The flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong takes about 13 hours. It departs mid-afternoon and arrives in the evening, which translates into the wee hours of the morning at home. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this is a recipe for some serious jet-lag, especially for a baby and toddler! We decided to seize the opportunity to spend a few days recovering with a friend in Hong Kong. Best. Decision. EVER!!
Hong Kong was a great place for us to recover from jet lag. If one of the girls woke up early (gotta love jet lag) I could get up, dressed and head out for a walk down the street to Starbucks! I always felt safe walking around by myself, and found the streets easy to navigate! English was widely spoken, and since we had a built-in tour guide it didn’t require much effort. I am always the one planning what we are going to do, how we are going to get there, where we will stay, etc. It was really nice to have a couple days in which I didn’t have to think or worry about what we would do next…or how we would get there.
The only thing I wanted to do was eat at Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum on Kwong Wa street. The cheapest Michelin Star restaurant in the world! (thanks for the tip Anthony Bourdain!) It took us three attempts to actually do it! The line-up was always pretty crazy.
Waiting in front of Tim Ho Wan to get our name on the list for a table.
The day we finally made it there we got up and going early, made our way across town and were there by 10am to get our name on “the list”. We had about an hour wait at that point, so we walked up the street to the Jade Market to kill time and buy a few souvenirs. By the time we got back we had missed our table, however luckily for us we then got the next available. That was the way to do it!! Minimal waiting around. After all the hype, build-up, multiple attempts and waiting, was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!
Enjoying our meal with our host Matt.
Working on developing a worldly palate. Calais loved it!
This was also our first experience of Kacela being “taken off our hands”. It would become a common theme this trip. Thank goodness we are pretty relaxed, and Kaisa does not play scared at all! It made meal time much easier that’s for sure.
Hong Kong was Calais’ first introduction to multiple forms of transportation. She loved riding on the ferry, knew when we were in the Disney metro station before we did (it had a huge Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse on the wall) and mastered the escalator.
I don’t have any pictures of her walking on the escalator herself…I was always hovering!
Calais also went skating for the first time. I guess you can kind of call that a form of transportation!
We did a few sightseeing activities while in Hong Kong. We went to Discovery Bay, rode the escalator as far up the mountain as it would go, and took the tram to the “Peak”.
Waiting for the Tram to arrive.
I know there is lots more to do in Hong Kong, but it will have to wait for a return trip. For us, a few activities, some good food, and the ability to take it easy was exactly what we needed to get over our jet lag! We are incredibly grateful to our friend Matt for hosting us, giving up his bedroom, and playing tour guide for our visit!
Where we stayed: With a friend!
Where we ate: Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum, pizza in the Elements mall, cooked at Matt’s house
What we did: Skating at Elements’ mall in Kowloon, Tram to The Peak, Rode the escalator all the way up the hill, Shopping at Discovery Bay, Ferry and Metro rides.
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