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Its Christmas Eve day and we awoke to sunshine and warm weather. Looking ahead at the forecast for the next few days, it doesn’t look good (cool and wet) so I made the decision we had to get out and enjoy the weather. So, we hopped on the Star Ferry and crossed the harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui, a shopping district. The subway is faster but you don’t get to enjoy the sun and the lovely views. Check out the photos as we crossed! It was marvellous!! When we got to TST we briefly walked into the large shopping mall, but quickly turned around and left...too crowded with tourists and too expensive. Instead, we walked over to Nathan Road and walked around. Much better, although very crowded still. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised given that it’s Christmas tomorrow. We walked around a lot!! Enjoyed the weather and the Christmas excitement. The kids got handed balloons by someone selling something-or-other, but it was a bit breezy...so if you follow the photos you can see that they started with white coloured balloons and then Stephanie’s turned into an ice cream cone. You see, she let go of the balloon, and then the tears started. And they kept coming. Frankly, I’d have bought just about anything to stop the tears. Geez, it was a balloon. Anyway, we walked past McDonalds (which, by the way, is still VERY popular over here, not at all like the decline at home) and they have twisty, soft serve ice cream cones. Luckily, Stephy loves ice cream, so offering her a chocolate one saved the day and stopped the tears. We grabbed lunch at a small noodle restaurant. Actually, it took about 15 minutes to just order our food, because they had a funky ordering system, which took time to figure out, and then even at that they didn’t have half the things we ordered. By the time the noodle bowls arrived at the table, we had no idea which was which, because none really resembled what we’d ordered in the first place!! The food was okay, but not very good. Cheap, though, so it didn’t matter much. We found an outdoor market, which is what the kids had been wanting anyway, and we walked around there a bit. I got a pearl tea drink from an outdoor stall, and then later on, Emily and Danny tried some mango concoctions at a different stall. We all survived the experience, though, so it was all good. We didn’t buy anything, despite all the hours spent walking among the vendors!! Emily announced that she wants cake again, like the one we had for Kit Ling’s birthday the other night. Danny agreed to pick up a fruit cake and we’re bringing it to Pok Hei’s house tonight. We had dinner obligations again tonight. Danny’s cousin had invited us to his home, because his daughter is returning home to Hong Kong from Toronto where she goes to school. We barely got back to the hotel from shopping, then we had to turn right around and head back out to dinner. We were hopping a bus to dinner, but quickly changed our minds. Danny has to pick up his new glasses part way to his cousin’s house so we grabbed a taxi. The traffic was unbelievable, given that it’s now Christmas Eve, and it took a very long time for the taxi to get to the Causeway Bay area. When we got out of the taxi it was wall-to-wall shoppers!! Crazy busy!! We got Danny’s glasses and then spent about 10 more minutes trying to get another taxi to get to his cousin’s house. We eventually gave up and instead got a ride on one of the old fashioned tram cars. It was a rough but cheap ride and took us right to his cousin’s place (or right around the corner anyway) so it worked out great. Another great surprise was that Lai Yin had arrived at Pok Hei’s house, as she’s in Hong Kong for tomorrow’s wedding (visiting from Jiujiang). I always really enjoy seeing her, so that was a great pleasure. Pok Hei was serving us awesome lamb meat, cooked in a delicious stew. It was tasty and lovely and they had cooked a LOT. I really enjoyed the lamb, although just like last year, it was complete with skin, bones and all. Emily and Stephanie were really happy because now two of Pok Hei’s daughters are home, so they have lots of attention from older girls. They played lots and ate very little, but it was okay. After dinner, we enjoyed the cake that Emily had brought. We pretended that we’d brought it for Danny’s uncle’s birthday, which is just a few days away anyway. He enjoyed the attention, and everybody enjoyed the cake. By the time dinner and cake were done, along with the lovely tea service by Pok Hei again, it was past 10pm, and we had to head home. Tomorrow, we have the family wedding to attend, and the girls are going to be flower girls, so we need them to get their rest.
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