December 5th - Hong Kong to Vietnam

We have the morning to cram in as much more of Hong Kong that we can before heading to the airport. We will be in Ha Noi, Vietnam this evening.

I neglected to mention the harrowing bus rides we took yesterday. I’ve never bounced around so much, even on a roller coaster. There was a sheer drop on one side and barely room for the oncoming buses to squeak through on the other. The taxis aren’t any better. They pump the gas pedal like an old treadle sewing machine (sorry, you young’uns won’t know what that is) but I thought we were going to have whiplash. And that was before we arrived in Vietnam. Yikes! More about that later. 

One more shot of our hotel as we leave this morning. Our room was second from the right and one down from the top. 

We’re headed to the Peak Tram View Cafe. The tram tracks are below. 

Rain gutters for the street. 

And of course we started off with stairs. Who knew Hong Kong was so hilly???

And more stairs

Removing a tree that looks in danger of falling through those windows. 

Alas, the cafe is closed. 

And finally a photo of the tram 

Great bougainvillea 

We ended up taking a taxi to the Green Waffle Diner for a healthy breakfast this morning. Taxis here avg about $4. 

Our shared breakfast this morning is a gluten free buckwheat waffle

And Butterfly Pea smoothie bowl. In the smoothie: banana, mango, red dragonfruit, vanilla and butterfly pea protein. On the top: coconut shreds, strawberry, banana, chocolate nibs, organic chia seeds and passion fruit. So refreshing and delicious!

Juniper’s butter coconut coffee. Isn’t that the most unusual stirrer?

She also got a turmeric latte to go. 

After breakfast we decided to spend the morning at Hong Kong park. In the middle of the Central section of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Park features 8 hectares (almost 20 acres) of park-like beauty, designed to be both a leisure and educational experience for the residents of Hong Kong and for visitors as well.

The park is a fine example of modern design and facilities blending with natural landscape. Water features like waterfalls, streams, and ponds are an important part of the park’s natural beauty.

A wedding venue inside the park

Olympic Square, reminiscent of an ancient Greek amphitheater, seats 880 people and is the site of many concerts, plays, promotional events, sports, and a variety of different kinds of entertainment spectacles.

Crane flower

We visited the conservatory first. The 1,400 square meter conservatory is one of the largest in Southeast Asia. It’s divided into three sections: the Display Plant House, the Dry Plant House, and the Humid Plant House. A range of climatic conditions are simulated so that visitors can experience everything from a tropical rain forest environment to an arid desert.

From the Display Plant house

Pink bromeliad

Bromeliad

Bromeliad 

Orchid

Guzmania

Guzmania conifera

Airplants

Orchids

All of the displays are so well done. 

The dry plant house

The humid plant house

Arabic coffee

Helenia

Hat palm

Fig

Polka dot begonia

So many varieties of begonias 

Hanging lobster claw

Walking under the waterfall

And in front 

Large purple alternanthera

Golden dewdrop

It obviously takes a huge crew, working full time to maintain all of the park. 

Golden trumpet

Today must have been field day for all of the schools because they were all out, having a grand time. 

The aviary is the largest in Hong Kong and is of the “walk-through” variety, with birds flying freely throughout the complex. An elevated walkway even allows you to explore the tree canopies. The stainless steel mesh building is, in itself, a sight to behold.

Java sparrow

Funny story: we noticed how this bird appears to have breasts and commented that we have never seen one like it. We looked up the name and it is a Bali Myna, commonly called “booby”. 

Goura or crowned pigeon 

Ducula or pink necked pigeon 

Another ducula, different color

Rainbow lorikeet

Chattering lory

More workers

The park is quiet, shaded, and just removed enough from the city noise to catch your breath. We wandered past the waterfall and the pond to watch the turtles. It was a lovely way to end our stay in Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong high/low lights:

Food was delectable 

Traffic is horrendous 

Buses and taxis are harrowing 

People are abundant and aggressive 

Scenery is spectacular 

I really enjoyed experiencing Hong Kong. Would I go back? Probably not. I’m not really a big city girl so I’m glad to be on our way to Ha Noi, Vietnam. 

Next stop: the Hong Kong airport. Posing by a Labubu. 

Labubu is a mischievous, elf-like character created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung from his "The Monsters" series, inspired by Nordic folklore and European fairy tales from his childhood in the Netherlands. Originally introduced in 2015 in illustrated books, Labubu became a global phenomenon after Pop Mart turned them into popular collectible toys, known for their pointy ears, mischievous grins, and kind-hearted but chaotic nature.

