Hong Kong!

Day #7 Taxies to train station, train to Hong Kong, taxies to ferry, ferry to Lantau Island, walk to house

We had a lovely little breakfast in our hotel and then scrambled to the train station.

Miles was very excited to go find our train.

We pulled out the Little Mermaid so Luke could have a snooze.

Lars really struggled on the train. It took a lot of work to calm him down and get him to sleep.

I was able to take a few photos of the rice paddy fields but the overcast sky made it look so dark. The landscape was very lush and green in the rural areas.

First look at Hong Hong as we leave the train station and take taxies to the ferry dock.

Holding their breath as we enter one of Hong Kong’s tunnels. Do you hold your breath when you go through a tunnel?

Waiting for the ferry to take us to Discovery Bay.

Lyla loved the feel of the boat. The water was pretty choppy and I took gulps of air hoping I wouldn’t be sick.

Hugs from Lars helped.

Lantau Island is beautiful! It’s a good thing we didn’t start our adventures here because we probably wouldn’t have left. Great weather and the beach, our kind of vacation!

No cars are allowed on this part of the island, so we walked to Xiaojun’s cousin’s house where we set up camp for our final nights in China.

Discovery Bay photo courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Bay.  Xiaojun’s cousin’s house is nestled in there close to the beach. The orange roofed structures.

We finally had a home-cooked late lunch and put the kids down for naps. Xiaojun and I made plans to head out shopping on our own. First I needed some Hong Kong dollars from Luke’s stash. Luke, where’s your stash?? We couldn’t find his wallet! He’d last used it to pay for the ferry, so we knew it had to be at the house or somewhere in between it and the ferry dock. We spent an hour looking and then Xiaojun and I headed out to shop with the plan to search the ferry boat and marina on our way inland.

My beautiful, funny, smart, and tender sister-in-law, oh how I miss you!!!

This is the floor of the marina. Isn’t it cool? But no wallet.

I’m not a huge fan of Apple. I have one of the earliest iPods but even I thought this huge Apple store was awesome.

More photos from the mainland.

We took a double decker bus to the popular Stanley Street Market. By the time we got there we only had a half hour to shop before they closed. Long enough for me to find a chess set for Luke and a pretty floral robe for my mom.

One shop owner I caught mid snore.

Xiaojun and I were just re-boarding our bus to take us back to the ferry when we got a text from Tommy saying “FOUND IT!” Not sure how, but Luke’s wallet was shoved where the suitcase handle collapses into the back of the suitcase. Some serious prayers were answered.

This is the night that all the traveling and lack of sleep caught up with me. I had one serious sickly, debilitating migraine. I’m such a light sleeper and trying to catch shut-eye in the same room as my kids just doesn’t happen. I felt so blah. We had a lot planned for our final full day in China, so I was stressing myself out even more to try and get some rest. I don’t know why (ok, it was probably the meds), but I felt much better the next day and didn’t feel nearly as tired as I should have been. Thankfully.