Hong Kong & Lantau Island

We spent 3 days in Hong Kong, staying on the 31st floor of a hotel on the main island, near the financial district. 

View from our hotel room:

We enjoyed walking the streets, as well as taking the double decker tram, going up the longest elevator in the world (800m), and seeing the city from the top of Victoria Peak. And of course, delicious dim sum every day!  Our servers absolutely loved Zac and pinched his cheeks saying what a beautiful boy he is!

Selfie overlooking Hong Kong from the peak:

On the downside, we have had trouble getting our Chinese Visa. It turns out that the rules have changed since we left home. While it is supposedly easier, in order to get a visa for longer than 30 days we need Zac's birth certificate, which we didn't bring. An employee yelled at us when we didn't understand some of the unexpected rules. He said, "what?  Don't you speak english?  I already told you that!""  We were overwhelmed and decided to hire a visa service to help us - though this will cost a lot more, maybe up to $1000 as we may need to leave the country and re-enter after 30 days. 

We then met up with Chao, Danny's cousin who lives in Chicago but is also visiting Hong Kiong - he speaks Cantonese so has been a big help to figure things out.  He is going to go to the embassy with us on Monday and thinks he can help us, especially if Erica can find and email Zac's birth certificate. If it all works, we might still be able to go to China for a few months. If not, we are looking at other affordable options and are considering Malaysia, Taiwan, or even Peru!

10 years ago I had a student who was from Hong Kong and she was very homesick. She told me then that HK is not just a big city but is surrounded by beautiful islands with beaches and forests. Ever since then, I have always wanted to see this part of Hong Kong - and now we are!  We have a tiny little AirBNB apartment on Lantau Island and will be spending the week on the island, exploring the beaches, trails and local spots. 

Lantau island is a Hong Kong suburb, just a half hour ferry ride from downtown. The ferry dock parking has a thousand bicycles from people who take the ferry in to work. I don't think there was any car parking!:

After this week, we have 3 more days in the city and then (if we get a visa) off to Tianjin (north of Beijing) to visit Danny's relatives for 1-2 weeks. 

Good morning Vietnam!

I write this while riding an overnight train from Hanoi (northern Vietnam) to Hue (central). We slept on the train last night in our own little compartment - Zac thought maybe the train was going to Hogwarts!

While I didn't get much sleep, This morning the sun is shining and I am enjoying seeing glimpses of life in the oh-so-green rice paddies and water buffaloes.

We spent 6 days in Hanoi and loved the city. There is so much hustle and bustle on the streets and much to see. There are few cars, instead motorcycles and pedestrians swarm the streets. 

Restaurants and street vendors are everywhere, with most people choosing to eat their meals while sitting on tiny stools on the sidewalks and watching people go by.  If they aren't eating, there is beer or coffee to drink, the beer being much less expensive at 25c a glass with coffee from 1-2 dollars. Egg coffee is a famous local drink where sweetened whipped egg yolk is added instead of milk - it is decadent and I wonder why this isn't served in Toronto?

But Hanoi is about food. The first thing we tried was, of course, Pho. This noodle soup dish is one of our favourites at home. At first we were surprised that we found it to be not very flavourful - but then learned that it is usually eaten for breakfast so that is when you get the good stuff. We were ordering it at the wrong time of day. 

We took a food tour of the city so we learned where, when and how to get all the best  food, like pho with tamarind broth, bun cha noodles with BBQ pork and kumquat juice, rice pancakes filled with meat and topped with fresh herbs, and banh mi - meat, herbs and pickled carrots in a baguette. Heaven!

While dog meat is popular, it is bad luck to eat it during certain phases of the moon so was not available. 

After that, it felt like we filled our days with activities just so we could get hungry and eat again. Don't get me wrong, there is lots to do in Hanoi and we enjoyed our time. We even went to a mall to go ice skating (!) and watch a movie (Avengers). But in a trip to Hanoi the street food is the best part. 

And yes, we went to a shopping mall, something we never do at home. But like Zac said, "Most tourists go to the market to see local culture. But really, the markets are 50% tourists. The mall was 100% Vietnamese - we were the only foreigners there!"  And Zac was definitely the best skater at the rink too!