Day 2: Dinner at Victoria peak

We celebrated our 1st yr anniversary with dinner on Victoria Peak, at a surprise resturant that Timon picked. We had had a conversation earlier that day about foods we wanted to sample during our holiday: comfort western food, adventurous street food, and Dim Sum. Somehow shrimp came up, and the shrimp specialty resturants, which I was quick to endorse. I'm still bewildered how it came up in the conversation so naturally. I love surprises and continually had been trying to guess where he was taking me... we watched fireworks from the waterfront, and hopped on a double decker bus up to the peak. It was a curvy narrow road, brushing against the tree branches, and leaning over the steep side of the mountain. Buses coming the opposite direction were full of passengers, cueing Timon to say "Oh no!" and me to say "Yess!" At the same time. Timon thought full buses meant there were tons of people still up there, whereas I thought the Peak would be cleared out by the time we arrived.

We arrived, and there's a huge line to leave by bus or taxi, but the restaurant was full with no line. We went up three flights of stairs; I kept asking where we were going... and ended up at Bubba Gump!! T had kept the secret well- even after asking me if I had been to Bubba Gump and I had chattered on about it.

View from our table.

Day 1: Ocean park

We grabbed a quick Mcd's breakfast and hopped on a mini bus to Ocean Park, by Aberdeen. I gazed out the window, taking in the greenery and snippets of ocean inbetween. Then I saw it- gondolas going up the side of a mountain, silhouetted against a bright blue sky, and lopping rollercoasters clinging to the side of the mountain much like homes in the Oakland hills. It was marvelous!

K: "Look Timon! That's where we're going!!!"
T: "Cool! Wait... why are we driving away from it? Did we miss our stop???"

Ocean park is a cheaper, funner, alternative to Hong Kong Disneyland. And even though we have been "studying" our Disney cartoons prior our trip- Ocean park's reviews and prices were much better. (250 HKD)

They boast an aquarium, dolphin shows (which were impossible with the crowds), rollercoasters, other scary gut wrenching rides, breath taking views, live animals, and a cool laser- waterfountains on fire- computer projection show. Because it was Chinese new year, they also had special performances around the park with visiting groups. We were fortunate to see a group from Xin jiang or Jiangsu do a  really impressive music + dance performance which combined poi, drumming, and about 20 people. I was holding my breath while 10 girls swing long pom-pom on strings things around hitting drums in every direction while dancing around.

Because the park was built on a mountain, it was a bit more difficult from attraction to attraction. There would be one path hewed into the mountain, instead of open space. For the Miner coaster (our fave) you had several flights of steep stairs and escalators to get there. It flew over the water and flaunted the beauty of the ocean- blindingly so. There were mostly families attending that day- so many of the adult-thrilling rides had 5-15min waits. Awesome!

-The water ride was lame.
-Pandas: awesome
-Food: so-so. Their cheapest option was McD's super long lines. We ate corn dogs and siu mai.

There was also a replica of pier 39- with sea lions, barges, and educational tidbits about how awesome northern California and the San Francisco bay area is. No joke.

There was also an entire exhibit featuring goldfish. Like the weird looking ones- lionhead, dangling eyeballs, and borderline freakish fish. Yikes.

Although it wasn't Disney-land it was hard not to compare. Ocean park didn't have the cheery theme music being pumped in everywhere- but they did put in a fair amount of detail into the train, and rides. The train taking us from one end to the other was pretty awesome- a bit of willy wonka steampunk madness. LCD monitor with shifting colors filled the "skylight" and dim rainbow evolving lights showed everyone's uncertain faces as we slid downhill.

Hong Kong holiday (a.k.a. vacation)

For Chinese New year (CNY) T and I headed to Hong Kong to thaw out and sightsee. T's been to HK roughly 30 times for business trips (He would go a few times a month for his previous job) but I thought it might be nice to really explore as a tourist instead of being so work-centric.

Our Seven day trip went like this:
1. Ocean Park Amusment park
2. Relax!
3. Hiking in New territories
4. Church, Chris, Macau
5. Zhuhai Ocean SPRINGS resort
6. Lantau island
7. Go home and clean up (the apt)

This was our first trip we planned and (sorta) executed together. There were things we both forgot : (
I bought the tickets, booked hotels, and looked up some attractions, Timon looked up transportation, maps and compiled all the details into a booklet thing. He also reserved ferry tickets and reservation stuff. I can get super obsessed with planning things- and wanting to do EVERYTHING.... even if its physically impossible. I blame my parents for this. When we went on "vacation" it was like a marathon. We'd have to wake up early to get all sorts of places. T and I needed to rest, so we only planned one thing per day, leaving plenty of time for sleeping, exploring, and getting lost.

Once the internet warms up I'll start uploading photos for everything we saw! Its too beautiful not to share! Our expectations were exceeded in ways we couldn't imagine- Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world, known for being tightly packed- yet we discovered joy and amazement in getting out to some natural beauties.

Hong Kong holiday: Sai Kung