My Travel Blog
We had such a smooth and easy transition out of Hong Kong that I feel the need to go over the details – it isn’t often that air travel is that exciting, but this day was! Jennie dropped us off at the Airport Express which is basically an extension of the airport but located at a train station in downtown Hong Kong. We dropped off our luggage where it was tagged and sent away, and we then hopped on a very fast and clean train to the airport. How handy is that?! Brilliant.
We arrived at the airport so quickly and efficiently that we had lots of time to shop in the interesting little stores and then have a delicious ramen lunch. We are kind of addicted to ramen, what can I say. To cap off the noodle deliciousness the kids got fancy fruit drinks that were extremely pretty and beyond tasty. Watching them being made was like watching art – for Chloë’s drink the girl actually cut a watermelon in half and used a spoon to get all of the fruit out of it. She then added it to ice in a blender and poured the mixture on top of aloe gel, followed by some other clear stuff that we couldn’t figure out. It was fresh, delicious and had a great texture. Julia’s had mango, crystal jelly, and coconut milk and was equally tasty. They certainly know what they are doing in the drink department!
We flew Dragonair and it was a very pleasant 4.5 hours in the sky. The flight attendants were very nice, the food was great, and they made a refreshing gin and tonic. They had a huge selection of movies in English which was a nice surprise, and the view out the window was spectacular! As you can tell, we had a very enjoyable experience.
Arriving in to Bali was a bit more chaotic; we first had to line up for an entrance visa and then line up for customs. Unfortunately we seemed to choose the wrong line up both times, but what else do we have to do while on vacation? A driver from our hotel was supposed to meet us, but unfortunately we couldn’t find him when we left customs so Jeff went to the information booth to figure things out while the kids and I went to buy water and sushi flavoured potato chips. Yes, you read that correctly. Julia and I quite enjoyed them but Jeff and Chloe didn’t find them particularly pleasurable.
The driver eventually showed up (with much apologies!) and we enjoyed an interesting ride to the hotel with a very chatty and enthusiastic man. The hotel is fantastic and all of the staff are friendly without being over the top. We were greeted with a delicious lime and ginger drink and 
then taken up to our room, and we were not disappointed! The room was exactly as it looked online which is always good, and it actually exceeded my expectations which is even more exciting. By the time we were all settled it was quite late and we were starving, so we went to the on-site Japanese restaurant where we were treated to a delicious teppanyaki dinner cooked by a fun guy who entertained us with fire and flying bits of egg. (Jeff caught two in his mouth, I caught one, and the kids bounced a bunch off of their foreheads and noses.) It was lots of fun and a great introduction to the hotel. We were exhausted after dinner and collapsed in to our very comfy beds with sweet dreams of the days to come.
I must admit, that until I went on this trip I had never before heard of the Rugby Sevens tournament. Well, my mistake! The boys had a great time the night before, and luckily enough Scott and Jennie had secured enough tickets for all of us to go on Saturday. 
What a spectacle! People from all over the world dressed in the craziest costumes – ballerinas, kangaroos, superheros, Vikings, and men in speedos. The games are short and fast paced and the energy is high the whole time. We saw Canada play Samoa (they lost, unfortunately) and it was fun to cheer for our own country while on the other side of the world while sitting with an eclectic group of Canadians, Scots, and British expats, most of whom work for 
(or are affiliated with) HSBC. To make the event even more interesting the Village People performed… wow those dudes are getting old! They did a run through of their hits ending, of course, with YMCA which was a crowd pleaser for everyone – but mostly the highly intoxicated and heat stroked crazy fans in costume. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
The kids did well but after a few hours and a lot of sun we left the others to the festivities and went off in search of fancy candy and bubble tea. We happened upon a great store on one of our first days but weren’t able to buy anything as we were off sightseeing for the rest of the day, but the kids have never forgotten about it and really wanted to go back. We managed to trek over to that side of the city and stock up on all sorts of funny looking candy – so much of it that we actually earned a VIP card and got 10% off of our order! (Interestingly enough, we bought a giant bag full and it came to about $30CDN. Great deal!
After all of that excitement we grabbed a metro back to the central area where we could catch a taxi back home. We were completely dehydrated and exhausted by then and couldn’t wait to get back and remove our shoes and chug giant bottles of water. (This is literal.) After starting to feel slightly normal we decided to order pizza (what else do you do when hungry in Hong Kong?). It was pretty decent, and after dinner we sat around chatting and having a glass (or two) of wine before heading off for a much deserved rest. That was our last night in Hong Kong before heading off to Bali for 5 nights… what a great way to end it! We will pop back for a day before heading home and so our final goodbyes to Jennie and Scott won’t occur until then. How amazing is this? Pinch me.
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