hong kong: kowloon

we spent our last hong kong day in kowloon.

since our hotel reservations were a mess with my mom's cancelled flight, we ended up at the W hotel in kowloon. thanks to nate's upgrades, it was a treat. we watched the harbor light show (can you even call it a show? pretty underwhelming) from the comfort of our hotel bed, and had great views of the city.

we attended the hong kong temple in the morning, and took turns watching sage. hong kong and the philippines are the closest temples to singapore, so going to the temple has become such a privilege. our life is pretty chaotic right now, and it felt good to restore a sense of peace and assurance that things will always work out.

we bought some treasures at the jade market, then browsed the night market on temple street.

nipple fruit. seriously.

we'll pass on the pig parts.

the W pool atop the city. this is nate's thing...he loves tall buildings. 

if there's a tall building, it's in our itinerary.

we took a windy ride on the star ferry...

...and hopped on a ding ding tram to see my grandpa's old office building. my mom used to hang out here after school.

this photo is so hong kong-esque to me. a cloudy sky, signs everywhere, colorful buildings, and a jumble of trams, buses, cars, taxis, and people.

the bamboo scaffolding is baffling to me. how does it not all collapse?!

we ended our ride in causeway bay and squeezed in some shopping at times square

the obligatory nathan road photo

the last thing we did before our flight was head up to the top of the ritz carlton building to the ozone bar perched on the 118th floor. yeah, we took our baby to a bar. usually the view is stunning, but we were clouded in once again. so we ordered the best crab cakes of our lives topped with kaffir lime foam.

and sage loved my virgin blackberry mojito. 

if she only knew how posh her life is...doesn't every almost-two-year-old sip mojitos in hong kong?

it was a wonderful trip! back to singapore we flew for more adventures.

hong kong: reliving the glory days

the focus of our time in hong kong was to see all the places my mom spent her time when she lived here years ago. i loved hearing the stories of how she walked up victoria peak to school every day, seeing where she learned to play water polo, and sitting on the same railing where my grandparents took their family christmas card photo. i'm also pathetic at pronouncing all those cantonese names, so it was a good thing my mom was there.

we began the day in central, climbing the stairs to man mo temple, then riding the mid-level escalators to kom tong hall, where mom used to attend church. the building was gorgeous. we hopped in a cab in favor of hiking up victoria peak to visit island school, then rode the peak tram down. we stopped briefly to see the view, only to be engulfed in thick fog. no view this trip!
we wandered around downtown and made our way to maxim's at city hall for traditional dim sum.
it was wild--carts and carts of unrecognizable things whizzing by. we finally found the barbequed pork buns, and my mom snagged a honey drizzled egg white treat. sage was mostly interested in the chopsticks.

sage was obsessed with grandma's "brella" and wouldn't let go of it.

the british school my mom attended

rainy, windy, and foggy...not the best conditions at the peak. we opted for hot chocolate instead.

we ended the day in stanley, visiting my mom's old flat and walking around the market. even though the weather didn't totally cooperate, i loved having a personal tour guide and exploring more of this city.

hong kong: sheung wan + disneyland

knowing this was probably our last hong kong trip for awhile, we were super stoked for a dose of disneyland, central district, dim sum, the jade market, and MY MOM. 

i've been so excited for my mom's trip to asia the past few months. the plan was to all meet in hong kong, where she lived for three years growing up, then bring her back to singapore with us.

but...just after landing in hong kong, we got word my mom's flight had been cancelled. how dare they ruin our plans!
we spent a day traipsing around sheung wan, then i went ahead and took sage to disneyland by myself the next day while nate worked. much to my delight, nate and my mom strolled into disneyland just in time for dinner, a few rides, and fireworks. she'd made it!

sage found some helpful friends at the hollywood road park

and was devastated at the thought of leaving this place. just wait until disneyland, kid.

i took sagie to hk disneyland almost a year ago. while last time was mostly for me, she was enamored with the place this go around. she would say, "pooh! pooh!" and then hide her head and beg to be held when we actually saw pooh. she shouted "belle! belle!" (the only princess she knows) while we waited in line to meet aurora and snow white...and it was the same routine. she wouldn't even look at them as they said sweetly, "what a shy little princess."

however, sage is not shy when other people pull their cameras out. she grins and offers to share her granola bar and looks back to make sure i'm watching too. oh boy.

those piggie tails always start out smooth and straight, but seem to end all frizzy and skiwampus every time. we've embraced never having good hair days in asia.

i still love the jungly hills behind disneyland on beautiful lantau island.
the one hiccup was that our rented disneyland stroller was stolen while we were jungle cruising. boo! thankfully our stuff (the ERGO! sage's second home) was returned right before the park closed.

grandma! sage thinks she lives in our computer.

nate was on a conference call for the entire fireworks show, and sage was falling asleep in my arms to the sound of the booms. we left exhausted, blissfully happy that my mom made it, and ready for our jam-packed itinerary...

hong kong: with nate

on the weekend, we took the #6 bus to stanley market on the winding road past scenic repulse bay...

you must eat at lucy's in stanley. it was divine.

my mom spent her middle school years living in hong kong with her family,

so we paid homage to her old flat in stanley village from our moving bus.

i still hope that she can give me a personal hk tour someday.

after naps all around, we decided to head up victoria peak. maybe, just maybe the fog would clear.
but nate's face at the top of the tram says it all...

in the time it took for us to waffle back and forth about going down or not, the fog cleared!

 sage performed her tricks for us: waving, clapping, swiping anything that resembles a bow near her hair... 

we walked to the ocean and rode the star ferry across to kowloon as the sun was setting. 

the light show was lame, but this view wasn't:

after church on sunday, we wanted to get a glimpse of the temple...

 in our last few hours, we explored nathan road and the surrounding markets, then jumped on a plane back home.