For Emersyn’s 9th birthday, we are celebrating in Hong Kong. We decided to make this a birthday destination when one of Emersyn’s Shanghai best friends, Mimi, moved to Hong Kong in February. Then, Emmy’s Hong Kong best buddy, Angus, was coming from Australia. He moved back home two years ago. With the news of Angus arriving in Hong Kong, Brenda and Emersyn left for Hong Kong a day early on Wednesday.
Wednesday:
We flew through Shenzhen to save money, as a ticket from Shanghai to Hong Kong was a bit pricey. After arriving in Shenzhen, we took a taxi to Shekok ferry terminal. The ferry schedule we pulled off the web had us on a 1:15pm ferry to Kowloon. Upon arrival, we found that the ferry schedule had changed. Now, we would be on the 2:00pm ferry to Central. We decided to go directly to Discovery Bay instead of checking into the hotel.
We met our DB friends in the Plaza. Emmy spent the late afternoon and evening running around the plaza with Grace, Csoban and Angus…just like old times. The DBMums, Leah, Tara, Vanessa and I, had a nice long dinner at Zacks. By the time Emmy and I got on the bus to Tung Chung, it was 10:45pm. It was after midnight by the time we were checked in and found our way to our pillows after a long day.
Thursday:
Jim and Elle along with the Humes gang came to Hong Kong on the same travel agenda. Emmy and I spent the day in Discover Bay, as it was Dragon Boat Festival. DB has a big dragon boat race day. In addition to the races, there are many booths set up around the plaza for shopping. The ladies found a table near Uncle Russ’s Coffee. We didn’t see any boat races this day. We enjoyed the time to visit and catch-up. We did do a bit of shopping.
We left DB to meet everyone at the hotel. The girls went for a quick swim before dinner. We were celebrating Emersyn’s birthday at the top of the peak at Café Deco. We had celebrated Emmy’s 4th birthday with Grandma/Grandpa and Terri/Andy at this restaurant.
The celebration included the Davidson Family (Kathleen, Campbell, Mimi & Caspar), the Humes Family (Mary, John, Kelly & Erin), the Sharman-Lam family (Vanessa & Angus), Leah and us. Leah had plans to be in Sanya with her family. Her 16 month old decided she should stay home as he came down with an ear infection and unable to fly. We had such a lovely time, we close down the restaurant. Now, we had to travel back to Tung Chung from Central. The older girls found pillows for themselves. It was another night that our heads found our bed pillows after midnight.
Friday:
We awoke to rain…It’s our Disneyland day…it can’t rain! We were to rendezvous with Vanessa/Angus and Kathleen/Mimi/Caspar at the gates of the park prior to opening, but the night before Vanessa had said if there was rain, she would not be there early. Well, we arrived at Disney to a drizzle debating whether we were going to postpone. A quick call to Vanessa made the decision…she was already in the park at Autotopia. Within 30 minutes, the rain stopped. We had a fabulous day.
Emersyn went from not wanting to ride Space Mountain to saying it was the “awesome-estâ€! We enjoyed all our favorite Disneyland attracts. It’s a Small World was a new ride from the last time we visited. Also, the park added cotton candy…we all enjoyed a bit of sugar to end a day at the magic kingdom.
Our rule of Disneyland is that the girls can buy a souvenir at the end of the day. It helps to keep everyone out of the shops all day long. Emmy picked a Mickey necklace. Elle picked a stuffed Stitch…not another stuff animal. We watched the fireworks at 8pm. Disneyland was still on winter hours. At the end of night, Emersyn and Kelly returned with Mimi for a two-night sleepover. We made it home before 10pm this night!!
Saturday:
We started the day with tag team shopping. First, the boys went to Central to shop at the Apple store. We needed another iMac as sharing the one was not working. Items at the Apple store are cheaper than in China due to import taxes and cheaper than US due to no sales tax.
When the boys returned, we passed off Elle and Erin to the boys while Mary and I went shopping. We all meet at the IFC for our venture to the other side of Hong Kong Island to Kathleen and Campbell’s house. Train and double-decker bus did the trick. They live on the south side of the island. We had dinner at the American Club. This was not the lifestyle we knew when we lived n HK. It was another night of finding our pillows after midnight. Our girls are great travelers since their parents are keeping them out WAY past their bed times.
Sunday:
Kathleen brought all the kids to DB where we had a farewell lunch with everyone. The older girls were exhausted from back to back sleepover nights. After lunch, a quick stop by the hotel to grab our things, to the airport and on a plane where the kids collapsed.
Upon arrival in Shanghai, we had to get checked for swine flu! Health workers came through the plane in full protective gear taking everyone’s temperature – a little scary looking, but funny after the fact!
