2024 China trip - Hong Kong highlights

Welcome and greetings from Yangshuo!  We are halfway through our China tour- day 9. 

We have stayed in some of the nicest hotels throughout Asia. We have been in the center of the busiest cities of the world but right now we are in the middle of a rice paddy on the countryside. 

After 20 total hours of travel, we arrived in Hong Kong! We stayed at the very beautiful Conrad Hotel. We had dinner the first night in China at Ho Lee Fook. The next day, we took the tram up to the top of Victoria Peak and admired the beautiful view. We took some funny 3D photos at the shopping center there. Afterwards, Agnish, Luca, Christina, and Nico went to explore the subway system and took the subway around the city. Chloe and Susan went shopping at the mall under the Conrad and bought some nice pants at Lululemon.

Hong Kong highlights

Chloe: 3D photos 

Luca: Victoria Peak and the star Ferry to Kowloon 

Nico: Victoria peak Sky terrace 

Agnish: the Victoria peak tram

Christina: riding the subway system 

Michael: wonderful dinner at the dynasty restaurant 

Susan: shopping in Pacific Place - lululemon Asian fit 

By coincidence, we were on the same flight to HK as Joseph and his family 

The woman next to Luca on the flight made him move many times so she could take pictures.

Chloe and Nico on Victoria Peak

Luca, Nico, and Agnish in front of a very interesting and fun cafe

Rotterdam Food Day

This day we tried a lot of food🍔. We had a mellow morning. Then we were gonna go to MiniWorld.   MiniWorld is a bunch of mini models of different cities. So we were on our way to MiniWorld when it started heavily raining🌧. So we just decided to have an easy lunch🥗. I wanted to get the pumpkin soup🍲🎃. But they ran out, so I got a salmon salad🥗🐟. Then mom took us to a market, and also mentioned that 2 of her students said stuff about a really good ramen🍜 place. We went to the market and I got a herring dish. Nico and mom wanted to explore, so I ate my herring. Nico came back with a rainbow🌈 bubble tea called ‘Blue Galaxy’ 🌌. So I got one called magic bear pudding taro🐻. We got to smell the different ingredients. Mine had bear pudding🐻 and Nico’s had butterfly pee🦋. My favorite flavor to smell is one from India🇮🇳 called ‘Star Mix’, and my least favorite was one from China🇨🇳 called ‘Jade Dragon Pearls’ 🐲. It smelled like wet dog. Then we got stroop waffles. I thought they were okay, but Nico loved them. Then we got mini pancakes, and I got an amazing Chinese🇨🇳 fish🐠 ball. Then we went to the ramen🍜 place and wrapped up our day.

Nico’s chicken curry

My Shrimp Ramen 

Stroopwaffle day!

Today we woke up at the hotel. Me, Luca and Ms B tried to go to a place called Mini World but it rained really hard so we got lunch at a place called Frobel and I got yogurt. Luca tried to get pumpkin soup but they ran out. Then we met up with Theresa, Hamed and Ms B. We started walking to this market that Mom, Theresa and Hamed had been already. We met up with the students and then they came with us. One of the students named Alex gave me a ride on his shoulders. Then when we got to the market we split up. Me, Luca, Ms B, mom, Theresa and Hamed all went together. The outside of the market was sadly not that great. But the inside was amazing! Luca and Ms B sat down and Me and Mom went to look for food. I found this boba tea place and got a super cool flavor called blue galaxy. Mom got falafel. Then Luca and Ms B got up. Mom got us each a thing called a Stroopwaffle which is a hard waffle full of caramel. I loved it! Then we went to a ramen place and went to bed.

The Zoo in Rotterdam

This blog has other parts than just the zoo. The zoo was just the main highlight. We started out by going to the grocery store🏬. They had Japanese🎌 teriyaki pringles, Malaysian🇲🇾 red curry🍛 pringles, and a new sports drink brand. Then we went to a cafe for breakfast. After that we went to the zoo. We started walking, and saw a crane(bird) by the river. Then we took a bus to the zoo. The first exhibit we visited was the oceanarium. We saw sharks🦈, seals, penguins🐧, skates, stingrays, manta rays, and giant moray eels. Then we went to the arctic circle exhibit. We saw arctic foxes, steller sea eagles, raccoons🦝, and polar bears. Then we went to the North America exhibit, where we found bison and prairie dogs. Then we went to the South America exhibit with Galapagos tortoises, pudus, butterflies🦋, guinea pigs, piranhas, anacondas, and ibises. Then we ate lunch and moved on to the Africa exhibit. We found lions🦁, gazelles, zebras🦓, giraffes🦒, gorillas🦍, crocodiles🐊, meerkats, and what we think is the earth’s last black rhino🦏. Then we saw geladas and wombats in the Oceania exhibit, and reindeer in the Europe one. Then we finished up in Asia, where we saw deer🦌, tigers🐯, cobras🐍, pythons🐍, fishing cats, elephants🐘, leopards🐆, red pandas, Asian rhinos🦏, wild boars🐗, and Chinese🇨🇳 gardens. Then we got to eat dinner on a boat⛴ and finished the day up.

