Hong Kong = San Fran of China

Before we even set foot in Hong Kong, Marlene described it as the San Francisco of China and I think that’s a perfect description!

Thurs night: my flight was a little delayed (per usual for Shanghai) so unfortunately I didn’t get to HK in time to try out the restaurant that Lauren recommended. Instead I ate an incredibly overpriced meal at the Meridien hotel. But it was still delicious because I was in Hong Kong!

I’ll admit that my expectations of HK were incredibly high. In my mind, HK was a magical place that breathed life into everyone with the combination of fresh air, sunshine, kind English speaking natives with active daily lives. My first night was therefore a little bit of a disappointment. A) The taxi driver tried to rip me off, B) the China smog had made its way to HK, C) Matt's arrival would also be delayed. Nonetheless, I was excited for some new sights so I went to bed to get up early. (Matt didn’t arrive to HK until 2am from Beijing)

Map of Hong Kong. This is the best map I found that also points out some of the places I’ll mention. We stayed on the “Hong Kong Island” close to where you see the dot for “Aberdeen”

FRIDAY:

Matt worked all day (see pics below), while I went to conquer all the top touristy sights HK has to offer. I started off by taking the Tram up to Victoria Peak. The tram ride itself was pretty neat as it’s pretty much a vertical climb, that feels like the incline of a roller coaster, so you’re just hoping there’s no sudden drop. Once at the top, there are spectacular views of the city. Unfortunately, as the pre-mentioned fog/smog made for not the greatest of photos, it was still a refreshing morning and great way to get a perspective on the city.

Matt's Day:

My Day starting with the tram ride

 

Here is the pic I was expecting (this is NOT my photo)

Here are my actual pics (as you can see even with my new equipment, I need to practice my new “craft” hehe)

the peak. the building had another observation deck, shops & restaurants

view from the top

testing out some "white balance" functionality :)

an "artistic close-up dragon shot"

Up at the peak I also ran into quite a few middle school students who were sent to practice their English with obvious native speakers (aka. Me) I ended up answering the questions (what's your name? where are you from? what's your favorite place in HK? etc) of at least 8 different students. In the end I tried to modify my answers so that not everyone had the same responses, but one of the girls caught me in my lies… this is her. She was awesome and hilarious and proceeded to follow me around while I took pictures. So I took her picture. 

After I snuck away from all my new friends, I traveled back down the mountain and made my way to Lantua Island. My original plan was to make the trek out, quickly see the Big Buddha and the Temple and then head back to see some more sights in the city before dinner. Unfortunately, since the sky trams were under repair, the only way to get to the Buddha was via bus, which ended up taking FOREVER, I didn’t make it back in time to see more place on the HK island. However, I still thinking seeing the Big Buddha was worth it. It’s HUGE and made for some great photos! :)

 

 
 

 

Once I met up with Matt back at the hotel (where he was still working but had relocated to the bar) we headed out to dinner at Aqua in the HK Harbor (about the spot where the “H” in “Hong Kong Island” is on the map. Now, here was another fabulous view! This time of the harbor of HK Island and the HK Kowloon area. There was also a light show at 8pm every night where each of the buildings lights up in some unique fashion. Quite beautiful.

relocated

Blurry iPhone photos of The Kowloon Harbor light show from "AQUA"

SATURDAY:

The original plan was to go for a hike, but since it was still smoggy and I didn’t really get to explore the city the day before we decided to stay on the island. Actually, one of my favorite parts of Hong Kong was just driving around in the taxis and looking at the setting. It’s honestly like the buildings just grew out of the mountains. Every turn was a new sight from different mountains, to mansions built into the hillside to stunning views of the ocean (and there were LOTS of turns as every road was inclining, curving or both).

Again, not my photos, but great representation of the views on our taxi rides.

We made our way in the morning over to Stanley (southeast dot on the map). I’d describe this as a touristy harbor town with a touristy market at the center of it. Now, just to be clear, I LOVE a good touristy market! This was right up my alley so I’m not using “touristy” in a derogatory way at all, even though I know some people prefer to steer clear of said locations. In the Stanley Market we bought our first piece of art! (Well actually 2 pieces) I’ll post more on this later. We wandered around for a little while and picked up some trinkets before grabbing lunch and a beer outside at a little patio pub on the “boardwalk” (for lack of a better term)

Stanley Market

"Erotic figurines"

  American names in Chinese characters. On a T-shirt! We like this idea way better than a Chinese symbol tattoo.

Then it was off to another fun taxi ride through the mountains up and over to the other side of the island (about the spot where the “N” in “Hong Kong Island” is on the map). Here we just wandered around the Victoria park and then made our way up into some of the alleys to check out local shops and food spots.

Amazing cemetery built into the hills. My picture doesn't do this justice. This is about a third of the size. It continues down the hill, which we are about 2/3s the way up.

Before we caught the ferry to Macau, we stopped in for an early dinner. Matt ordered the “house specialty”. “Baby Pigeon”. Not just regular pigeon but “BABY pigeon”. I had noodles which were delicious. I can’t say I tried the pigeon, but Matt ate the whole thing. He said he’s going to stay off the pigeon for a while though…

No, he's not just posing for this photo. This really happened. (I have a feeling these pics will get the most comments. haha.)

Off to Macau!

... for those curious about a little Hong Kong background. I wrote & re-wrote a "synopsis" of Hong Kong "history" but honestly it doesn't do it justice... Basically, it has an incredibly interesting history including Chinese rule, a British colony and Japanese occupation. The influence of all of which can all be seen today. I know Wikipedia isn't the greatest source of info but I thought this does a nice job of breaking down all the different periods of time in Hong Kong's history as does the BBC timeline synopsis.

Wikipedia - HK History

BBC - HK Timeline

also, the below helps to explain the current relationship of Hong Kong to "mainland China" We did have to go through immigration and customs each way.

"Mainland China, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Hong Kong is now legally a part of China. Thatcher struck a deal with China during the 1980's when Hong Kong was a British possession whereby Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule on July 1st, 1997. Because of Hong Kong's history under a largely unrestricted free market and much larger range of political and personal freedoms (i.e., freedom of speech) that wasn't (and still isn't) available in Mainland China, to allay Hong Kong residents' fears China designated Hong Kong (and later Macau two years later when Portugal returned it) a Special Administrative Region, whereby the Chinese government in Beijing would be in charge of defense and foreign policy, but Hong Kong's local government would be in charge of everything else, including their own finances (they still have their own currency in the Hong Kong dollar, for instance). This arrangement is guaranteed for 50 years (until 2047)."