Discovering Hong Kong!

Last semester Emilie auditioned for the AMIS (Association for Music in International Schools) Asian Middle School Honor Girls' Choir - and she made it!  She was one of 9 girls from JIS chosen to represent her school in Hong Kong at the AMIS Festival. Emilie stayed with a host family from Hong Kong International School and spent her days rehearsing with girls from eleven other International Schools. Saturday evening, the entire group held an amazing concert.

D and I took advantage of the opportunity to take a quick trip to Hong Kong! We didn't have a single thing planned (other than the AMIS concert of course). We hailed a cab and got dropped off somewhere in the middle of Hong Kong and decided to see where the day would take us!

Our first stop was the Peak Tram.  We were the first ones on the tram and had the Peak all to ourselves.  We enjoyed the amazing views and the nice chilly weather!

Thanks to the plant unit he just finished in class, Dustin was amazed by this root system growing out of the side of the mountain!

We both decided that Grammie would not be applying for this man's job!

Heading back down the hill!

Dustin and his newest friend "Chai" entering the Hong Kong Park

After exploring the Peak, we got off the tram and literally stumbled upon the Hong Kong Park (I'm not kidding. I didn't even have a Hong Kong map with us and we made such a last minute decision to even go to Hong Kong, I didn't do any research ahead of time)

After some fun at the playground, we went for a little walk and ran into the Hong Kong Park Aviary!

After a little more exploring of the park, we found the conservatory and plant houses.

Next stop - lunch! Dustin's choice was a good ole American hot dog.

After refueling, we continued exploring until we ended up at the Harbor.  D was extremely excited about the prospect of taking the Ferry across Victoria Harbor and exploring Tsim Sha Tsui on the other side.

We had fun walking along the Avenue of the Stars. Dustin tried all the hand prints until he found just the right fit. He and Fong Yim Fun had the closest match!

We stumbled across the Hong Kong Space Museum and Dustin was estactic about going inside to explore! He and his classmates were in the middle of transforming their classroom into a new planet system complete with a space shuttle big enough for them to climb into. This was the perfect compliment to his classroom space discoveries!Then it was time to head back across the Harbour and take a little double decker bus tour of the city! Although it was a little chilly, we really enjoyed getting a new view of the city, while resting our legs!

What an amazing first day we had! Day two started with a double decker bus ride to Stanley. I was AMAZED! You would never guess we were such a short ride away from a huge city.  Stanley Beach was like another world!

After lunch, we ran into someone we know!

After exploring Stanley Beach and the Stanley Market, it was time to head to the Hong Kong International School (HKIS) for the AMIS concert.  HKIS was a beautiful school set on the mountain side. It reminded me of the school in the children's book Sideways Stories from Wayside School - where the school is completely vertical. 

The AMIS concert was superb. I was beyond impressed with what these girls were able to accomplish and how well they came together in just a few short days. There were a total of 12 schools from all over Asia. If you are interested in checking out any of the concert, it can be found here.

Although we only saw Emilie for the one second photo at Stanley and during her concert, her photos, and her excitement after the trip was over, assured us that she too had a wonderful time in Hong Kong. One of her favorite parts was hanging out with her Host Family - another American family living the expat life. She loved seeing how expats live in Hong Kong.  Although, they spent most of their time rehearsing at HKIS, Emilie's host family was awesome and took them to see a few of the Hong Kong sites during their downtime. Here are a few photos from her version of the trip (Special thanks to Mr. Narayan for sharing his photos with us)!

We had such a great trip. I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to spend a couple of days exploring Hong Kong. It has definitely been added to my top 5 cities. I am looking for an excuse to get back, so if you are interested in meeting us in Hong Kong, I will jump at the chance (Hong Kong Disney anyone?!?!).