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So if there is one truth about Hong Kong, it is the undeniable fact that they DO Christmas brilliantly. The minute Halloween ends (remember they don;t have Thanksgiving to kick them off the way we do in the states), the signs of the season emerge; lights, advertising, carols, sales, decked trees, and all the rest. New York, with it's Rockafeller Center may have a strong hold on "Greatest Christmas Tree City in the World", but Hong Kong comes a close second, if not for the sheer number of them, then for the creativity behind them.
This year's best was in IFC mall along the harbor. While the picture above to the right may look like a classic and grand Christmas tree, it is actually made up of thousands of separately dangling ornaments strung from a metal circle hanging from the ceiling 100 feet above. A picture can't do it justice. It is the most beautifully designed "tree" I have ever seen.
Despite some truly elegant displays, there is an abundance of tacky. I think the winner has to be the Harbor City Entrance at the Tsim Tsa Tsiu Star Ferry terminal. Dear lord, every year there is a theme and color scheme, and apparently a challenge to see how much crap can be squeezed into the narrow area. Add on the thousands of people who visit every night to get their family pictures taken on the steps, and it is the equivalent of visiting the Mall of America on the days following Thanksgiving. You can see two pics below. "Shiny white and purple snowmen" was 2007's theme, while "gold and teal frolicking reindeer" was 2006's theme. I'm gonna have to show back up in 2008. The anticipation is killing me.
If you're reading this you probably know me. (if you don't, you must spend a lot of time surfing, because this is a pretty obscure website) It is widely known that I'm a princess when it comes to travel. I got that from the mother. So when I was planning the trip and trying to figure out accomodations, the most logical decision was giving my two bedroom apartment to my brother, his wife and their two children. They would have space, a kitchen, a big sofa with TV and DVD. Perfect. But that meant I needed to move out.
Move out of my apartment and right into the Four Seasons. Beautiful, fabulous, nine days of heaven. Enough said.
And the Four Seasons Hong Kong, on top of being one of my favorite hotels in the world, does a lovely Christmas. A beautiful tree gracing their impressive lobby, a Christmas theme high-tea daily, and carolers on the eve.
And my favorite touch; nightly gifts between the 24th and 31st. Things like Wreath-shaped Marzipan, a box of frosted cookies, peppermint truffles. And they even turned the spa and the pool a bit festive with pepperment or pine infused oils for massages and carols playing in their submerged pool speakers, as if you were a Christian mermaid of sorts. Lovely. Sigh.
And on the homefront, I did Christmas so the girls would know that Santa had someplace to leave gifts. When I started down this path, I had no idea that the tree itself would be their Christmas gift. Without getting too exact the tree was about $250, the delivery & pick-up service $100, the stand $50, the lights $30, the ornaments....... oh you get the point. Merry Christmas girls!
But truthfully, it was simply awesome to have family around me in the place I currently call home!
After a few days of the adults getting over their jet-lag (although not the below-eight set), it was Christmas Eve. We had an amazing set-course meal at Harlan''s in IFC. And when we were stuffed with too much food and wine, Auntie Susie got a Christmas Eve sleepover. It felt like a good decision right until I was being shaken awake at 6:00am to see if Santa had come. It was like receiving the gift of birth control on the blessed day.
I think one of the best pictures ever - yes, those are my nieces - passed out on a bar........ it was jetlag I swear. We are an upstanding family.
Yes, it is pathetic that I dragged my mother out of her hotel room and into mine at 6am in the morning to help me "deal".
After the extremely early wake-up call, having to call grandma for back-up (yes, I called my mother at 6:30am in the morning to help me - she's awesome, she snuck down from floor 36 to floor 23 in her bathrobe), Christmas Day turned out to be a great event. I had arranged for my family to attend a Champagne Brunch at the Excelsior Hotel in Admiralty with my boss and his family. The girls played in the corner (which had a truly phenomenol view), and I played some dice games and drank a lot of champagne. There was a santa, a bad cover band, a lot of tinsel. It felt like a really wholesome Vegas.
After, we were invited back to the other family's home where we played wii bowling and guitar hero. This part felt like we were back in junior high in someone's basement passing time - albeit a gorgeous and modern basement with full island views in the high-rent district.
Yup, My littlest niece can rock. And my bosses son, clearly is in the "cool" crowd.
Yeah, um dad? I remember this moment from my childhood. Just let her actually ENJOY bowling; no one here wants to go Pro. Seriously.
Once the big Christmas parts were over, we wandered the city for it's "best" parts; sitting on the rocks on Stanley Beach under a perfect (and rare) blue sky, taking a night cruise in Victoria Harbor on a classic red-sailed junk, following the crowds at Ocean Park (the Hongkee amusement park that somehow has combined Marine Land, Disneyland and Six Flags into one) to see the Pandas and Jellyfish, making friends with monkeys and buddhas at the 10,000 Buddha Monestary in ShaTin, and squeezing in a few proper "adult" nights in LFK and Wan Chai.
If you had been there you would know. The connection between these two was palpable.
I do look like my mother. I drink like my mother too.
