We wake up, we’re in Hong Kong, and we know that we’re here for over two months. There’s no rush, there’s just home, enjoying time with family, and looking forward to introducing our girls to all the things we love about Hong Kong.
First things first, we need breakfast. There’s a Café de Coral down at the shopping centre by our place, and that’s where we head now. Joe and I have been craving a HK breakfast with a steaming mug of milk tea (me) and yin yang (him) for a long time! There are HK cafés in Vancouver and Toronto, but none in Windsor, so it’s not something we’ve been able to get at home.
Café de Coral has changed a lot since we were here last, we are no longer seated and handed menus. It’s now a very efficient massive dining room with two machines or a cashier to order from, a huge counter to pick up your food from, and so many tables, all occupied by one or two patrons. We order first and hunt for a table after, like the rookies we are. D’oh! Joe finally scores a seat, and our food is ready almost instantly.
Once full, we head to the grocery store. Yes, it’s 8am on a Sunday morning, but the world does not sleep. The shopping centre is waking up, and the market downstairs is bustling. When Joe and I were here last, this downstairs market was a wet and smelly place, where you quickly ran in and out to get what you want and as little as possible of all the rest. Today, it’s been transformed. Everything is tiled, clean and tidy. We grab a few basics for the apartment, and head back up to unpack the rest.
I always say Joe is an unpacker extraordinaire. Did you know? Whenever we have moved house, every single last box is unpacked by the 48 hour mark? Today, working as a team, we have all suitcases emptied and sorted and stowed for the duration of our stay by the time we need to leave for the family dim sum event. It feels good, and we have the living room floor back, so it doesn’t feel even smaller than it is.
We are supposed to meet Sam at an MTR Station downtown, as we are headed all the way out into the New Territories to see the rest of the family. The total journey from grandma’s apartment to the place we’re having dim sum is over 1.5 hours, so we’re glad to travel along with Sam. We get off the subway at Yoho mall, a massive shopping mall with what seems like a million stores, and then walk 10 minutes from there.
When we get to the restaurant, we finally get to meet Sam’s lovely wife Monica. They’ve been married for three years, so this is the first time we meet her. We are also reunited with Joe’s second aunt, her youngest son and her husband, as well as his third aunt’s husband (third aunt is not feeling well today). Third aunt’s husband is the only one of the aunts and uncles who speaks some English, so he and I catch up. The “kids” (Joe’s generation) all speak English, and Monica and Sam are seated next to Téa, making sure she’s entertained.
Dim sum (or yam cha, as they say here, literally meaning “drink tea”) is a long event, with lots of tea and a thousand small dishes. I start out intending to document all the dishes, but they soon overwhelm me, and I stop taking pictures, too busy eating and chatting.
After a long, filling and comforting meal, we head out, off to visit great-grandma in the nursing home. On our way out of the restaurant, I have to snap a picture of the biggest fish in the wall of aquariums:
We walk over to the nursing home as a large group, and we’re handed paper masks to prepare for the visit. Joe’s grandma has not lived at home for the last five years, and dementia has taken over. On good days, she remembers some people and some things, but on bad days, she does not even recognize her nearest and dearest. We visit for a while, but there’s no sign that she understands who we are. At times it seems like she recognizes Joe, but that’s it. I am so grateful that I knew her before this, and that she got to meet Téa when we were here last time. We have good memories and pictures from then.
When our visit ends, we head back over towards the mall. The aunties and uncles live out here, so we part ways along the walk. Sam and Monica join us for a stroll through the mall, Joe looks at electronics, and the girls get a few dollars for the claw machines. There’s much joy when Maylin clinches a toy, and we can call it a day. We are heading towards home, but first, we need a snack. Monica finds a café with soufflé pancakes and coffees, so we head there.
By the time we leave Yoho mall and aim for home, it’s already 5.30pm, meaning we won’t be home until closer to 7pm. Joe starts saying how he’ll buy ingredients on the way home and start cooking when we get there, and I quickly veto that idea. That’s how, at 6.30pm, we find ourselves a HK diner in the south portion of Temple Mall, and order food.
After dinner, we walk across the temple plaza, where things are all set up for the upcoming holiday. There are even colourful container housing set up, for the large amount of additional staff required for the holiday traffic.
We take the minibus back up to grandma’s apartment, figure out the shower situation, and call it a night. We’ve had a busy first day, and all look forward to a good night’s sleep. There are no heaters in these buildings, so we bundle up in everything we can find. If it is 12 degrees overnight outside, it’s pretty cold inside as well…