if i left it to jay...he would say...hong kong was nice. very nice. he thinks all things are nice. i bug him about saying nice because he uses it ALL the time. we'll be talking to a cs host about our visit to their city and his response is always "it was nice, really nice!". as i type this he is poking me in the kidney trying to make me stop. it won't work. we had only planned to stay 3 days in hong kong but we extended our visit by a day. it could have been 5 extra days and we wouldn't have run out of things to do. we changed our flight because one day was taken up by my visit to a doctor. i've been having trouble with my ears after flying and it was starting to freak me out. i saw a medic in athens after the first incident which is why we took a train to istanbul instead of continuing the second leg of our flight from rhodes. he told me i risked permanent damage if i flew when my ears were red and inflamed. when we landed in dubai one of my ears plugged up and it took about 6 hours for it to feel better. when we landed in hong kong the same ear blocked again and this time i had shooting pains down the right side of my neck. not good. we called our insurance company 'world nomads' and they suggested a clinic just down the street from our hostel. i got some anti-inflammatory drops and drugs and i'm happy to report that my ear pain was almost non-existant when we landed in singapore a few days ago. yay for drugs!so what was so nice about hong kong? it had character, it was bustling, it was alive, it was energy, it was...what a big city should be. after dubai, hong kong was a great 'welcome back' to real life! oh...and the food! the food! omg...so in love with chinese food! i can't even explain my desire for more and more choy sum...
the skyline from the top of victoria's peak
our only disappointment with hong kong (besides seeing 2 whole cockroaches...one dead, one very much alive!) was the smog. smog and blog worthy photos do not mix. we went up the steep climb to victoria's peak on a tram, sitting on the right side of the tram as suggested by our previous cs hosts, steve & lenka. we had a great view of the island portion of the city from the peak terrace but the smog blocked out the kowloon side entirely.
walking around at night...wishing we had a tripod
using a skywalk railing as a tripodat the advice of gadi and rebecca, our winnipeg-rtw-cyber-friends, we stayed on nathan road. we checked out some rooms in the 'mansions' that they suggested. i'm not sure what i expected from a mansion in hong kong but it definitely wasn't a dirty highrise building with dead mice and garbage in the halls! the first place we looked at was probably a flop house, rented by the hour, and not our idea of a good time. we moved on to the second 'mansion'...this time prepared for the worst. two girls were coming out of the building so i accosted them. i mean, if two young girls could stay there...how bad could it be? they directed us to mr. simon and luckily he had a room for us. luckily because this mansion really wasn't any more pleasant than the last BUT mr. simon's place was very clean. i'm attributing the cockroach that crawled under our door on the last night to the vegetarian, hole-in-the-wall, disgusting restaurant next door.
the kowloon hoodour last, extra day we spent by getting out of hong kong and exploring the town and market of stanley. it took awhile for my stomach to stop flipping around because of the rollercoaster bus ride we took through the mountainous terrain. we wandered through the famous stanley market and found a beach. if you have a passion for seaglass, like jay and i now do, this is the place to come! hoards of glass pieces are just lying there for your delight and collection.
the view at stanley pier
after being to several big cities on our trip, hong kong has made our list of favourites. i think it has even beaten out...well...let's just say it's up there with the likes of amsterdam, barcelona and paris.
baai baai,
corina (with a few inspired words from jay)
the flat petroffs decide that these cubby holes found in goreme, turkey are the perfect place to play tic-tac-owen.
flat hannah is the clear winner in a game of queen of the cubby holes although ellie almost made it just as high.
flat sasha may look like she's smiling in front of this ancient goreme cave house but on the inside she's thinking to herself, "more stairs? didn't we climb enough in pamukkale?"
flat jane and flat owen think it's time for an extreme makeover on this old run down cave house! where's flat ty when you need him?
the flat petroff feel right at home in dubai's indoor ski slope...i mean, it's below zero, there's skiing, sledding and man-made snow...much closer to the reality of home than the +30 degrees C outside.
flat sasha was encouraged by flat hannah to do her best snowman impersonation. flat ellie couldn't stop giggling as usual.
flat owen and flat jane were asked to help guard hong kong's botanical garden with this chinese lion. apparently his partner on the other side of the gate really needed to pee.
obviously the flat penners didn't listen to their flat parents' advice to never play ball with hong kong lions...someone always loses an arm!
the flats practise their hovering skill above hong kong's famous skyline. miraculously flat hannah and flat sasha recovered from their run in with the lion.
the merlion in singapore's marina was a big hit with uncle jay. he was so excited to see a mermaid and a lion statue (and what's with all the lions in asia anyway?) that he literally forced the flats to pose with it. after all it's famous. good excuse, i suppose.
