FINALLY, after five years, my long overdue visit back to Hong Kong materialized! I have mentioned previously that I have fond memories of this city. This year’s trip is especially memorable since I got to go with (almost) the entire family.
Since our family is spread out in different countries, getting everyone together entailed a lot of planning.Mom and Ate took care of the funding, my younger sister handled the flights and hotel booking, while I was in charge of the itinerary.
I finally managed to sort through the hundreds of pictures we took of the trip. Let me share a couple of them with you.
JP and I arrived sometime after lunch. Everyone had come in from Manila on the morning flight and were resting when we got to the hotel. We rested a bit and of course… pictures!
Our first stop was to the Sky100 Observatory. It was also my first time there. April is thetail-end of winter in HK, so it was cold and foggy. We weren’t able to see much of the city, though.
After a quick dinner, we rushed on over to catch the Dancing Lights display over at the harbor. We took the view from the Kowloon side. It was a bit crowded, but those lights are always an amazing sight for any first timer to the city.
The entire second day was devoted to the happiest place on earth: Disneyland!
Even my teenage nephews and nieces were delighted to be here.
We took a LOT of pictures, before eventually we dispersed in different directions — the teenagers wandered off to Space Mountain (according to them, they rode it about 5 times!), those with toddlers got on the small rides, and me — well, not so much riding and walking for me. JP and I basically sat wherever we could find free seats.
On our final day, we went to Lantau Island to see the Giant Buddha. We rode the cable car to the mountain. The weather was muggy, and we had a little bit of rain as well, but no one seemed to mind.
Unfortunately, there was too much fog to see the Buddha from afar (and even climbing up to the platform).
The next day we all took the City Bus to the airport. JP and I went back to Singapore, while the rest went back to Manila. A last look at Nathan Road.
I am so thankful for this trip. As I said, it’s rare that we all get together owing to our locations. Our next family adventure remains to be seen. But for sure, there will be another gremlin in the mix when that happens 😉
So much more pictures in this album
Details:
Hotel — we booked rooms at Hotel Rainbow over at Saigon Street, near Nathan Road. Rooms are clean, there’s free wi-fi, it’s also near the train station and bus stops. Buffet breakfast is available, but the options are the same everyday.
Bus to and from the Airport — check out the bus routes at the CityBus website. Fee is 33HKD/adult and 17.50/child (one-way). You can pay via cash or your Octopus(MTR) card.
*You can also take the Airport Express to/from the Airport, but with our hotel’s location and our group’s size (17 people!), it was much more convenient to take the bus.
