Hello Young Adventurers!
Locations Visited: Hong Kong, China
Languages Spoken: Chinese and English
Words Learned: Thank you- 谢谢 (Xie-xie), Hello- 你好 (Ni hao)
Hope you managed to get some rest since Thailand- I know I was ready to take a breather and slow down a bit after all of the craziness! The best part was, I was getting a surprise from another Wandering Weavil who decided last minute to come all the way to Hong Kong for 3 days to visit me from the US for my birthday! My older brother, Chase, wanted to come surprise me and spend time with me so that I wouldn’t have to be alone on my birthday, and I couldn’t believe it. He decided only about 2 days before I arrived in Hong Kong that he would be coming, so I was super excited as I got off my plane and headed to our HOTEL. Yup, you ready that right. Ya boy is sleeping in a fancy big-city hotel for a few nights because family rocks, and my brother wanted to let me have a break from the hostel life.
I also came to Hong Kong mainly for one reason. I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to go to China this trip, but I have to apply for special permission called a VISA beforehand. Since I’m not in the states, nor have a stable address, the easiest way for me to get my Visa was to head to Hong Kong. Although it is technically part of China, it has different travel rules, which meant I could come in without that Visa and then apply for one for mainland China- it would just take a few days to process. More on that later. Alright, enough of an intro. Let’s get started with the WanderingWeavils birthday extravaganza!
Hong Kong, China
I arrived around midnight, and my brother and I were going to meet at the airport. Unfortunately, there were some issues with his flight, so he wasn’t going to arrive until early morning. I headed to the hotel we were staying at to get a bit of sleep before he was to arrive in the morning so that we could hit the ground running with our adventure and make the most of the few days he was going to be with me. Chase had done some research before he came and had a few things he wanted to try to see, and so after catching up and eating a big breakfast, we jumped on the subway and headed off to our first big stop!
We headed a bit out of the main city to a beautiful Buddhist Temple, the 10,000 Buddha Temple. This place was really incredible. We had to hike quite a climb up some stairs to get to the actual temple, but the walk was half the experience. Along the entire stairway and path were various Buddha statues, each one unique and different from the rest. There was something incredibly impressive about seeing so many lined up on both sides, and it felt like they were never going to end. Fortunately, we did manage to finally reach the top and were greeted by a beautiful temple, a large 5-story pagoda, and a much needed chance to catch our breath.
Afterwards we decided to just walk and explore the area around the temple. It was quieter and less crazy from the hustle of the city center, and we even found some monkeys that were playing! They kept climbing trees and jumping onto a tarp like a trampoline. They were cracking me up.
We eventually made our way to another temple and then decided to head back to the city center. I needed to submit my application for my visa, and we were both already pretty tired since neither of us had any real sleep the night before. This was a good chance to take a minute to relax while still getting work done. I turned in my application, and we headed back out. We didn’t really have a plan for the rest of the day, and it was raining a bit, so we decided to just see where the day took us.
We ended up in Hong Kong Park for a bit before making our way downtown. Since it was raining, we read online there was a fun indoor mini golf place, so that sounded like it would be fun! On our way there, though, we stumbled on an indoor virtual reality game place, and we had to play. We fought some zombies and raced each other (Unfortunately, I lost the race…), and then headed off to the minigolf. Our game was tied when we got to the last hole, but the pressure got to me and I completely choked, losing to Chase by 2 strokes. We decided to head back to the hotel afterwards because tomorrow was going to be a big day, and we both were in desperate need of some sleep.
OH MAN WAS I EXCITED FOR TODAY. I’d been planning this day out for a while. One of my not-so-secret side goals of this journey is to visit every Disney Park in the world while I’m traveling, and I saved the next one for a very special day- MY BIRTHDAY! Now, you may be thinking “Isn’t 28 a little old to be this excited about a day in Disney?” And you may be right… but I don’t care. I’ll eat my Mickey pretzel and happily hang out with Moana, Rapunzel, and crew on my own. Fortunately, I didn’t even have to be on my own this time! My brother was amazing enough to come visit me and spend the day letting me run crazily through Disney so that I wouldn’t have to be alone on my birthday.
