Today did not pan out as planned, but was a good day in spite of that!

When we got up today, it was obvious that the weather god wasn’t smiling on us, as it was very overcast, and they are calling for thunderstorms.  Therefore, we decided that Disney was out.  Surprisingly, neither of the kids seemed terribly bothered by that, so we felt good about the decision.

After a few minutes of discussion, we decided that we’d like to see Victoria Peak and take a ride on the tram.  We headed over, and bought our tickets without any lineups.  It was a great ride up.  The last time we did this, Emily was just a baby and Stephanie wasn’t even on our radar yet!!  The ride is a very very steep incline, in a tram system that celebrated 100 years of operation, and yet it’s still fun.  It takes you up to an observatory level, with all kinds of shops and restaurants.

Of course, being the tourist attraction that it is (read-ripoff), they take photos of you with a fake Peak Tram background (wouldn’t want the real thing after all) and then appeal to the kids to buy them.  Of course, Stephanie had a breakdown when we said we weren’t buying them, so we handed over a small mortgage payment and got 2 photos, and 2 key chains.  Whatever.

At the top, we spent some time in the souvenir shops.  We didn’t buy much, but it was a nice time to walk around, since the threat of rain had kept lots of people away. 

We had a funky (read not good, but expensive tourist crap) lunch at the peak area, and then headed back down to the hotel.

It had been raining on and off, but not heavily so the girls wanted to swim.  Danny granted me one last walk down into the city to get a final feel for this city that I love so much.  I walked down, alone, and wandered around Central.  I bought the kids a few things for school but not much else.

When I headed back up the escalator, three of the sections were closed for routine maintenance.  Nothing like walking the steps, in 33 degree heat, with almost 100% humidity to make you feel special!!  Oh well, I’ve done nothing but eat great food since arriving so the exercise is well overdue!!

We had dinner plans tonight with Pok Hei and Serina.  They took us for Hong Zhou food (near Shanghai in location and style).  We went to the area nice and early, which turned out to be a mistake in a way.  It was about 6:30 and we’d walked around, and both kids were hungry and fed up with walking so much.  We decided that they likely weren’t going to eat much at the restaurant anyway, and being the parents of the year, we took them to a Taiwanese style dessert shop!

Stephanie stuck with mango ice cream, while Emily ordered mango juice as well as a crepe style wrap full of strawberries and whipped cream.  For real.  Before dinner.  Mother of the Year much??

Oh yeah, not to be outdone, Danny ordered this strange “flossy ice” dessert, and mine was described as “black sesame noodles with mango”.  When it came, it was indeed black sesame noodles, with lovely fresh mango over it, and then barley on top (what they affectionately call frog eggs).  It actually tasted delicious, if a bit odd for dessert.  As long as you don’t think too much about the name “frog eggs”, the whole thing was rather terrific!!

Dinner was good, although not really my favourite.  In fact, Pok Hei’s sister also joined us for dinner, and she is always nice to see.  The kids didn’t eat much (but did have some) but behaved really really well, so the adults enjoyed a chance to talk on our last night here.

Wow, hard to believe we head home tomorrow.  It has been a very different trip this time around, with lots more relaxation, and some new adventures too.  Each year gets easier as the kids get older and enjoy the travel more.