Wednesday, November 28, 2012
It didn't hit me until we checked into the hotel last night that
our adoption is truly final. We are finally an official family
of six. No adoption paperwork, no guide, just us. Technically,
our trip is done, but we felt that we wanted to stay a few more
days and see the sights in Hong Kong.
Upon the suggestion of our friend Bob, we are staying at the
Langham Place Hotel in Mong Kok Kowloon, Hong Kong. Kowloon is a
peninsula at the southern tip of China, just north of Hong Kong
Island. Mong Kok is a district in Kowloon. According the Guiness
World Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in
the world. Translated, the name in Chinese means “prosperous
corner and crowded corner”. I have never been to New York, so I
can only reference Chicago, but driving through Mong Kok last
night reminded me of Michigan Ave meets Las Vegas. High end shop
next to high end shop all lit up in neon lights. So very
different than Beijing! The cars in Hong Kong drive on the other
side of the road than the rest of China, and the money here is
Hong Kong dollars instead of Yuan.
After arriving at the Langham we ventured out across the catwalk
to the Langham Place Mall to grab some dinner. The Langham Place
is a mall/hotel/office complex built according to the Hong Kong
Government urban redevelopment scheme, and at 59 storied high,
it is the tallest landmark in Mong Kok. It was amazing. I felt
like I was transported years in the future. We found an
“Italian” place to eat and had a pretty good meal. We laughed
because we both forgot how long the arms of an almost 2 year old
can be. :) By the time we were done it was about 10pm and the
mall was still packed! The mall is all decked out for Christmas
with white twinkling lights everywhere.
We all got a good's night sleep, had a delicious breakfast, and
got ready to head to the Ladies Street Market to do some
shopping. The girls we're dying to see if they could get some
Uggs and Northface knock-offs. I'm not sure how to start
describing this city to you. It is like nothing I have ever seen
before. First off, the streets were crazy crowded. We had to
weave our way in between people to get from block to block. So
many people smoke! There are high rises all around. There are 10
story run down apartment buildings with all sorts of laundry
hanging from fences that surround the windows (like a make-shift
balcony for clothes drying) smack dab next to beautiful, new,
glass windowed towers. There are so many signs hanging out from
the buildings it's like they almost make a ceiling for the
street. Block after block, the streets all look the same. There
are the same jewelry stores and banks on every corner, or at
least it looks that way. It's quite confusing. By chance we made
it to the Ladies Market. It's about 5 blocks of tents set up in
the streets. Kind of like the flea market. It seemed that about
every 3rd shop had the same items, and they were selling just
about everything you could think of: watches, purses, jewelry,
wigs and hair pieces, all kinds of clothing, wallets, shoes and
boots, cell phone cases, backpacks, toys, socks, wall hangings,
suitcases and all kinds of crap (for lack of a better word). And
they want to barter for everything. We would say “how much” and
they would give a price. The more we said no the lower the price
became. We would crack up when we could still hear them shouting
lower prices as we walked away. Unfortunately, there were no
Uggs or Northfaces to be found like the girls had hoped. We
picked up a few things, but not nearly as much as we thought we
would. We decided just to shop the stores along the streets, but
so many of them were American stores, but not really any cheaper
than home. We got quite turned around trying to go back to the
hotel, thankfully it's the tallest building in Mong Kok. The
pool here is beautiful, Taytum loved it! The best part? No swim
caps necessary!
The weather here is not all that great. It's a bit warmer that
Guangzhou, but still so rainy. There are so many things to do
here, but the rain makes it hard to enjoy outside activities.
It's funny to think that all Taytum knows of her new family is
hotel living. She is really coming out of her shell and getting
so busy! It will be so fun to watch her explore her new house
for the first time.
While our time here has been fun, we are all more than ready to
come home. We needed to pack as light as possible, but now we
are all looking forward to wearing clean clothes and eating a
home cooked meal. It's getting to the point we have hand soap
and toilet paper n the public restrooms it feels like Christmas.
Hopefully the rain will stop enough tomorrow for us to go to
Victoria's Peak and see some more of the amazing city. |
A street in Hong Kong
Old and New Buildings
The Ladies Market
Sisters at the market
Goofs!
Getting into trouble! |
