📸 — Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The not-so-often expressed struggles of long-term travel are hard to write about. We don’t want to sound ungrateful or obnoxious... but everyone has hard days.

Maeghan was last in Hong Kong 10 years ago for school when she did a study abroad at Lingnan University. This was Olivier’s first time in China and after coming from a small island without any roads straight to the big city, it was a bit of an adjustment.

Hong Kong is a huge city filled with sky-scrapping apartments across a small island (Hong Kong proper), to Kowloon (the other side of the harbour) and the New Territories that boarders mainland China. We did our usual activities, a city walking tour, scouted for some hidden craft beer gems and hit up some of the tourist attractions but one thing we quickly realized was that Hong Kong is not really a city you can stop and take a break in… for real.. there are no chairs or areas to sit. The parks often have fences that block you from sitting in the grass and on the streets or even in the shopping malls — there are no where to stop and rest your legs.

In addition, we thought a day of work at Starbucks would be productive. But most places only give you limited access to wifi (30 min or so) and at some restaurants and coffee shops they time your visit to a max of 1–2 hours.

So we started off on a bit of a shaky start — tired and overwhelmed, but what made our time here awesome was our friends that took the time to catch up and splurge on some specific adventures.

See more on our website www.alittledetour.ca🌏✈️👫

Taking the train into the city.

Our first night dinner selection was a marketplace with vendors all selling different types of asian cuisine.

A boutique coffee place with cool cups for each type of coffee!

Chinese food *yum!*

The local park for Tai Chi every morning.

#TreePhotography

Folks racing their boats at the electronic model pool. one guy came over and showed the kids up with his fancy submarine toy.

Dim Sum!

Huge crabs, lobsters, muscles and more.

Most of the world’s shark products go through Hong Kong. Sadly, shark fin soup is still popular here.

It gets humid quick and after a few hours of walking we needed to cool down. So we walked into the conference centre to find some seats, there wasn’t any… but we stumbled upon this free entrepreneurship conference and decided to go walk around!

We found a booth for Maeghan’s old school and stopped to check it out. There we met Ivy Yun, an alumni student who in her final years of school at Lingnan created a social enterprise that teaches low income kids how to bake tasty treats! She even incorporates some educational aspects to it, they made cupcakes with turtles on them, and had a marine biologist come and talk to the kids about sea turtles and how they are endangered.

Hong Kong is very expensive place to live and the wealth gap is very significant. Some kids don’t have the means to learn a variety of topics so the initiative to help treat and teach kids is pretty awesome. Her company is called Cake it! and we thought it was awesome.

Some cool art show was also happening in the conference centre.

Went to Mak’s noodles, a great spot for some cheap food.

Went to the Lady’s market with two dude friends! Simon and Olivier went to Cegep together and had the chance to catch up

Dog speakers. Something you didn’t know you needed until now.

Ready to start the day.

We were walking on the street when we started hearing drums and symbols. A new restaurant was opening and hired a dragon dance / blessing on the shop for good luck. Our friend said something like this could cost 10,000 HK dollars to put on! Hopefully they get some good vibes their way!

The fanciest hotel in Hong Kong — the Peninsula

Maeghan’s new earring fell out while we were scuba diving so after wearing tape on her ear for a week she got some upgraded bling!

So many buildings.

It was time to catch up with Tristan and Regina! We went to a traditional HK place and had some Congee, bread with peanut sauce and soya sauce + noodles.

We kept noticing line ups of people outside of cosmetic shops, turns out people from Mainland China make their way to Hong Kong to buy in bulk beauty products to make sure they get the real thing.

Trying to escape the heat, we went to the science centre! Dr. Olivier was doing some break through studies on a bee… fascinating.

We then tried our luck at reassembling a brain — it took a few minutes and multiple experts, but we did it! A 5 year old kid came by shortly after and brought it back to its original state.

Then a visit to the house of mirrors was too fun. Maeghan showed lots of excitement so a few locals took her picture we assume for keep sake..

Then it was dessert time. Earl Grey Ice cream and Mango strawberry + coconut ice shavings.

Pictures of Maeghan and Tristan are about the same as 10 years ago.. Maeghan talks in the photos to encourage Tristan to smile. It never works!

Oli heard one of his favorite guitar players were playing in Hong Kong during our stay so we went on an adventure to the New Territories to check it out.

Check out Andy McKee on Youtube if you want to have your mind blown!

Time for the laser show.

We made plans to catch up with Chris and she took us for a full day of adventure!

Hiking up one of the peaks offered a break from the humidity (after 3 hours) and a great view!

After a shower, nap and snack — we went to Asia’s first craft brewery, Hong Kong Co.

Took a mini bus.

We were spoiled with a tour and free beer which Olivier loved!

After that treat, Chris took us out for some hot pot, which is amazing. It was a local hot (s)pot and all you can eat!

a cemetery on the mountain side.

bamboo scaffolding — its flexible and strong so used for construction

Last night — got to catch up with Jansen & Jeff!! Jensen changed his flight so he could spend a few hours with us before heading back to the USA and Jeff was in the process of moving but came down for dinner and good company!

Trying to get Tristan to smile for a picture is work ;)

See more on our website www.alittledetour.ca🌏✈️👫