Mom's Visit & Hong Kong

Mom and I had a wonderful visit over the two weeks she was in Taipei and we traveled to Hong Kong together. Taipei is not the same city it was when Mom lived here from first grade through fourth grade. The area where their house was just outside the city, where water buffalos roamed in the rice farm next to their house is literally downtown nowadays. The two things she did recognized were the Grand Hotel pool where she swam as a kid and Fu Jen University where her Mom taught English conversation. I did let her venture onto the MRT (metro system) by herself while I was at work one afternoon so she could see Longshan Temple. She didn’t get lost (probably due to my full page sheet of directions). I had a great time showing her around Taipei and am glad that she saw what my life is like here! We had a nice day trip out to one of my favorite spots outside of town, Jiufen. We had afternoon tea at the Jiufen teahouse which I’d been to back in October. We also had tea at the Grand Hotel (we drank a heck of a lot of tea during her visit.) We stayed in a very nice hotel downtown for some of her time in Taipei which was a nice treat for me. I felt like I was on vacation, too! She was also able to meet a bunch of my friends at dinner one night which was really fun.

We had a fabulous time in Hong Kong. It was a really good break for me because it is SO western (a former British territory, after all.) It was also cool for Mom to go back since she’d lived there from fifth grade through eighth grade. The first full day we had we spent in the area she used to live, Repulse Bay, just outside the city. We started out in Stanley Market, just down the road from RB. I bought a traditional Chinese dress and some other Chinese stuff. Then we headed to Mom’s old neighborhood and were excited to see that her old apartment complex, Repulse Bay Mansions, was still standing (in the shadows of the other huge buildings around it). It’s a pretty small complex, and RB is very built up now, quite a change from her time there. After sneaking up the private steps Mom was proud of remembering, and having the security guard try to shew us away, we took some great pictures, and I think it’s really neat that I’ve now been to all four places she lived abroad: Paris, Taipei, HK and London. We also walked out onto the beach and went to the famous RB Hotel which was torn down and rebuilt since Mom’s time there.

On our second full day we took the tram up to the highest peak in HK, Victoria Peak. The view of the city from the top was amazing!! We then ventured over to the Kowloon Island side to the Ladies’ Market (for my fix of fake luxury goods! I finally own a “Louis Vuitton”). Mom was really impressed with my newly perfected bargaining skills. After that it was on to tea and a visit to the Man Mo temple, one of the most popular temples in HK. It was pretty busy since it was Chinese New Year, so that was neat to see. I’ve stepped foot in quite a lot of temples, and I thought this one was one of the prettiest I’ve seen. That evening we had a really good French dinner. (No Chinese food was allowed on this trip-I’m not a fan.)

The next day we went to mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church where Mom went as a kid. The priest was an American with a good sense of humor, so that was nice. Then we went to Aberdeen, a fishing village, for a Sampan boat tour. We saw a bunch of the fishing village, houseboats, etc, and also the largest floating restaurant in the world. We also visited the HK “zoo” and botanical gardens. I use the term zoo lightly…there were some flamingos and a few other birds. The flowers were gorgeous though, and it was nice to walk around. And then of course we had afternoon tea, this time at the Regal Hotel in Causeway Bay, and visited another temple, the Tinhau Temple. This was the afternoon I decided we needed to take the tram (double decker street cars which run up and down one of the main roads in HK). Mom didn’t like the experience too much—they’re really cheap which means they’re really crowded, but I liked riding on the top deck and getting that view of the city. That evening we took the Star Ferry a short trip across the harbor to the Kowloon side. The view is beautiful with all of the buildings lit up at night, some with New Years decorations. There’s a light show every night at 8pm and we saw that from the Kowloon side. And the next day we took the same ferry, but this time for an hour long harbor tour which was cool, too. Overall, Mom and I had such a great time together, both in Taipei and HK. I was very sad to see her go! And of course, check out my pictures of her visit and our trip on my photo site.