If there’s one thing we’ve learned during the course of this journey, it’s the importance of flexibility. Sometimes you don’t have time to plan like you should, so you just have to go with the flow. Other times, you work on your plan for months, sorting out details and setting up accordingly–and then when things actually happen, it goes completely differently and plans get chucked. The second scenario is basically what happened to us in Hong Kong.
The famed skyline of Hong Kong from one of our many ferry rides.
I won’t go into the complicated story about our Chinese visas, but I’ll sum it up by saying that we planned to stop in Hong Kong for four or five days and head on to mainland China. But when we got our information straight with the Chinese Embassy, we realized we would need to wait longer before entering China. So our time in Hong Kong doubled unexpectedly. That’s when flexibility became critical.
The good news is that we have an amazing contact and friend in Hong Kong, who I knew from my days of involvement with Grace Campus Ministries during university. Katie has been living in Hong Kong for three and a half years and works for Watermark Community Church. She and her husband Maik let us stay in their apartment when we first arrived, but even more importantly, helped us get our bearings in this mega-city.
With the extra time on our hands, we decided to do some exploring in the nearby great outdoors of Hong Kong. We hadn’t realized how much GREEN there is to be found there, and how close-by! Hiking and biking are popular outdoor activities, so we were right at home! For our first outing, we headed out to Lantau and took all the roads we could around the island. We were pleasantly surprised by the huge change of pace and scenery… we almost immediately forgot how close we were to such a booming metropolis!
Can’t believe we’re so close to the city! Beautiful mountains, reservoirs and coastal views made for a great ride around Lantau.
We also made the typical tourist visit up to “The Peak,” which provides some of the most spectacular views of the city. We took the tram up the unbelievably steep mountainside all the way to the altitude of 497 meters… OK, so it’s not terribly high, but we found it quite impressive!
View from the top… we went in the late afternoon so we could watch the process of the sky darkening and the city lighting up.
That’s a lot of electricity!
But once again, our favorite part of Hong Kong was the people! It was the first time we used couchsurfing.org (which is similar to warmshowers, the hospitality network we normally use), and our host Brandon was great! He took us out with some friends for a true Hong Kong experience–dim sum!
A yummy and interesting Chinese brunch! All the food is steamed in bamboo baskets and brought around to the tables on little trolleys.
Even though it was NOT what we expected or planned, our time in Hong Kong was really a blessing. It was great to be connected to Katie and her church there. While we were there, the church was throwing a traditional Christmas dinner with turkey, cranberry sauce, rolls and more! What a treat! Also, since we stayed longer than planned, we ended up needing to find another place to sleep. And Hannah, a friend of Katie’s who is from the UK, offered to let us stay in her apartment. This was HUGE, as paying for a room would have added up fast. We were so grateful for all the wonderful people who made our time there so enjoyable!
Christmas dinner… turkey and all! Katie and Maik and Brandon all helped make our time in HK awesome!
