Out and About

I think I mentioned in the last post that we've been trying to do something fun for Evangeline every day, since she has been spending a lot of time doing boring things like looking at apartments and sitting in banks and shopping at Ikea. So here are pictures from a few Evangeline-centered excursions.

On Sunday we went to the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens on Hong Kong Island. It was really, really hot! I thought Illinois was humid, but this was another level. And Hong Kong Island is very hilly, so we were basically headed straight up hill the whole way there. Poor little E had sweat dripping from her curls. But she got to see the primates, which was a huge highlight for her. One of the orangutans peed from the top of its cage while we were close by, a huge fountain of urine. She was talking about that for quite a while, unfortunately!

King Orangutan does not approve of us

"Mommy, he's peeing!"

"Don't take a picture of me; I'm too damn hot!"

On our way we went by a film set, which reminded us that Hong Kong is a big film center for China. They were shooting some sort of protest scene down a street. When we walked by again hours later, they were still there and hadn't moved very far. Ugh, how tedious!

Everyone gets ready for another take

Not impressed by Hong Kong cinema

Another interesting thing we saw was the phenomenon of the maids' day out. Apparently the Philipina/Vietnamese maids (or "helpers," not sure what is worse) only get one day off a week. That day is Sunday, and they all go and hang out together in the public spaces on Hong Kong Island. There were quite a few in the parks and squares that we went by, which makes sense. But I was shocked by how many were sitting in the shade in underpasses and non-scenic areas. They bring something to sit on and a picnic lunch and visit with each other and play games. We used an ATM under a bank building, and all around us was a riot of women:

The view to the south

And to the north

I mean, I guess I'm glad they're having fun. But it seems so weird that it doesn't get any better than sitting on the icky sidewalk in the middle of the financial district. To make it even more strange, there was some sort of Miss Philipina Hong Kong pageant on a street that we walked by:

The stage

Congratulations?

Needless to say, it'll be interesting to see if the whole maid thing gets any easier to swallow after we've been here for a while. 

On another morning, we went to Kowloon Park, which is a really nice oasis in the middle of an extremely urban area. There is a great play structure that E just loved. We were the only ones there, but it seems like people in HK aren't early risers. It's pretty common for stores to not open until 10:30 or 11:00. After the playground, we went to the aviary.

Climbing up to the top!

At the flamingo lagoon

It was pouring today, but we were at our new apartment getting the utilities turned on, so we spent some time in the indoor playroom at the complex. There were other kids there and it was kind of pathetic how excited Evangeline was to be around non-adults. They were a lot older than her, but she still had a great time. So hopefully once we get settled we can get some more kid time!