The Sister Visit, Week 1.2

We are now halfway through the sisters only week. On Tuesday, we treated ourselves to a spa day, including both sauna and steam room time, noodles and tea in the lounge room, and finally a pressure point massage. Apparently I am a wuss, because, again, I had to do mental exercises to keep myself from yelling out in pain, while Leah and Steph seemed to thoroughly enjoy their massages.

On Wednesday, we went over to Kowloon again to check out the Art Museum. Unfortunately, it was not completely open, as they were redoing some of the exhibits, but we still got to see lots of traditional scroll paintings, and many had poems attached. We then wandered through Kowloon, stopping at the Kowloon Park, which had its own aviary. Finally, we made our lunch break at the notorious TeaWood, a Taiwanese cafe known for beef noodles, fried chicken, and TOAST! Imagine Texas toast soaked in honey, toasted, then covered in ice cream and fruit. Delicious!

On Thursday we went to the Ladies Market with my friend Jenna to look for souvenirs. One silk bathrobe and two purses later, we had gotten some pretty good steals! We also walked over to the jade market, which was quite a sight. It was essentially a warehouse full of jade vendors. Some of the jade pieces were incredibly expensive. Others sold pearls, (no idea if they were real or fake) others sold antiques. Super interesting regardless. 

Friday included a walk through Central, through the Hong Kong Park and the Zoological Garden. Man is that Zoo hard to walk to. But we had a great time looking at the crazy monkeys that were swinging enthusiastically around their enclosures. Some were making circuits around the perimeter, while others were practicing their acrobatic flips in the middle. So funny. It was also clearly spring time, because we saw several twitterpated animals, including parrots, bull frogs, and even tortoises! The tortoises were the funniest. Let's just say they took their time! 

On Saturday, we hiked the Twins, a pretty brutal hike that crosses the island from north to south, eventually ending in Stanley. Drew had dragon boating practice in Stanley, so we timed it to meet him there for lunch. We also got to see Tristan, the new baby of our friends Mike and Tina. So cute!