And it’s not just for children. Apparently, the dolls became a massive Gen-Z phenomenon, featured heavily on TikTok and Instagram as bag charms and collectibles, blending high fashion with childhood nostalgia.

I had a few HKD left to spend so I bought a Swiss chocolate star.

It cost $22 HKD or $2.83 USD. 

We had not even been on our 1 hour and 45 minute Vietnam Airlines flight for 20 minutes before they delivered a hot meal. It was very good and unexpected on such a short flight. 

Arriving in Ha Noi Vietnam and meeting up with our driver to the hotel in Old Town. 

He grabbed my bag and took off leaving Juniper dragging behind. I told her it was my gray hair that got the service.  

Nhật Tân Bridge (Vietnam-Japan Friendship Bridge): A modern, cable-stayed bridge, the main route to/from Noi Bai Airport, known for its spectacular programmable colored lights.

Scooters everywhere. This one with a toddler standing in front and another in the back is a common sight. Terrifying!

Our driver pulled over into a very shady looking area and Juniper asked if this was our hotel. I said no. Look at what’s on the door. You can’t read it all but I think you can figure out what he stopped for. Juniper said, no! He did not just stop for those on the way to our hotel!!!

Our lodging for the next three nights. He is greeting us at the door to carry our bags up two flights of stairs before we get the elevator to the 5th floor. He grabbed one bag in each hand and zipped up those stairs like he was carrying nothing. 

It was incomprehensible to see $100,000 bills in the tip box. $100,000 Vietnamese Dong equals $3.79 USD. We went to the ATM and withdrew $2,000,000 VND for spending money, a whopping $75 US. 

Our room. That is the largest king size bed I have ever seen. A family of four could easily sleep in it. 

Junipers towels are a dragonfly 

I think mine is a rabbit?

View from our room

And looking down at the street 

We arrived just in time to have a short rest in the room before taking in the Friday night market. 

Scooters everywhere 

Unbelievable produce. I wanted to sample all of it. 

And street food

I’ve heard about the coconut ice cream here so we had to try it. Wow! I’m pretty sure it was the best I’ve ever had. Tomorrow we’ll try the avocado ice cream. 

The welcome site of a church on the walk back to our hotel. Tin Lanh means Good News. 

If you’ve ever seen videos of the traffic in Vietnam cities, they don’t do justice to the reality. There are no stop signs or lights or laws of any kind. It’s a free-for-all. Vehicles going in all directions at all times. Honking is the method of saying “I’m here” but since everyone is honking, it doesn’t really help. I don’t know how we didn’t see a single accident. The little children standing in the front on the scooters just terrified me. There are white lines indicating lanes on the highway from the airport to the city. Why? No one uses them. They drive down the middle of the line or just sway back and forth between the lanes. It’s a different world!!!

When a child is born, a mother sings. Her song is full of joy and anguish, hope and longing—Is the baby okay? Am I okay? Will we make it through this life together? Ask any doctor, any midwife, any nurse, and they will tell you: the miracle of birth is awash with sound. And soon, the mother’s solo is interrupted by her child’s piercing squall. And just like that, the song becomes a duet.

It is another thing entirely to sing a song of praise before the birth even occurs. That is exactly what happens in Luke 1, when Mary visits Elizabeth and sings a song of faith, months before any of the treachery or triumph of Jesus’s birth had taken place. When Mary sings, she does so as a young woman, pregnant with a child of questionable parentage, believing in what ought to have seemed outlandish or improbable. But Mary believes, and Elizabeth, feeling the child in her womb leap with joy, understands that what Mary has been saying all along is true. Mary’s song, also known as the Magnificat, is mainly taken from the song of Hannah and other songs from Scripture (1 Samuel 2:1-10). But as Charles Spurgeon once preached, “this shows how Mary had studied the Word of God and laid it up in her heart.”

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer recognized the subversive nature of Mary’s Song. He spoke these words in a sermon during Advent in 1933: “The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings. . . . This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols.”

The Magnificat is a song of salvation, with political, economic, and social dimensions that cannot be weakened. In a world that would have us keep our faith private, I find it convicting that Mary chose not to sing in private. Elizabeth bore witness to Mary’s song—and we, through the scriptures, likewise bear witness to her humble faith!

Can I say the same for me? Do I walk around in my life, singing literal and metaphorical songs of praise to my God for His faithfulness, for others to hear? Or do I simply walk around, hoping others will see my talents and praise me? Oh, how I long to be like Mary. And I can begin right now.