Trip to Hong Kong

Hong Kong is great for two things:  shopping and eating.  But since Muir and I could not possibly carry any more stuff back with us, we opted to do more eating than shopping, plus a little sightseeing.  I also shouldn't forget to mention that although Cantonese is far more prevalent than Mandarin in Hong Kong, everyone totally speaks English!  If you're looking for a place to visit in China, but don't have any language chops, going to Hong Kong would be my top recommendation.  Of course, it won't be culturally similar to Beijing, but rates high in terms of tourist survivability.

Day 1

Muir and I stayed at an adorable boutique hotel on Hong Kong island called the Butterfly on Morrison.  The room itself was tiny, so I'm thankful that they upgraded us from a standard room to the deluxe room for free since we were travelling with two giant suit cases each.  The Butterfly also gets pluses for having soft beds, separate mini shampoo and conditioner bottles, and awesome foam pillows.  (I am a foam pillow fan.  Sorry feathers!)  My only gripe had to do with the air travel.  Even though we were flying internally on United (Beijing to San Francisco via Hong Kong), we were only allowed to check one bag each and had to pay extra luggage fees on both legs of our journey.  Not cool, United.  Not cool.  The flight to HK was also delayed about two hours due to heavy fog in Beijing, but we made it safely the same day.

Day 2

On our first full day of sight seeing, we met with Muir's old language partner from Cornell, Zheng Yan.  She and her husband had been living and working in HK for the past five years, and she was super pumped to see us (well, Muir) again.

We kicked things off by having dim sum for brunch/lunch at a fairly well known chain called the Lei Garden.  My favorite items were the barbeque pork dumplings and the shrimp dumplings.  Muir and Zheng Yan both liked the sweet egg yolk filled dessert dumplings the best.

Dim Sum to die for!

Zheng Yan and me

Muir, me, and Zheng Yan

After dim sum, we walked to a neighborhood on Hong Kong island called Causeway Bay, a popular shopping/hang out district.  The sidewalks in Hong Kong are very narrow, probably because the city is quite old and space is at a premium.  It reminded me of the small, crowded streets in Shanghai along the Bund.  Causeway Bay itself was full of hair salons, pet shops, and designer label stores.  The weather was warm, so we decided to cool down with mango drinks at another well known drink/dessert shop.

Fresh mango smoothies, with different jellies, aloe, and coconut options

It took all of 40 minutes to walk through all of Causeway Bay, so we then headed to Victoria Park.

Just now see that Muir took a lovely photo of a garbage bin in Victoria Park.
It was supposed to be of the little lake behind the bin...

Since it was a Sunday, Zheng Yan explained that the Phillapina/Malaysian hired help had the day off, and since the weather was so nice, the park was swarming with people sitting and socializing in every available corner.

Bustling Sunday afternoon in Causeway Bay

Victoria Park was also tiny, and since there weren't many places left to sit in the shade, we decided to take the Star Ferry across Hong Kong harbor and checkout the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.

Lovely green water

Fishing boat

Cruise ship in the background, another Star Ferry in the foreground

Once on the Kowloon side, we basically just walked along the waterfront, past the art museum and along the Avenue of Stars.

Bruce Lee

The Kowloon side seemed to have more offices than fun places to walk around or even eat, so we headed back to the Hong Kong side to take the tram to The Peak, the tallest point on Hong Kong island for the views.

Steep incline! 

View from the top of the Peak!

Once we arrived at The Peak, I was surprised to find two huge shopping malls!  Hong Kong is ridiculous.    Anyway, we serendipitously arrived at the observation desk just before sunset, and snagged some pretty good shots.

We had dinner at a Tsui Wah, another well known chain restaurant.  The food in Hong Kong, other than being hands down better than in northern China, has a definite island-y influence.  There were curries, delicate seafood dishes, milk tea that tasted just like a Thai iced tea, and Tsui Wah's famous toast with butter and condensed milk, which I think is also popular in Hawaii and other island-y nations.  

A couple night shots:

The line to take the tram back down the hill was obscene, so after poking around, a woman who worked at The Peak's tourism booth gave us a hot tip about the bus station tucked away on the other side of the mall.  We made it down the mountain in what must have been record time.

Day 3

Zheng Yan had to work on Monday, so it was just the two of us who took the MTR (HK's subway system) to Lantau island and hopped a local bus to the Giant Buddha.  Apparently, there is also a terrifying suspended cable car you can ride up the mountain to the Giant Buddha, which, alas, was not operational when we went.

Low-lying fog rolling over a mountain top

Stairs!

A monk!

Looking down on Po Lin Monastery

Building in Po Lin Monastery

Apparently, a giant Buddha deserves giant incense

That was pretty much it for that day.  The bus from the end of the MTR to Ngong Ping and the Giant Buddha was 45 minutes one way, so we went back to the popular sushi boat restaurant near our hotel for an early dinner and stuffed ourselves with deliciously fresh sushi.  Sushi boat restaurants always seem iffy unless you can find a popular one where you know the plates go out of rotation quickly.  This place had boats that curled through the restaurant twice with probably 50 seats along its sides.  The first night that we went they were still seating guests at 9:45 just before the restaurant closed at 10.  It was totally worth it.  We had a few pieces of fatty tuna that melted in your mouth, and there were two even pricier grades that had sold out before we got the chance to try them!

Day 4

Airport and one long flight back to the US!  The Hong Kong airport is also just a front for a huge shopping mall.  I mean some stores are expected, but there were shops galore on the other side of customs and security, and then once we took a tram to the international terminal, we walked through another cluster of stores.  Many of them selling watches or jewellery.  That must be the thing to buy in Hong Kong.