Hong Kong

We've had a wonderful day: pastries from a Golden Mile shop; subway to Hong Kong Island from our hotel on Kowloon; funicular up Victoria Peak; 360 degree view of Hong Kong from the Sky Terrace; Graham Street market with sliced fish so fresh their hearts still beat; Fu Yuen Street Market open from 6:00 am to 2:00 am every day; tangerine skins at the Wholesale Food Market; bargaining (again!) at the Jade Market; the Langham Place Mall with escalators going up four flights through an open air lobby and then another escalator going up another four flights; Shang Shang Shanghai food for dinner.

Then our luck turned. At the Mong Kok station, Isabel stepped into the subway car. Stirling stopped on the platform, said "Wait" and turned to look for the rest of us who trailed behind. The yellow caution light flashed. The inside doors closed. Stirling turned back, saw Isabel inside, and instinctively shoved his body between the closing outside glass doors, then wrenched them as hard as he could to open them. I ran up and pounded with my fists on the inside doors as Stirling shouted to Isabel "Tsim Sha Tsui" the stop for our hotel. Magically, the inside doors opened and a crying Isabel shot into Sofia's arms. We were very grateful the engineer was watching.

On every trip, I've had Isabel tell me over and over again what hotel we are staying at. Here it is the Imperial Hotel on Nathan Road. We've talked about finding an adult with a child to help her if she gets lost. Now we've added, "If you get separated from the group on the subway, get off at the next stop and stay put." But, it won't happen again.

Isabel's subway separation happened very quickly and only lasted a few minutes. Really, it's been a very wonderful day.