In China
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Friday, November 5, 2010 Woke up, got out of bed, dragged some combs across our heads. What to do today? Victoria Peak? Aberdeen? Times Square? Causeway Bay? Avenue of the Stars? Stanley Market? Decisions, decisions, and we really didn't have a plan. Mostly we just wanted to go up Victoria Peak on the tramway since we took a bus tour last time that was too much driving and not enough lingering at the sights. The weather outside was frightful; completely overcast and raining. Whatever we were going to do it was going to be wet, and it probably shouldn't involve sweeping panoramas since we wouldn't actually see anything. It should also be close since we were likely to get soaked and it would be good to get back and change into dry, warm clothes. Times Square was the best choice. A short cab ride later we were in the heart of Hong Kong Times Square, between Matheson Street and Canal Road on Russell Street. It is not quite the crossroads of the world like New York Times Square is. It is much smaller and not nearly as lit up, which is a little odd for a city known for its lights. In fact, certain streets kind of reminded me of the seedy Chinatown streets from the opening scenes of Gremlins, where the guy goes to the shop and buys the cute little furry one. It has nearly every high end apparel and accessories store you can think of though so if shopping is your thing, and you have a truckload of money, this might be a good place. We stayed long enough to get a bearing from our map and then walked north and east toward Causeway Bay, all the while passing these high end shops. We weren't sure how far away Causeway was, but we were determined to make it there, with food as our driving force. In no time at all we were standing at the corner of Great George Street and Patterson Street looking at a sign for Outback Steakhouse. We hardly ever eat there back home, but the idea of some decent chain-restaurant Australian, er, American food sounded good. We waited out the 25 minutes until it opened and sat down, ready to dig in. Gavin and I opted for burgers while April did a chicken parmesan and Gemma had chicken fingers. We even had drinks with ice in them for a change so we're waiting to see if that will have any negative effects. Supposedly HK water is up to the same standards as the U.S. and Europe; however, in some places the water travels through older pipes so there can still be risks. We gambled that the risks were minimal in this part of town and in this chain restaurant. Hopefully we're right! All told we got out of there for 220 HK which is less than $30 USD. That was a steal compared to the overpriced Outbacks back home. Walking down Kingston Street, we decided to poke our heads into Victoria Park just to see what it looked like. We crossed under a packed road and walked into the empty park. By now the rain was heavy and our feet were all pretty soaked. It felt like the worst days in the Pacific Northwest and April and I talked about how glad we are to have escaped the Portland weather. Both of us get cabin fever with the perpetual gray and infernal damp. We needed to get Gemma another pair of shoes because the cheap ones we bought her at the Carrefour were starting to hurt her feet. We headed back into the Causeway Bay area shops and found Hang Lung Centre, a small fashion mall on Great George St. Inside we came across a GREAT find - Dr. Kong. It's a shoe shop with very reasonably priced shoes, but they also fit the buyer with insoles to correct arch or ankle position issues. Even better, there were having a sale so we'd save some moolah. We ended up getting three pairs of shoes for Gemma and custom insoles for them at no extra charge. Total bill? About $80 USD. Now all she needs are some snow boots when we get back home and she's set. There was an obligatory stop at the Haagen Daas next door to Dr. Kong and then we made our way back to Times Square to catch a cab back. We needed to make sure we were back in the hotel in the afternoon for a little yuo yong (swimming) that we'd been promising Gemma. After a quick change, we went to the 11th floor to check out the pool. While checking in last night, we thought we'd heard the clerk say the pool was indoor and heated. Well, the pool is *mildly* heated but it is outdoor between the Grand Hyatt and the Renaissance, right behind the convention center. In the picture of the Hong Kong skyline with the lasers, it is directly beneath the enormous blue Philips sign. The pool is beautiful and probably a much sought after oasis on warmer summer days. Today however, the pool was an icy reminder of days previous when a certain little criminal pushed his loving and generous father into the arctic waters of the White Swan pool. I have a 9 year old little girl that has been brimming with excitement about swimming again for days now, and still telling everyone she meets about the "incident". There was no getting out of it. This time I managed to muster up enough courage to jump in right away. It was definitely chilly but not like the other. I could actually stay in this one for a while. Gemma however was inching her way in, laughing and giggling each time she went in a little further, only to retreat back a little bit. Finally she got in all the way and was bobbing up and down like a buoy that's had too much coffee. I swam the length of this gargantuan pool (about 75 meters end to end I'm guessing), and Gemma was working up the courage to come to deeper waters in the center. We had put some water wings on her before getting in thinking that perhaps she'd never been swimming. That proved to be good judgment because the moment she could no longer touch, she swallowed a bunch of water and freaked out. I anticipated this and was right there to bail her out but it totally surprised her and was a good reminder for us to get her into swim lessons just as soon as possible at home. Thankfully, I was able to exit the pool after a little bit while she and Gavin played in the water for the next 30 minutes or so. April and I just sat under an umbrella shivering. The kids dried off and we took a walk to the other end of the pool to investigate the saunas. The saunas were unbelievable! The thermometer in the men's sauna said 85 degrees Celsius, which is 185 Fahrenheit. Gavin and I lingered as long as we could and got quite toasty. April said the women's sauna was beautiful and actually had a wall full of windows facing the harbor. Clearly that one was designed by a guy, probably a sailor, since most saunas are used sans-clothing. Back in the room we warmed up, got changed, and planned the evening's activities. At 6:30 we jumped on the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Shui so we could eat and then watch the laser light show from Avenue of the Stars. We were able to walk to the ferry from our hotel via a skywalk system that kept us completely dry. The ferry took about 7 minutes or so to cross the harbor and then we looked for chow along Salisbury Road. The downside to Salisbury Road is that the only way to cross it is through the SOGO and subway tunnels underneath. As we walked by the Peninsula Hotel we could see food joints down Nathan Road. We face another problem in that they were sit down places and we needed something quick since we only had about an hour until the light show.

