Home again

After a 15 hour flight, we finally arrived home. Thanks for following along for the past 3 weeks everyone!


Beautiful sunrise over Toronto. Jet lag benefits!

Day 22: Last day in Hong Kong

The final day of our Asia trip! Just wrapping up loose ends, running errands in Hong Kong.



For lunch we stopped in a tiny place with tiny tables and tiny bowls for some classic wonton noodle soup.




Last family dinner- my grandpa sharing a laugh with my brother and cousin.



Little cousin Stephanie in the car ride home.

Day 21: Kowloon

View of cloudy Hong Kong from atop the International Commerce Centre in Kowloon. I'm sure it's obvious by now that I love wide views of big cities.


A section of Tung Choi St. in Mong Kok, Kowloon is dedicated to stores selling pet fish and other aquarium animals like turtles and lizards. Many smaller fish were being sold in plastic bags.





For dinner, we ate aboard a ferry while a typhoon warning was in place. We managed to go out on the deck early on before it started raining to snap some photos. This is my family from the outside.


Hong Kong at night.

Day 20: Shenzhen

This day was spent in Shenzhen, a city in China right by Hong Kong. We bargained all day in a slightly shady mall, where all the stores sold knockoffs of varying quality, people smoked indoors, and storekeepers (sometimes literally) chased after us looking for sales. I was advised against bringing my SLR, so all of these were sneakily taken with my Canon S100.



Many Hong Kongers, including my mother and my aunt, come to China for cheap tailoring services.


In addition to the knockoff stores, there was a maze of fabric vendors on one of the floors. I was itching to do some DIY after seeing and buying some cheap cloth.

Day 19: Cheung Chau

We took an hour ferry ride to Cheung Chau, one of the outlying islands around Hong Kong Island.


Cars aren't allowed on the island because the streets are too narrow, so everyone cycles or walks instead. Such a change from Hong Kong Island, where cycling on the streets is only for the most experienced/bravest/stupidest of cyclists.








Stores and vendors everywhere were selling dried herbs and things to make traditional Chinese medicines or foods. These seahorses were bottled up, but most vendors had their herbs out in the open air.


There was a beach on the other side of the island!

Day 18: The Peak

We took the tram up Victoria Peak and walked along the Hong Kong trail. Amazing views, mediocre weather and terrible mosquitoes.






In the tram going back down the mountain. Yes, down. We were hurtling backwards like in The Bat at Wonderland.


Hong Kong streets lit up at night.



Rooftop view from the garden of the new Hysan Place mall.

Day 17: Ferrying

Dim sum at Eighteen Brook with the family. I don't think I could ever get sick of dim sum.


Foggy view from the restaurant.


We took a scenic ferry ride to Tsim Sha Tsui afterwards, which is on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. Octopus is the ultra convenient stored-value card system Hong Kong uses for public transit payment.




My dad and his tourist backpack.


My dad framing up.


The crowded Tsim Sha Tsui terminal. Seriously, Hong Kong is crowded everywhere, all the time.


Toddlers and ice cream!