The park didn’t open until 10AM, though, and there was something Chase really wanted to see that was nearby if we could make it work. There’s a giant Buddha statue in Hong Kong that is on top of a mountain, and so we got up early to head that way before the park- you know I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to see something so cool! We jumped on the train, got close to the statue only to find out the cable car that takes you directly there was shut down. So we searched and searched to find a taxi that would take us up, and fortunately met a really kind girl who was also heading the same way. Never hurts to split a taxi ride with someone!
We finally got to the top, and it was well worth the effort. This statue is gigantic, and it was made even more imposing by being on top of the mountain with a large set of stairs leading up to it. The views from up top were stunning as well. The Tian Tan Buddha overlooks the nearby temple, so once we were done exploring and admiring the exhibit inside, we headed down to look at the temple for a bit.
As amazing as the Buddha and temple were, I was starting to only dream of Disney Magic and we had to head out to catch the train to Disneyland Hong Kong! Even the train had Mickey-shaped windows and hand holders. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was an amazing day. HK Disneyland was much smaller than Orlando, but it meant that it could be thoroughly enjoyed in one day without missing anything. My brother was a good sport and let me run around crazily hitting all the rides I wanted to and watching the parades and shows. Overall it was a magical birthday, and I’m so excited to see what this next year holds!
Sidenote: When we got back to the hotel that night, they had left us a birthday cake and a candle in the room to celebrate! They overheard me mention it the day before and surprised us! It was so nice! A little kindness really does go a long way.
The next day was Chase’s last full day in HK, so we got up early to go to this observatory on top of a mountain in the city. HK is a really amazing city because it has the size and chaos of a city like NYC or Tokyo, but is also nestled right inside some beautiful nature and scenery where you can escape to within a few minutes. We were a little disappointed that there was a lot of clouds rolling in, so we couldn’t quite appreciate the view, but it was kinda fun to be up in a cloud anyways. There was also some really nice hiking in the area, so we did the loop around the mountain. Fortunately, we did find some really nice views along the way there, and it was nice to step away from all the craziness of the city for a bit!
When we got off the mountain, we took the cable car down and faced some pretty intense rain. We decided that it wouldn’t be worth just randomly walking around in the rain, so we got a really good lunch and then went to see “Captain Marvel” since there was a theater that played English movies. I’m not going to lie, friends- it was so nice to get to simply watch a movie again. It’s a small luxury that was a nice change of pace, especially when we couldn’t really do anything else anyways. Not to mention it was just an amazing movie from beginning to end anyways.
By the time we finished, the rain was over! We had one last big goal before Chase left, which was to watch the light show on the canal that happens with the skyline of the city every night. We had some time to kill until then, though, so we made our way to the water front slowly, eventually stopping for a really nice dinner before heading down. It began to rain again, but it was worth the wait- the show was really beautiful and the music was fantastic!
Unfortunately, Chase had to leave really early the next morning, so we headed back to the hotel to pack and get some rest before his long flight back home. I went with him to the airport to say goodbye, and was really sad to see him go. It was really nice having a familiar face with me again, especially family, and it reminded me just how long I have left until I’m home for good. I’m super lucky to have a brother that would literally fly across the world to spend time with me so I wouldn’t have to be alone on my birthday, and it was great to just get to explore the world with him for a bit.
The rest of my time in HK was filled with just walking around the city and exploring. I went back up to the top of the mountain on a clear day so I could really appreciate the views, and I at a lot of ice cream and drank a lot of bubble tea. I needed to take a few days to not explore so hard and rest, because the reality is I was still very fresh out of coming from the hospital and I had yet to really take my time and breathe. I was able to pick up my VISA finally, which got approved and meant I was free to visit China when I head there after my next stop.
Speaking of which, I can’t tell you how excited I am for this next stop. I’ve waited this whole journey, and my whole life, to finally make it here and I can’t believe it’s actually happening. I’m off to the Land of the Rising Sun, the country of my favorite traditional music, delicious foods, rich and beautiful history, and just in time for the peak of the sakura, or cherry blossom season! Can you figure out where I’m off to next? You’ll have to wait for the next post to find out! I can’t wait to meet you there- we have a whole month to explore the country!
Have Courage, & Be Kind,
Mr. Weavil