McDonald’s breakfast was the theme for the first couple of days in Hong Kong.  I couldn’t find a good GaiMei Baau (Coconut Cream Bread) place and so we defaulted to something we knew Claire would eat.  Sad, but true.  Actually, McDonald’s tastes better in China.  I know some will say that it has to do with a general lack of home “comfort food” during travel … but, honestly, I don’t know.  It’s pretty darn good.  The beef tastes better, the chicken tastes better … the fries taste the same.

OK … so in yesterday’s post I mentioned something that would keep us off the streets of Hong Kong and inside … the hotel pool and spa area.  Seriously, folks … it’s ridiculous!  If you ever have the chance to stay in Hong Kong … choose The Mira.  We knew they had a pool … we just didn’t know how beautiful the pool room was or how many other incredible amenities would exist.  There are some pictures and a video we’ll include here … but I fear they don’t do it justice.  Let’s start with the pool …

It’s beautiful … it has one of those drop off edges so it looks like the pool just terminates in the air.  Then, they have very relaxing music playing all of the time … and it’s also playing under the water, which is awesome.  The pool “furniture” consists of modern/urban round fabric lounge beds and fabric “sun chairs”.  It’s an indoor pool (which I normally don’t like) with a ceiling that is constantly changing colors and has “twinkling star lights” for lack of a better word.  You can order drinks while lounging in the connected hot tub mini-pool.  Before you say “totally disco” out loud, just trust us, it’s ridiculously serene and relaxing. Oh, and the temperature is a nice reasonable “warm” … leaving no room for anybody to get the mistaken impression that Tom screams like a little girl while entering a swimming pool.

Onto the changing/”room of complete awesomeness” room … The changing rooms consist of a dry sauna, a steam room, a private gender only hot tub (for clothes free soaking I guess), full private showers, a few “rinse off” showers and … relaxation beds:  Seriously, full on beds with semi-private locations where you can fall asleep and just relax.  AND BEST OF ALL … an “experience shower”.  Let me explain what this means.  When you enter the shower you think it looks like just a normal shower with a few extra shower heads around the sides.  But … then you notice three little buttons about eye height labeled “Fun”, “Fresh” & “Tropic”.  Pressing one of these buttons automatically changes the room into a haven of comfort and exciting possibilities (some guy from the East Coast said it was like a human car wash … but he clearly didn’t see the vision of it all).  First the light changes to green, blue or red and then the over-head water plate starts “raining” on you.  The water options will rotate between a heavy jungle like mist, to side jets massaging you, to the over head plate either raining down on you torrentially or just with a light drizzle.  It lasts for about 3 0r 4 minutes and then … you can just push the button again!  Sandy and I have agreed that if we ever move, we will put one of these in our house before a silly theater room – who needs to watch movies when you can spend all day rotating through various shower programs?  (although for the record … I still want one of those too).

So, again, coming to Hong Kong … stay at the Mira and plan at least one extra day to do nothing but hang out in the pool and spa.  We didn’t get massages … but totally would have if not for more important responsibilities (Claire).

It was actually tough to leave the hotel after our first experience at the pool/spa … but we’re glad we did.  We took a quick trip to the Hong Kong Temple to take a look around.  This was Saturday … so the mission offices were closed and nobody was really around.  I was there when they broke ground on the site … but never got to see it even reach beyond the property wall.  It’s beautiful and so great to see a temple in China.  Really an amazing blessing for the members in Hong Kong.  I feel silly to have the section about the temple be less than half of that about the pool … but honestly, there wasn’t anybody around and all we could do was look.  It was beautiful.

We then grabbed lunch at Cafe de Coral … a great little find that we lucked into on our way to a different place.  It’s kind of like a Noodles & Company with awesome Chinese food.  Claire loved it, we loved it … a win all around.  And the Coke was the coldest thing I’ve had to drink in the past 2 weeks+ … aaahhhh!

We then headed over to Kowloon Park so Claire could play on the play sets again.  I headed to ChungKing Mansion to try and find some Bollywood movies … success!!!  ChungKing Mansion is one of the few places I wouldn’t let Sandy and Claire go into.  It’s fairly seedy and about the least safe place you can experience in Hong Kong.  But it also houses tons of international souvenirs.  So, when in search of Bollywood … that’s your best bet.  I totally found a movie I’ve been looking to buy for the past year … and it was only $3 USD!  Om Shanti Om is the name of it … if you were wondering … and it’s awesome (and yes, there is singing and dancing in the movie, and no, I am still not ashamed to admit that I love it).

That night we headed back to the harbor to take in the night time view.  Once again, beautiful and awe-inspiring.  They apparently do a light show now at night … so we watched that for a few minutes.  Not bad … but not Disneyland quality.   (apparently we think the Disneyland light show is the apex of all things light show – maybe we aren’t that well traveled?)  We treated ourselves to a McDonalds’ double fudge sundae as we walked back to the hotel.  Kinda like the chicken and beef, somehow McDonalds ice cream taste’s better in Hong Kong, too.  Okay, maybe nearly everything is better in Hong Kong . . . but you probably already know that I feel that way.

Sandy and I then watched Om Shanti Om after Claire fell asleep … Sandy said she enjoyed it, even though she was asleep for about 1/3 of it (but in her defense, it was really late at night, and you do have to read subtitles).

And for a bonus, Sandy got a good long soak in our awesome bathtub using this made-from-fresh-fruit-and-vegetable  ”bath bomb” I bought for her here.   It was all “sea weedy” and smelled awesome.  We all slept well that night.