Kameron enjoying her so healthy Carl’s Jr. breakfast biscuit.

After two hours in the customer line... Andy and Darlene eat with the kids first.

Then we eat Vietnamese food from the food court as we wait for Brian to pick us up for a surprise visit.

Waiting for Brian to pick us up since our next flight is tomorrow.

Finally get to see this little nugget!

Got six seats instead of the eight but this works.

Layover in Osaka Japan

Kids enjoyed an extra seat, which is great since they slept through the entire 3.5 hr flight. We’ve had problems explaining the extra seat scenario given the flight switches but definitely a benefit.

Mom met us at the airport and we took the red taxi into Tim Tsa Tsui.

Staying at YMCA Salisbury hotel.

Staying at the YMCA Salisbury hotel with adjoining rooms. Didn’t think the YMCA could be so nice!

After breakfast, we walked to the pier to catch the Star Ferry to cross the harbor.

Then we hopped on bus #15 to go up to The Peak.

Hiked the Lugard Road, which is so flat and well paved with stunning views of Hong Kong.

Andy and Darlene taking a selfie at Lugard falls.

After a few hours at the peak we bus back down since the Tram was closed and ride the Star Ferry back to Kowloon.

So cute how Kingston still holds my Mom’s hand.

By 2:30 pm we finally stop to have lunch at Din Tai Fung. They have an allergy list! Kingston loved the food...though expensive!

The famous Clock Tower.

Weird but cute sculpture near the Science Museum.

Kameron posing in front of the famous Peninsula Hotel.

Supposedly $600 per night and they cut your dim sum into even smaller bite size pieces.

We ended day early at 4:30 pm and passed out at 8 pm. Sounds like jet lag for everyone and normal for me😝.

No idea what this pink sauce is.

Happiest girl eating “the best pancakes ever!”

After breakfast, we walked to Kowloon Park, which is a couple blocks away. It’s like Central Park in New York but better.

Groups of people do tai chi here.

Bush maze

The pose I always do when traveling.

Awesome aviary with large colorful exotic birds.

Then took subway to go to the big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.

Going to Tung Chung.

Took the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car (Crystal) \240up the mountain. This “crystal” version tram cart allowed us to see through the floor.

Riding up to Ngong Ping Village.

Here comes the Buddha!

Ngong Ping Village

Ramen for lunch.

Po Lin Monastery, built in 1906.

Typical pic fighting with Kingston to not make a face or hide in the back.

Not allowed to photograph inside the 10,000 Buddha Hall.

View of the Monastery from the Buddha.

Sun was behind his face so you can’t see the face in most of the photos. But he was beautiful and peaceful. Ooommmm

This one shot came from a selfie then cropped me out 🧐😒.

On the way back down.

The smell of incense was overwhelming. People held up burning sticks which dropped ash all over us as they held the sticks overhead.

We found the koi pond area away from the crowds.

Before the food arrives, the restaurant gives us a clear bowl and boiling water to sanitize the dishes ... kind of crazy. But after reading the article on how some Chinese hotel staffs were washing dishes with toilet bowl brushes we didn’t mind the extra step 🤨😣

Seven of us ate two whole chickens cooked two separate ways. When we ordered the lady servers kept commenting how we will never finish two chickens. We did!

But we did walk away with some stuff we don’t need at ok prices.

More walking! Of course kids are complaining at this point. I want to find the Bird Market I read about and is part of a story I’m writing. On the way to the Bird Market is the Flower Market.

Kameron was very excited to see the birds.

We discouraged her from touching them given the history of Birds disease.

It was a depressing sight to see... hundreds of beautiful birds caged up.

The wording here says we can pay to free up particular birds. Only one per purchase.

Crickets and mealworms are also for sale.

The wooden birdcages were beautiful. I should’ve bought one as a dining room centerpiece!

The Moko mall nearby was gorgeous. We only \240stopped by to use the restroom and go to the subway, which was inside the mall.

Kameron doing gymnastics on the metro...grossing us out with her propensity to touch everything.

Had dinner at Kowloon Tap Room... Ryan had been waiting for this for three days.

Wish they had a T-shirt for Ryan! This is a local brewery’s name.

Kids, Mom and I headed back to the hotel, which we only a few blocks away. Ryan, Darlene and Andy pub crawled back.