Times Square Hong Kong Measuring for custom insoles at Dr. Kongs Our gigantic and fairly frigid pool Our room. Couldn't see much of the harbor by day but it cleared out some tonight. Laser light show across the harbor Hanging with the Prottsmans on Avenue of the Stars Gavin can take him. He's big in China. Goofing off! More goofing off Hong Kong financial district

Last trip our hotel was located adjacent a place called New World Centre. It's a multistory mall with a few food options. At the time, there was nothing really good, but we thought we'd give it a try again anyway. Turns out the old Renaissance building AND the New World Centre are under renovations so we decided to hit the subway tunnels and check out Nathan Road on the other side of Salisbury. That's when we discovered SOGO. SOGO is an underground department store at the edge of the Kowloon peninsula that you can access from the subway tunnels. There is of course nice clothing and accessories there, but there is also something called "Freshmart" that sports pan-Asian fare from many countries. It's fast food cheap and fast food quick, but it's reasonably tasty. Gavin, Gemma, and I chose one of the Japanese counters while April picked up some Chinese food of some kind. There is also a medium sized grocery right in this area so we were able to get Gemma some noodles for breakfast. We'd been emailing back and forth with the Prottsmans, the only other adoption family that are staying in Hong Kong. They were staying at the YMCA Salisbury, just above ground from where we were. We hadn't made a connection since earlier in the day but as it turns out, we both ended up in Freshmart at the same time. Heading up to Avenue of the Stars, we were both able to enjoy the laser light show and get to know each other a little better. The show was quite shorter than it had been during the Olympics, but it was still awesome. Once it was over, we chatted with the Prottsmans a little more until they had to take off. They got a little one in China and she was getting a little fussy. They're also leaving tomorrow and needed to head to bed in order to get up on time. We said our goodbyes and walked the length of the Avenue for a bit until we'd had enough of the damp weather and decided to head back. The rest of the evening has been fairly uneventful and we're very much looking forward to meeting some friends in Discovery Bay tomorrow for a hike up Lantau Island to see the Tian Tan Buddha and then join them at their house as dinner guests. They surprised us when we got back to our room tonight by having a little care package sent up. They left us postcards from Hong Kong, a couple of great children's books, and best of all…a jar of peanut butter and some chocolate chips!!! It was so thoughtful and we definitely did not expect it. Thank you so much Kim and family!!

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