On Monday, we headed out to Lantau Island to take the Ngong Ping 360 to see the Tian Tan Buddha. It was quite a trek out there and we got a late start, but it was totally worth it. The views from the gondola alone were worth it, but the buddha was pretty cool, too.

After we got back to the bottom of the gondola, I made Tanya go into the outlets with me where I found this gem on super sale.

And then we had a late lunch at what was by far the nicest Pizza Hut I’d ever been to. I know. Pizza Hut? But really, it was awesome.

Before heading back to Hong Kong Island, we “needed” to go to the jade market (we’d missed it the night before) in Kowloon, so that’s what we did. It was quite an experience. I got some awesome jade jewelry for super cheap (no idea why I don’t have photos of it) but I also got harassed and pulled, literally, by a few of the merchants. It was not my favorite thing ever, but it was totally worth it.

On our way back to the subway, we walked through another market. I did get photos of that.

And we finished the evening off with a little more high-end window shopping. I was tempted to actually shop, but then I did the math comparing the price of a purse with a plane ticket and realized it wasn’t worth it to me…right now. Even if it was Christmas Eve.

It was really fun to wander around the mall and feel like I was having a true Christmas Eve experience (at least in the style of my family). I even got a little dose of the Nutcracker during a mall performance.

We finished it off with a Christmas Eve meal (no Chinese food, though). One of my favorite moments of the evening was when the restaurant wouldn’t seat us at a table because we didn’t have reservations so we had to sit at the bar. I’m used to Asia and the necessity of reservations, but for Tanya, this was new and she truly believed we were on the receiving end of a xenophobic’s discrimination. I assured her several times that such was not the case, but we still joke about it. Such a perfect end to a great long weekend!