You can also order with a real person.

The menu is a bit odd with offerings of skippy peanut butter on sandwiches, bowls of tomato based noodles and egg.

Then we took the subway then bus to Dragons Back Trail in Hong King Island. Took us about an hour to get there.

Rough beginning with lots of steps.

One of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on. Weather was perfect. Very windy up top though.

We look happy but we were really thirsty. We didn’t bring enough water!

You can see how windy it is here. Mom and kids were troopers. Mom has a knee problem and though she doesn’t like hiking she made it with the help of Andy.

We had a little bus mishap by taking the wrong bus at first. Ryan freaked out and tried to get off. We ended up switching busses and made it to the subway station.

Went to Aberdeen city (still in Hong Kong Island) where the Floating Restaurant is located.

Took a little boat over to the restaurant. You can tell they have this system down given that so many tourists visit this restaurant.

Fancy place setting and chrysanthemum tea. We missed dim sum by 10 minutes. They stop serving it at 3 pm. \240So we ordered from the dinner menu.

The noddles were my and Mom’s favorite. Funny story is Mom ordered all the food we typically like or would eat but didn’t order sea food, which are the expensive items on the menu. \240She had ordered a snail dish, which she thought was $60HK for the dish. When it didn’t come, we asked why. The waiter said it is $180HK for ONE snail, “which is why I didn’t even write down the order.” Mom thinks he did that because we ordered the cheaper items on the menu, which was a lot of pork and chicken but super good! So weird though!!

We closed out with red bean soup. Very tired from hike so we just rested at the hotel. Ryan and Kameron went to hunt for boba tea and received sub par boba since he couldn’t communicate with the servers.

It rained earlier in the morning and continued to drizzle the rest of the morning.

Walked over to Hong Kong Park.

This is where people register for marriage licenses. 🧡❤️💜💛

We climbed up this rotating stair tower that gives a great view of the park and the top of the Edward Youde Aviary.

Then walked through the SARS Memorial.

Enter into the Edward Youde Aviary, still within Hong Kong Park.

The place is very clean...you’re not walking on bird poop everywhere. The signs say the place is disinfected four times a day.

Some birds flew very close to us and perched nearby. There are over 600 types of birds inside. There are streams and waterfalls running underneath the wooden pathway, which runs through the middle space of the Aviary. People are not allowed to walk on the ground level.

Kameron trying to get up close and personal!

Then we walked to the nearby kids playground, which was wet from the rain.

Then walked through some heavy traffic to get to the Hong Kong Zoological And Botanical Gardens. This and the Aviary offered free admission.

Saw more birds. There were also monkeys and tortoises.

More walking to find lunch in the SOHO area, which has a lot of modern bars and restaurants.

Ate at this place, The Globe, which looks tiny from the outside but very big inside. There were more non-Chinese people eating and working here than Chinese...probably about 95%.

Ordered these Devilled Lamb Kidneys which I could not eat after the first bite. Darlene loves it and gobbled it up.

Then we walked through vegetable markets as we headed to the bus station to take us to Stanley.

On our way to Stanley. Bus drivers are crazy here. We are sitting on the top level.

Our first stop at Stanley is the Stanley Market, which is a street market. Kingston bought a small drone (let’s hope it lasts longer than a day). I bought a $13 US purse which is allegedly genuine leather (yeah right).

Outside the market is Stanley Bay.

We took another bus ride back through very rich areas to Central so we can take the subway back to Tim Tsa Tsui,

It was insanity. It took three separate trains for the seven of us to get one stop over. You basically shuffle in and squeeze in as many people as you can.

Mom is having way too much fun. You can see the worker behind her governing traffic and direction.

Ended the day with dinner at the hotel restaurant.

On our way to breakfast we pass this structure. Today, we stopped to take photos.

Our third day at McDonalds since Kameron insists on pancakes everyday.

But look at my fancy offering here from the McCafe menu!

It’s a large latte and a ciabatta with egg, corn and mayonnaise, sounds gross but was actually quite yummy.

Mom getting tickets to take the TuboJet to Macau.

There are a lot of tour guides yelling at us to hurry up and come with them to catch the boat. They are really just trying to sell their tour.

This ferry terminal at Tim Tsa Tui has gold windows.

Took the super class , which gives you a snack and reclining seats.

