She had flown in the night before and met me right as I exited customs. With so much to see at port, we didn't miss a beat before starting to explore.
Hong Kong
Our first stop was Hong Kong Island via the quick ten minute ferry from Kowloon. While not usually our cup of tea, we decided to purchase Big Bus Tour tickets that allowed us to jump on and off while exploring the city. Our bus tickets even included the Victoria Peak tram, the key reason for our purchase. Unfortunately it didn't include a way to skip the rather lengthy tram line. But once we made it to the top, we had an amazing view.
We explored a bit more on the bus before taking the ferry back to Kowloon to find some dinner. After running into many SAS pals, as is usual in any of the port cities, we decided on some basic cheeseburgers and Boddington's beer. I realize this isn't very cultural...BUT...it turns out this would start my mom's love for Boddington's beer on tap. So it was rather important in the grand scheme of things, right? Later that night we made a quick stop to check out the swanky Peninsula Hotel before turning in at our own hotel.
Beijing
I had signed up for a big China trip months back and was lucky enough to get my mom added at the last minute. Unlucky was that it was definitely a budget trip that featured no frills and very hard hotel beds (and walls, as you will see in the next post). We arrived in Beijing and had one heck of a welcome...
Just kidding - our guide turned out to be a lovely young woman named Serena.
We dropped our bags at the hotel and Serena guided us onto the city bus past Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City to get to our acrobatic show, Legend of Jinsha. The show was amazing. There were ladies spinning vases with their feet, men switching hats faster than you could blink and people doing flips all over the place. But the finale really made the night - a caged sphere where four people sped around on motorbikes. After, my mom and I took a taxi (easier said than done as tourists) with Serena back to the hotel.
The trip was off to an excellent start. But we had only skimmed the surface of China as we embarked on the next phase of our journey: The Great Wall of China!
