Having spent our first year-and-a-bit in HK flatting, it was time to go it alone and find a place just for the 2 of us, with only two weeks til move out date, the pressure was on. We managed to find a place thankfully (in Happy Valley) and most of the last weeks of 2019 were spent figuring all the bits and pieces, moving, unpacking, making Ikea furniture, etc. etc. On the 2nd to last day before we moved house me and the flatties snuck in a trip to Macau, for a cheeky visa renewal, some casino-city Christmas vibes and a primo Serradura (Macau milk dessert)! Thankfully, the weather leading up to Christmas was amazing so around all the moving bits and pieces we got in beach volleyball and an awesome bonus-celebration-meal in the sunshine.

We were lucky enough to have 2 friends come and hang out for a week over Xmas-New Years. They are the adventurous sorts, so we had a lot of fun showing them all the corners of Hong Kong! We still did some of the obligatory trips: up the peak, the street art of Sheung Wan, Happy Valley races, wandering through central, Bafang dumplings etc. We took them out for an epic hike to and along the beaches of Sai Kung, including a mid-winter dip in the ocean! The BanksyHK exhibition was a great way to spend a rainy day, finishing with drinks at the Kerry. I had to work but the 3 of them did lots of exploring without me on Kowloon side shops and markets, finding crazy food, sneakers and quartz face rollers to purchase along the way. New Years was spent with dinner at our favourite restaurant (Mama Malouf) and then we headed up the peak for some drinks with a view. With all the recent protest dramas there was an interesting mood for the countdown, the protestors had replaced the numbers for the countdown with words so that the countdown was them collectively shouting their message. So then at the end of the countdown, it was kind of somber, rather than the usual joyous mood you find post-countdown, an interesting new years eve to be sure. We had foot massages full of giggles as the boys couldn’t handle the pain, ate bubble waffles, drank bubble tea, and ate our weight in dumplings of various sorts. We finished their trip with giant pizzas in Mui Wo and a hike to DB before they jumped on the bus to the airport. Thanks, J&C for coming all this way to hang with us <3