bounced back in a day or two. Hong Kong itself is a beautiful city. I would love to go back another time.

We jumped into the Chinese food scene where Regan, Jake and I promptly tried jellyfish for the first time (Trevor - the oldest child of our friends below recommended it!). Regan was game for the jellyfish (she thought it tasted like a rubber band - which was a pretty good description!) but decided she wasn't up for eating the chicken feet which Jake and I ate next (knuckles and all!). About halfway through our stay we realized that we accidently ended up eating at three different Michelin starred restaurants (which is usually *not* how we roll with the kids at all). It sounds more impressive than it was as two of them were pretty casual spots that other people took us to (our friends and then our walking tour guide one day). The other was in our hotel so we felt we should try it since we were there - especially as our room rate included a food credit we needed to use.

Despite the rain and cold during the first part of our stay, we still managed to get out and explore quite a bit. One day with a walking tour guide, we went to Stanley - a little town about 45 minutes or so away over the hills and on the water. Since it was pouring, it was a great day to be in the front row of a double decker bus for a long ride there and back to enjoy the scenery of Hong Kong neighborhoods and hills. I know I took some photos of us overlooking the water but hmmm, not sure where they went. The town also has a cute, small market (that only leaked a little!) that we were able to explore and find stickers for the girls' camp trunks that we try to buy from our vacation destinations.

The other rainy day, we gamely loaded up with umbrellas and explored the mid-level escalators and the surrounding neighborhood. I've heard of people commuting to work by foot, by car, by boat, by train and bus, but I had never heard of commuting by escalator! There are a series of escalators going up the Hong Kong island hillside for about a 1/2 mile. The escalators go down in the early morning for the commuters and then up the rest of the day. We had fun on them and exploring the neighborhood near the top. All along the escalators is a vibrant restaurant area. I'm sure at night it is quite bustling with diners.

We had a lovely exploration in the hillside above the main part of town. It's always fun to see how others live and we also wandered through the very small (but free!) zoo and botanical gardens in the rain.

On the day the sun came out, we had arranged to go to Hong Kong Disneyland with some friends from Abu Dhabi. Unbeknownst to each other, we had each scheduled a trip to Hong Kong the same week. Their two oldest kids are good friends of Regan's and Jane's so it was an extra-special day for them. Anna and their youngest ended up being big buddies that day, too, even though they didn't really know each other very well. Since Meredith is such a roller coaster fan, she could keep up just fine with the big kids and, in fact, was setting the pace for a good part of the day. We had such a fun day there and it was great having four adults to divide and conquer with the kids.

Now that the rain was gone and the clouds from blocking the view from Victoria Peak, we could utilize the last of our trip to head to "The Peak." The line to take the tram to the top was l-o-n-g (I'm sure all the tourists were waiting for a clear day like us) so we took some wise advice from our walking tour guide from earlier in the week and took a quick taxi ride to the top. The line for the tram up was probably at least 60-90 minutes but the line to come down was only 10 minutes. So we were still able to ride the tram!

We also hit the ladies market near our hotel to check out the busy Chinese market scene. It was a bit crowded and paranoid me was worried about losing one of our little ones and some human trafficker from the Chinese mainland whisking one of our daughters away to become a future bride of of the millions of "extra" men there due to all of the missing girls through gender preferences (I wasn't *really* worried but the thought did cross my mind!). So we didn't linger in the crowds too long.

We still ended up missing quite a few sites - due to both our pace with little ones and the weather. The main thing I was sad about missing was seeing the light show from the Aqua Luna boat. Regan wasn't feeling well that night so we cancelled (no one was *too* sad as we knew it would be very cold out on the harbor at night). We also missed taking the cable car up to see the Big Budha and seeing the gardens and the nunnery that are supposed to be so pretty. I'm sure we missed tons more but those were the main things on our list that we weren't able to during our visit.

Overall a bit colder and rainier than we expected (Jake can tell you how many destinations I ruled out due to weather!) but such a neat, beautiful city. It's another place I feel I need to go back to another time to see more of it.

Getting together with some friends who live in Hong Kong who used to live in Abu Dhabi. Their four kids are all one grade ahead of ours and we used to carpool to our school in ACS together (when our littlest ones weren't there yet). It was so fun to catch up (bad iphone photo!).

The grown ups

Our hotel had a massage chair in the lounge which was a big hit with the girls

On the Star ferry across Victoria Harbor from Kowloon (where we stayed) to central Hong Kong

Kids were thrilled that we scored the front row on the top floor of the double-decker bus on the way to Stanley - a nearby seaside village. I think the girls were most fascinated by the prison we saw on the way back. Jake and I loved seeing the beautiful homes perched on the hills with amazing view.

Hanging in the fun kids' room at our hotel before bedtime playing x-box. Anna loved this room because it had jelly beans!

Riding up the mid-level escalators

Strolling through the beautiful hillsides on Hong Kong island

Here Comes the Rain fa-la-la-la

Flamingos at the zoo

Drying off and warming up in the greenhouse. We were fascinated by the carnivore plants.

At the bus station after we decided we were getting too wet on our walk. Otherwise we mainly took the subway (MRT) - we definitely got the subway down during our stay and I think Regan and Jane learned enough to get around on their own if we let them do the leading.