They booked a trip over Thanksgiving week, from Sunday morning to Saturday night. Unfortunately, due to some issues with their China visas, their trip was delayed until Wednesday morning and Anne wasn't able to extend her trip because of home obligations that couldn't be changed. Gretchen was able to stretch it to the following Wednesday. This was a disappointment, but we didn't let it get us down, and when we picked them up at the airport, we hit the ground running!! And let me just say...they are rock stars!!!
After leaving the airport, we dropped Grace off at school and Andy at the train station to go to work. Anne and Gretchen got settled, took showers, and then we were off again. We took the train into TST to meet my monthly lunch group. Our group meets monthly for lunch to try a new restaurant, since HK isn't hurting for restaurants. We met at Master Thai and got to eat outdoors. Even though our server was on the grumpy side, the food was good and it was fun for my HK friends to meet my US friends.
From there, we got back on the MTR and took the train up to Shenzhen. It was really our only time to make the trip, and I wanted Anne and Gretchen to power through...not to mention, they were not missing China after the visas delayed their trip. We were there for a few hours, focused on getting some gifts and checking things out, then got home in time for dinner. We were all wiped out, but I couldn't imagine how my friends were functioning?!? They were amazing...and in bed by about 8pm.
The next day was a coffee in MOKO, Flower Market, Bird Market, lunch with Andy at Nha Trang, Ladies Market, Young Life club at our house, then out to dinner at Hutongs. It was a FULL day...not sure we could have packed more in? Gretchen and Anne were able to lie down a bit during Young Life, but other than that, there was no rest and they cemented their reputations as rock stars.
Friday was Anne's last full day, and when we were celebrating American Thanksgiving. Other friends were arriving around 3pm, so we had all morning to explore and show them more of the city. We drove to IFC, then walked to the Peak Tram to go up to the Peak. It was probably the most gorgeous day I have ever had up their and was so thankful that they could experience it with such great weather. After taking lots of pics, we traveled down by taxi, which dropped us off at the escalators. We traveled up enough for them to experience it, then walked down to IFC, drove to City One to pick up Lauren, and got back home in time to get a few more things for dinner, pick up the turkey at the club, and enjoyed our Friendsgiving. We decided to watch Inside Out after dinner. I was the only one in the family who hadn't seen it, and unfortunately I fell asleep in the middle of it...I will have to try that again. Gretchen and Anne and I wanted to stay up to talk, but none of us had the energy.
Saturday was Anne's last day, as she was flying out that evening. So Gretchen, Anne and I drove to Lo Ping and the Big Buddha. We had another beautiful day. Even though we bought tickets online, we had to wait in line for an hour. This was a bit disappointing, but we got lots of good talking in:)
We took the beautiful cable car ride, ate lunch and ate Greek kabobs, walked the 200 steps to see the Buddha, and then did the reverse back to the car. We navigated back to the airport where we said our sad goodbye's. I know we were all disappointed that Anne had to leave, but I was so grateful that she got to come. I'll share the rest of Gretchen's visit in the next post. And if you want to see better pics or a more detailed account of our trip...check out Anne's blog!
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