September 9, 2025
The end to our time in mainland China, and the boy’s celebrity status. It has been a busy week in the same way that our time in Morocco was. Very little down time with a full list of things to do every day. Both places would have been impossible, even unpleasant, without our local guides. For all the headaches of trying to figure out the visas and then rearranging the timing of our stops in China everything went smoothly. I won’t miss the Chinese TSA airport security team though. If there is anything in your bag they will find it and take it. Even if they need to re-scan the bag 4 times to do it!
We head to Hong Kong today but Lenny and I started the day with a run to Starbucks. I bribed him to come with by letting him get something, he picked a 4 pack of macarons. He was quick to want to escape the store and return to show Ollie what he had been able to get for them. The drive to the airport further outside the city provided more time for Harry Potter, much to Ollie’s delight. Once Vivien helped us get all checked in we said our goodbyes and headed through security to our gate.
We got a good spot at the gate that allowed device charging and a place for the boys to consume their french fries. I did have to box out a middle-aged Chinese women from taking Lenny’s seat while he was on a mandatory snack mission with Kayleen. The mission was his required cooling off time after an airport tantrum. He had lost 5 minutes of iPad time for previous bad behavior and couldn’t bear watching Ollie on his iPad while he sat idle. Once on the plane the boys settled into their normal iPad zombie status with loud snack requests at the slightest feeling of hunger.
As soon as we got off the plane in Hong Kong the humidity was waiting for us. We took an Uber from the airport to Hong Kong Island, about 45 minutes, and Lenny was quick to pass out. I held his head from bobbing around at first until he settled in against the wall. Even once we got to the hotel, he was asleep in the lobby for a while.
We went up to our rooms to drop our stuff, again two non-connecting rooms so I’m with Lenny and Kayleen with Ollie. These are the smallest hotel rooms we will be in for the whole trip I think but the location was right where we wanted to be so that was the tradeoff.
We headed out for dinner and to show the kids the outdoor mid-levels escalator. To get there we had to walk down Mosque Street which is where my old apartment, the Peach Blossom, is. I had wanted to go to a restaurant called The Phoenix for dinner that was right where we reach the escalator but it was only open for drinks. I went there frequently when living in Hong Kong so was glad to see it still there but all that was the same seemed to be the name. The decor and menu had changed dramatically but will judge it another day.
We ended up walking down the escalator a bit further to explore and look for another place to eat. Ending up at a Mexican restaurant that was mediocre. Somehow certain tacos were much better than others, almost as if they had been made by different restaurants! After a stop at 7-Eleven for dessert we headed back to the hotel to get some rest. Hong Kong feels like being in NYC after being in Beijing for five days!
