Mum and her partner dropped by again for a couple of days on their way home from an epic trip around Europe. We were able to swing it so their pilot was rather well-known to them and he was able to show them inside the cockpit and the bunks and stuff when they landed which was pretty cool! With the protests in full swing it was definitely an interesting time to have visitors. They were (understandably) concerned but we managed to reassure them that we could easily avoid the protests when we were in the city. The biggest problem could come with getting to the airport, so we planned for them to spend the night before they flew out in Macau. This worked great as they knew they could take the ferry from Macau straight to the airport in case protestors were stopping the airport transport.

We spent day one in Aberdeen and Wong Chuk Hang while a huge protest raged on the other side of Hong Kong Island, kind of surreal. We were reminded pretty immediately what was going on though, as we walked through the underpass in Aberdeen which is wallpapered in protest art. Super interesting and as quite an effort is made to have bits in English we were able to have a good read and understand a bit more about it all.

We headed to the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter and were pretty quickly offered a Sanpan boat ride around. This was a really fun way to see the harbour and get up close to all the fishing boats, pimp house boats and the giant floating restaurant! The rest of the waterfront was quite pretty too but apart from that there wasn’t too much else to see. We had really good Dim Sum (The dining room) for lunch including some impressive mushroom-looking buns and where I finally tried a cream-cheese topped tea and loved it, I went for the easy-entry option of having it on iced mango tea, it was a like a creamy-fruity dessert - yum. We took a green minibus (for the true local experience) to Wong Chuk Hang, checked out a bunch of the street art, then went up to a rooftop bar (ABOVE at Ovolo Hotel) with free happy hour snacks for a few drinks and to enjoy the views. After such a nice day out it was quite strange to be checking out the news and see all the protest action that had been happening just a short drive away.

Sunday we headed for Macau for the day before they stayed there for the night. We went down to Coloane Village to explore the less touristy part of Macau. After starting with an obligatory (and excellent) egg tart then a yummy lunch from Lord Stows, we wandered through the streets and checked out a couple of temples. It was then time for the Casinos, we showed them the Venetian and Parisian which they oooed and aaahhhed over, I still find them such strange and crazily exorbitant places, no matter how many times I have been there now. We had tickets to the House of Dancing Water that evening which was one of the nuttiest shows I have ever been to, it was extremely spectacular, and really kept us guessing. We didn’t really know quite what to make of it, it was definitely entertaining and highly skillful but the randomness of it all put a sidespin on it somehow! We were super lucky to be able to go backstage afterwards and get a tour from a friend who works there, this really made it a special event and was very interesting. Seeing the highly technical nature, the safety measures and the complexity of it all gave me a whole new appreciation for what I had just seen. If you ever get the chance - definitely do go see the show, and even better if you can get backstage.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to HK on a late ferry tired and happy after two super fun touristy days - thanks for coming to visit - we look forward to being your stopover again next year!