The morning snack had a muffin, fruit, and hot dog. When asked about nuts, the servers said the muffins were blueberry, though the looked plain. I had a bite and it was cranberry orange. Kingston had a bite of his. Then Ryan said his was banana and most banana muffins have nuts so I freaked out and grabbed Kingston’s muffin...which turned out to be banana as well. I crumbled up the muffin and found a couple of tiny walnut chunks.

I gave him a benedryl and here he is worried. He didn’t have any reaction or symptoms! Phew! This pic also shows how much he looks like a girl. We had to pass through immigration to an from Macau and an immigration officer asked ”You a boy?”

When we landed, there are more “guides” offering tours and drivers. We took a bus to this plaza. Will need to look up what this is called later.

Macau used to be colonized by the Portuguese so there is a lot of its influences. This is the Convent of Saint Domingo. It was built by Spanish friars who had traveled from the Philippines. There used to be a convent attached but only the church remains because the Portuguese had banned convents in the 1800s, which included Macau.

Lots of artifacts in the upper levels of the church. They creeped Andy out.

Then we walked through the very heavy streets of the center of Macau, lined with shops and food places. It was very crowded, likely due to the fact it was Saturday.

I wish I had a photo of all the people walking with roller bags. They were shopping for toiletries and packing the suitcases up with them.

Heading to the Ruins of St. Paul.

Below pic is a shot facing the town at the top of the steps.

Then you walk though the facade and this is the back.

Underneath is a crypt and some dirt remnants of the ruins.

We walked over a few hundred feet to the Museum of Macau but did not go inside the museum. We just went up to the rooftop and took photos of the city.

Good view of the Ruins of St. Paul from above.

Not sure why there are canons on the roof... this was probably some fortress. Will need to look it up later.

We were hungry and also wanted to see the casinos so we decided to stop in the Casino Grand Lisboa for lunch at Don Alfonso 1890 restaurant. It has a Michelin Star and is offered an Italian based cuisine. We had stopped by 2 other restaurants in the building and they said they were closed because it was 2:15 pm.

We got a private room for some reason.

My chicken was too salty.

We walked around the lobby of the Grand Lisboa.

We couldn’t go through the casino because they don’t allow minors...even walking through. I did see three half naked women dancing on a stage next to all the players.

On the way back to the ferry terminal we saw this park with ellipticals and other exercise tools for adults, next to a kid’s park.

Bye Macau!

I’ve been eating a tube of these black current pastilles every day. They don’t sell these in the states anymore ☹️. And I’m definitely going on a diet when returning!

Nathan Road in Mong Kok is known for shopping and has many jewelry stores. It feels a little like Times Square.

Mom and I have been hunting for some gold pieces, including an adjustable chain for my pendants.

What I live about Chinese people is they get straight to business and aren’t insulted when you just want to know the price and whether they will give you a discount.

Finally got a photo of people buying regular stuff and loading them into roller suitcases. I guess it makes sense since you walk so much here and carrying multiple grocery bags would just be too tiring.

We returned to Ladies Market so Andy could buy a duffel bag he had eyed the other day.

Kameron has been begging me for this soft rabbit key chain which will probably lose all its hair by the time we get home.

For lunch we went to Yum Cha, which literally means “drink tea” and is the phrase for dim sum. But it is seated alongside a food court and there are no rolling carts, just order off the menu.

Mom hadn’t realized I had marked a lot of dishes before she sat down, so we ended up with 26 dishes!!! We had to tell them to stop sending us stuff... but they could only cancel one dish. We carried a bunch of leftovers the rest of the day (Ryan did).

Afterwards we walked towards Jade Market.

Listened to this white dude play the saxophone for money. Andy danced next to him for a little bit and the guy got some good tips.

On the way to Jade Market was a temple (looks up later). Mom said it is one of the oldest temples in the area.

The red coils are incense and the slowly burn up the coil.

Made it to Jade Market, which is enclosed in a tent. The vendors are aggressive and hassling...some negotiating against themselves up to 75 percent off.

I bought a gaudy necklace for $12US and Kingston and Ryan bought some fu dog statues.

Afterwards, the kids played on a nearby playground then we walked to Temple Market, where the goods seem a little better than in Ladies Market. We headed to the hotel for dinner and packing.