There seem to be quite a few long weekends throughout the school year (driven by the school calendar) so you'll see the Kohlmans taking advantage of extra time to check off our lengthy Asia bucket list. First school holiday stop - Hong Kong at the end of September. It's about 4-1/2 hours plane ride away and does not require a visa. Truly one of the most amazing cities we have ever had the pleasure to experience. So hard to describe the city, surrounded by water and little islands, and authentic Chinese feel. The humanity is crazy - sheer hoards of people and massive, massive apartment buildings seemingly carved into the cliffs. We loved it. We stayed on the Kowloon side which was close to the markets and a different kind of busy than the HK Island side.
Yet again, we had a fabulous experience with the kids' food. It's always a mystery whether we will get their food allergies recognized and accommodated. I always call the hotel ahead of time. This time, the Sheraton took amazing care of us starting with reservations. They asked all the right questions and sounded prepared. And then when we arrived, the chef met us at check-in to personally welcome us and re-assure us that Nick and Sadie would be taken care of (right down to fresh pots and pans to avoid cross-contamination). Impressive. Here are two photos of Nick and Sadie perfecting their chop stick skills over mounds of fried rice with chicken.
Love this photo. This is taken at dinner at the Sheraton Cafe overlooking a main drag in Kowloon and the Peninsula hotel across the street.
Before going to HK, we discussed the opportunity to visit Disney. I am soooooo NOT a theme park kinda gal and am proud that we have managed to avoid any hint of Disney. The kids have never even asked. And given that they are 10 and 8 already, we may just be out of the woods. However, I confess that HK Disney did sounds a bit like a good idea. Except when we mentioned it to the concierge, he was quick to point out that as Americans we can do Disney any time so why wouldn't we go to the iconic Ocean Park in stead? Good point. The highlight of the entire day was the cable car ride against the cliffs to get there. Incredible view of the surrounding islands. Just amazing. And a little hair-raising as we stopped several times and the winds were pretty healthy. As expected, I hated every minute of it. Theme parks always have massive amounts of sun and no escape so I always feel trapped. I managed to just sit under trees and umbrellas bitching and moaning the whole day until we headed back to the hotel. But, we did it...
No trip to HK is complete without a ride up to The Peak on the tram. This photo does not even come close to doing justice to the height and the view. It was a bit overcast yet still dramatic. The real estate up there must be crazy expensive. The only cars I saw going up and down at that altitude were quite expensive cars.....and always with a driver.
The Ladies Market in Kowloon. It's not only Ladies clothing. Not sure how it got it's name. Colorful. Crowded. Amazing.
This is a cemetary we happened upon in the taxi drive back to the hotel. Again hard to capture the depth and space here.
This photo might show up in our holiday card this year. Captured on our last night overlooking the harbor and watching the nightly Symphony of Lights. A great weekend had by all. Stay tuned. There is more to come as the holidays approach. Sneak peek - the Cohens will be visiting over the Christmas holidays......