Last Days in Hong Kong

We started off our fourth day in Hong Kong by taking the subway over to the Jade Market. The Jade Market is full of different vendors selling jade jewelry. We weren’t really sure how to respond to the vendors because every single one would get up and try to convince us to buy their jewelry. It is hard to believe they make any money because it seems like everyone is selling the same things. Afterwards we walked through a street market that was selling all sorts of vegetables and fish.

The street market

Next we headed over to Man Mo Temple for our first temple experience. The Chinese offer incense and flowers in their temple and the whole room was filled with incense smoke. They have every variety of incense, big ones, little ones, and curly ones hanging from the roof.

Outside of Man Mo Temple

That evening we took a tram ride up Victoria Peak, which is the highest point in Hong Kong. The view was spectacular and we watched the lights of the city turn on as it got dark. We walked back down the mountain to the city. All of the paths are paved and well lit. Hong Kong feels very safe and I would have no problem walking around at night by myself.

The tram heading up Victoria Peak

View of Hong Kong while it is still light out on Victoria Peak

The view from the other side of Victoria Peak - Stanley Beach

Hong Kong from the top of Victoria Peak at night

The next day we took the subway out to Lantau Island to see the “Big Buddha”. The Tian Tan Buddha is the largest outdoor Buddha in the world and is at the top of a very big mountain. There is an impressive cable car you can take up and down the mountain.

View from the cable car

Inside the cable car

We opted to take the cable car one way and take the bus back. However, once we were on the cable car we noticed a path running down the mountain and decided to be ambitious and walk down.

The view of the hiking trail from the cable car

Once we got to the top we explored the monastery and saw big Buddha through the mist. It was really foggy, but we could just about make out his face. After a Chinese meal of beef satay and shrimp and pork dumplings, we started our hike.

Big Buddha in the fog

Offerings to Buddha

In front on the monastery

George skipping along the "yellow brick road"

View of the city and cable car during our hike

The entire trail was paved or had wooden walk ways. There were a lot of stairs and I was very glad to get to the bottom after about 2 hours. It was great to be out of the city and get some fresh air.

Lots and lots of steps!

Today we are heading to Shanghai by taking a train for 20 hours. Hopefully we will be able to sleep a bit and the beds won’t be too hard!

Fiona

Day 2 & 3 - Hong Kong

Sunday we woke up with the imperative of booking our train ticket from Hong Kong to Shanghai. After walking along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade (photo 1) we were informed that the first possible train ticket to Shanghai was on Feb 25, so we were going to spend 3 extra days in Hong Kong. No problem – Hong Kong has a plethora of spectacles and activities. Another benefit of Hong Kong, or Hung Hom as the Chinese call it, is that almost all signs are in English so everything is easily accomplished.

Photo 1: Hong Kong Island in the background:

Hong Kong has the most skyscrapers of any city

We then headed over to “Central to Mid Level Escalator” which is 800 meters in length and claims to be the longest escalator in the world (photo 2). Seems like everything around here claims to be the biggest, longest, tallest, etc… But in the case of this escalator it is more of a series of escalators which combined make up the longest escalator in the world. It took us about 20 minutes to go from bottom to top.

Photo 2

Traveling around the city we noticed that there were literally hundreds of thousands of women sitting in groups on the sidewalks, in the parks, just anywhere with any room (photo 3). At first we thought they might be homeless immigrants from Indonesia (many of them were Muslim), but we settled on the theory that it was a Sunday tradition to hang out outside their claustrophobic apartments.

Photo 3: Thousands of people camped out at Victoria Park

We ended the night with a trip to Stanley Beach on the Southside of Hong Kong Island to check out the weekly “Laser Show” however we got there and there was no laser show. It was still nice to get out of the city and check out a beautiful beach (photo 4).

Photo 4: Stanley Beach at night

On Monday moved to a more spacious hostel on the other side of the city (photos 5&6). We then continued our tourist rampage by visiting the free Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden which had an abundance of tropical plants, flowers, trees, apes, monkeys, and birds (photos 7-10). We then walked to the Flagstaff Teaware Museum which my mom would like (photo 11) and then on into Hong Kong Park (photo 12). All the parks and roads are immaculately tended to – hardly a leaf on any of the paths. This is one of the most impressive cities I have ever been to, only rivaled by the scale of NYC.

Photo 5: The street outside our new hostel

Photo 6: Behind me the International Finance Centre:

7th tallest skyscraper in the world

Photo 7

Photo 8: Strangest bird I have ever seen

Photo 9

Photo 10: Orchid Garden

Photo 11: One of many cool tea pots

Photo 12: Part of the 2008 Olympics were held in Hong Kong

Photo 13: Our first experience of random

people wanting to take pictures with us

Tonight we enjoyed succulent Peking Duck at the city’s finest “Singing Deer.” We were waited on by no less than two officious waiters watching me struggle to wipe the duck grease from off my chin. We need to figure out what is the appropriate tip in this town.

-George

Day 1 - Hong Kong

We finally made it to Hong Kong after a long and claustrophobic 13 hour flight. George was able to sleep most of the way. I, on the other hand, could not wait to get off the plane. Actually, we got in an hour early so I say we were pretty lucky. After arriving, we navigated the bus system to find our hostel.

Hong Kong by night

After being haggled by numerous aggressive Indian men trying to sell us everything from hotel rooms to "copy watches", we finally found the right building. The ground floor felt straight out of a scene from blade runner and we felt incredibly out of place and lost. Finally we found the hotel office and were shown to our room which is about 6 by 10 feet. I think my horse's stall is bigger than this. If I reach my hands out I can touch both sides of the room at the same time! Our bathroom is about 2 feet by 3 feet and you could take a shower, go to the bathroom, and brush your teeth all at the same time if you wanted.

Our hotel room is quite small!

We were up early the next morning and went out to find some food. We were planning on coming back to the hostel after breakfast, but we just started walking around and ended up on a ferry to Macau, which is a peninsula on mainland China, about an hour ferry ride away. Macau was formally under Portuguese rule and is now known for being the Las Vegas of the Orient. It is the only place in China you can gamble. We ventured 61 stories up the Macau Tower and enjoyed lunch at a restaurant that rotates around as you eat, so we got a full view of Macau. The Macau Tower also has the world's highest Bungee Jump but it was too expensive for us to try.

Macau Tower

A crazy person who bungee jumped off the tower

The view from the top of the tower

After lunch, we headed over to see the largest casino in the world, called The Venetian. It is exactly the same as the American version, only is larger, more people, and smells like cigarettes.

The Venetian is the same as the American version

We took the ferry back to Hong Kong that evening and ended up getting off at a different ferry dock and then had to take the subway. We have almost covered all the different forms of transportation! Not really knowing what stop to get off at, we got off way to early and walked for about an hour back to our hostel. Things are still in English here and we still manage to get lost. Not sure what will happen when there is no English to help us!

Fiona