From the island of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) we headed to Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China). In Taiwan we were just about getting a very basic grasp of Mandarin (with a lot of help from Google) but now in Hong Kong the language has switched to Cantonese, luckily with a large portion of English. So this is as Chinese as we can get without a mainland visa – that will be a trip for the future.

Hong Kong is a city of skyscrapers and mountains and has an amazing skyline. It is the most expensive place we have been to so far so some serious budgeting is in order. We stayed in the suburbs which meant a lot of buses, metros and trams but it also meant that we got quite a nice hotel (rather than a tiny box in Kowloon) with entertainment for us all – a gym, sauna, a video games room and a kids play room. This came in handy at the end when the girls needed a duvet day to recover from the travelling overload.

We started off our city break with a visit to the Science Museum in the rain which the girls enjoyed but the second day was the real treat – Disneyland! We have been to the Paris, LA and Orlando versions so we were looking forward to having ‘It’s a small world’ stuck in our heads all day. A great day was had by all and Phoebe has now officially entered her Rollercoaster Era. As per all Disneys the food was extortionate so we ended up eating McDonalds in the queue for the bus home.

With a Disney hangover we dragged ourselves out the next day to get the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong island to go up the Central-Mid-Levels Escalators. This is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, it is over 800m in distance and is 135m high from bottom to top. It was built to alleviate demand for public transport and many people use it to commute. We used it for a fun ride up.

We loved the double decker trams and used them to find the ‘Monster Mansion’ (Yik Cheong Building), apparently one of the most Instagrammed spots in Hong Kong and a location for some Hollywood blockbusters. The buildings currently house over 10,000 people.

Cup Noodles have been a regular fixture in our attempt to eat cheaply in Hong Kong and so we visited the Cup Noodles Museum to design and make our own. Designing and a free dinner!

Craig visited some temples whilst the girls chose to ice skate on the 10th floor of a mall. The travel fatigue is setting in and being ‘templed out’ has affected the girls! I think Craig enjoyed some temple ‘me’ time so it was a win for all.

Our next stop is further east to South Korea!