Friday the 13th. When the hairdresser at my consultation on Wednesday reminded me that an appointment on Friday meant I’d be getting my hair cut on Friday the 13th, I laughed and told him that Saturday the 14th is always more troublesome to me than any Friday the 13th has ever been. Oh how I wish I hadn’t said that… Anyways, that’s a story for tomorrow, today’s Friday. The 13th.
The girls are doing languages today, Maylin is finishing her Norwegian from yesterday, and then she works on her French. Téa zooms through her Norwegian and French in record time. Then it’s time for Duolingo, which is essentially a game, but with learning. They do Duolingo in Norwegian, French, music and chess, I think Maylin did two or three games in Vietnamese as well… After that, we eat whatever leftovers we have in the fridge, before I head down to Hong Kong Island for my appointment.
The walk from the subway up to the salon is no less steep today than it was on Wednesday, so I really get my workout in rushing up the hill. I get whisked off to get my hair washed first thing, and instead of chairs, they have half beds. I could fall asleep right here, right now, except I’m wearing a dress, and not 100% comfortable. Then it’s into the chair, where my stylist Ian from England and I have the best conversation for 90 minutes. When he’s all done, my hair is lighter, fluffier and healthier than in a very long time. I always feel like an overgrown sheep when my hair has been long for a while, and now, I am back to being me!
Joe and the girls say they are a few stops away from where I am, and do I want to meet them at the Botanical and Zoological Gardens? Absolutely I do, but first I need a snack and a drink, I’m starving! I remember the 7Eleven that Téa and I stopped in at on Wednesday, so I head towards that. I didn’t realize that it’s all the way down at the bottom of the hill though, and so by the time I get my snack and my drink, I have to walk aaaaaalllllllll the way back up to the top of the hill where my hair dresser was, take a left, and continue even steeper up the next hill!
I get to the gardens before the others. I figure out where their bus is arriving (which of course is up an even steeper hill), and wait for them to arrive. When they see me, the girls run towards me, and then Téa stops and gives me a crinkly nosed frown. She does not like my hair. Oh well, it’s my hair, she’ll get over it. Maylin likes it, and Joe likes it, even though shorter hair “is not his favourite”. And I like it. And really, that’s the important part.
Together, we explore the gardens, visit the greenhouse, the birds and some of the mammals.
When we finally locate the washrooms, we also discover a great playground, and the girls have fun trying the different and new to them equipment. There are also exercise machines here, and other kids are having just as much fun with them as our girls are.
By now, it’s getting late. We’ll be getting home during rush hour. We decide to stop for dinner along the way, and I lead my group down off the hillside, past my hairdresser, down through the bar-lined street that’s popular with tourists. The subway stop closest to us is Central, and from there we take one line to Mong Kok, then jump on another to get to Lok Fu. Lok Fu is the area the aunties took us to for lunch the other day, and we liked the variety of shops and restaurants there.
We head for a restaurant called Tai Hing, even though Google Maps says it’s temporarily closed. We saw activity there last time, surely they are open? They are, but there’s a line up. When we get seated, the girls order a rice and chicken dish to share, and Joe orders a roast duck dish. I am craving something different, and order a Singaporean pork and shrimp fried noodle dish. The girls and Joe get their food almost immediately, this is a roast meats restaurant after all, so the rice and the chicken is easy to plate. The girls are full and Joe half way through duck by the time my fried noodles finally arrive. It tastes good, but was obviously the wrong choice in this type of restaurant. I miss the North American system of serving the whole table at once… And of course I forgot all about taking a picture when I finally get fed.
We take a bus home from the mall, and because the bus stops at the shopping centre closest to us, I am able to stop by and get some things we need. Like this fun foaming hand soap for the bathroom:
And this tiny bottle of lemon favoured(??) nail polish remover. I’m not sure I need neither a favour nor a flavour from my nail polish remover, thank you very much!
We get home, and Maylin complains that her stomach hurts. We worry what tonight will bring, but when bedtime comes around, she goes to sleep and does not get back up until morning. Does this mean we’re seeing the end of her tummy troubles? Fingers crossed please!