Red Panda

Asian Elephant 

Giraffe 

Sumatran Tiger

Baby Boars

Rotterdam day! (Nico)

Today we got to Rotterdam. The plane with the students was really fun. When we arrived in the Amsterdam airport, we took a we waited until everyone got their bags. Sadly two of mom’s students lost their bags. Then we got on a train to the Rotterdam train station. After we got to Rotterdam, we got in a cab to the hotel. Our cab driver was really annoyed with mom and said she was wasting his time by watching the students. Then when we got to the hotel we went up to our rooms to unpack. Then mom left to a group dinner with her students. Me and Luca stayed at home with Ms B. We were lasy for a bit and then we went on a walk. We found a place called Frites Unique. Frites means fries in Dutch. That is the language they speak here. We had these really yummy Japanese chicken fries and then went home and went to bed.

Rotterdam!

After our last day in Rome😢 we decided to finish our Europe trip in The Netherlands🇳🇱. My mom had some teaching business there. We took a plane✈️ to Amsterdam from Rome. It was my first plane🛬 with Mom’s students. It wasn’t bad though. I chatted💬 with a lot of them. The Amsterdam airport was one of my favorite and cleanest airports I’ve been to. We got Indonesian🇮🇩 food there. Then we took a train🚞 to Rotterdam. There was A LOT of farms on the way full of cows🐄, sheep🐑, and donkeys. Then we took a cab🚕 to our hostel. The guy at the front was pretty nice, and we got free tea☕️. Then we overlooked a canal and looked for good places to eat. We ended up eating at a place called ‘Frites’, which means ‘fries’ in Dutch. I love❤️ the fries🍟 in the Netherlands. They put mayonnaise on them. I got mine with Japanese🇯🇵 teriyaki chicken🍗. I like Rotterdam so far.

Grosseto day! (Nico)

Fast forward! Ms Marley is sadly gone now but Ms B is still here. We woke up and got on a train to Grosseto. We got off the train and walked to the rental car place. After we rented the car we drove for 42 minutes into Porto Santo Stefano which is a suburb near Orbotello. We unpacked in the hotel for a bit and then got in the car. Shoot, I just realized that I didn’t say that Ms B was with us all this time. Anyway, we went into the car and drove to this cool place next to the beach and walked around for a bit there. Then we went to dinner and I got something called Spaghetti alla vongole. If you don’t speak Italiano then ‘spaghetti alla vongole’ means spaghetti with clams. It looked like this.

Then we drove back home and went to sleep.

Grosseto, Porto Santo Stefano, Orbetello, and Cosa.

3 days ago we took a train🚂 to Grosseto. We bought a car🚙, and drove up to our hotel🏨 in Porto Santo Stefano. For day one we stayed in Porto Santo Stefano. We went to the beach and saw a bunch of fish. On day two we went to Orbetello and drove through a national park🏞, and then went to an ancient🕌 town called Cosa. Then we went to a famous boat race called the Palio. I honestly didn’t like it. There was so much colored smoke💨 that I breathed in so I started coughing and my throat started to hurt. Plus, it was so hard to find a good spot without someone smoking🚬 or vaping in your face. But we found a place for dinner🥘 where I ate boar stew🐗🥘. The next day was pretty mellow. We stayed in Porto Santo Stefano and ate at the hotel. We spent a lot of time playing with the stray cats🐈 there and we bought souvenirs and I ate swordfish⚔️🐟. The next day we went to Grosseto and took the train back to Rome.

    Grosseto

  Cosa

Porto Santo Stefano

Orbetello

Tour day! (Nico)

Today we woke up on Rome. The train ride back was yesterday morning. We woke up and went to the Pantheon with Ms Marley and Ms B and showed them around it. Then we went to Roscioli to get some lunch and ran into Theresa. We went and got Fatamorgana which is a Gelateria next to Roscioli. After that we tried to go to the cat sanctuary but they were closed. Then we went on a really long walk to this cool place that I forgot what it was called. We walked some more and then went to the Spanish Steps but it was super hot so me, Luca and mom went home. Then we lazed around and had Verso Sera for dinner.

The Vatican

Yesterday we went to the Vatican🇻🇦. We were eating lunch but running late, so I got a quick lunch. After that we drove to the Vatican🇻🇦. It was funny😄 when we got there because the tour guide was also named Luca. We had water💧 but I drank mine before the tour. Then we got tickets💳. The first room was air conditioned but none of the others were. Luca gave us audio guides, but I took mine off. All I could hear was static. We went outside and Luca showed us a painting🖼, a sacred pine tree🌲, and a moving golden globe🌎🌍🌏. We continued past a man fighting an adder🐍, and a room of carpets. But then Nico went missing. It took us super long to find him, but we did. He had found a security guard and told him what had happened. Then we went to the Sistine chapel💒. Afterward we saw a real dead body of some former pope and left. It was hot and crowded, but I learned a lot.