Not since we started having kids have Daniel and I been away just the two of us (unless you count a night at a hotel a few blocks from home). Now, thanks to John and Alisa, all that has changed.
Our destination? Hong Kong, where they celebrate Christmas, speak English, and serve gluten-free food in their restaurants!
And there is beautiful nature to enjoy, too. Where else the in the world can one eat breakfast among 7-million people in the morning,
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| (it's gluten-free and vegan) |
and then eat lunch among winter surfers at a remote beach where the only sound is the wind?
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| (he ordered caesar salad) |
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| The tiny surfing village of Big Wave Bay. |
To get to the surfing village, we had to hike! (a privelege rarely afforded this mother-of-four-who-used-to-be-a-trail-rat).
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| Hiking the Dragon's Back. |
British-run for long years, Hong Kong is a quirky cultural casserole, made up of a sprinkling of small mountainous islands, a big mountainous island, and a mainland port. The streets are old and narrow, and climb up and down very steeply, but are laid-out impressively well by the British who colonized it. Modernization has turned Hong Kong into city-planet - like something out of Star Wars - with enclosed walkways, buildings, lifts, and trams all connected and labeled by their level. Completely surrounded by water and full of history, ambition, and good food, Hong Kong is literally crammed with people, places, and things.
Unlike
anywhere I've ever been.
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| Everything is narrow. Everything. Even the nicest of hotel rooms are like glitzy closets. |
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| On the ferry. |
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| View from The Peak. |
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| ?????? |
