Hong Kong

            I woke up in Hong Kong on Thursday morning and hopped on the MTR (subway) heading for the island. I stayed Tsim Sha Tsui, which is a downtown area on the mainland. It is a great location to be in, close to the island and very close to get places, the subway line was right outside of where I was staying. Thursday I spent all day on the island checking it out. I walked a ton! I started from the West side and made my way East checking out the sites that I was interested in. I wondered through Cat Street Market, Man Mo Temple, took the escalators on Shelley Street. I didn’t stop to take a break until I made it to the zoo/botanical gardens. 

Cat Street Markets

They sold a lot of antiques at these little shops

The Man Mo Temple

Inside the temple. Not sure if you can see but the spirally cone looking things hanging from the ceiling are inscents... I love them, I think they're really cool. 

The city is so steep they have an impressively long escalator system going to the top. I have no idea how long it is, but it's VERY long! I loved it. 

A quick glimpse at a piece of the escalator system on Shelley Street. 

I loved these signs all over town! 

            I stopped right outside an opening area with a fountain to have some ice cream and enjoy the sunny weather. It was such a nice day out on Thursday! After my little break I headed towards the tram to go to the peak. Anyone who travels to Hong Kong has to go to the peak, it’s a must tourist see site. There’s a tram that takes you to the top of the mountain that overlooks the entire city. It was really cool up there.  When I finally came back down I ended up in Hong Kong Park where I stopped at the tea ware museum and the “foot massage” area right behind that.

This drumstick was fantastic!

The Cantonese and English! 

View from the top of the peak

The tram

The "foot massage". They have this all over Asia I think. Well at least it's in Korea too. It hurts, don't trust that it's a foot massage...

            I found myself wondering around one of the swankiest malls I’ve ever been after leaving Hong Kong Park. It was full of any and every high-end store you could imagine. I had to get out of there quick so I headed towards Starbucks! I took a bit of a break there before heading over to find this little hidden bar in a downtown area where a group Couch Surfers were meeting.

I almost put in my application... just saying!

I was able to find this bar called La Jardin with no problem, though when I got there this Chinese girl named Doney was amazed that I was able to find it so quickly. She spoke Cantonese and still was searching for the place for about an hour she said. She couldn’t believe how good I was with directions. Then I showed her the map I was using and she was even more amazed, my map didn’t have too much detail. I guess I’m just gifted with directions. Everywhere I travel I seem to have a good sense of where my location and where things are. It was cool to meet people from all over, there were a few locals who met up, one studying in Hong Kong, and others were travelers passing through like myself. I had a good time chatting with and meeting different people.

The cool double decker tram/bus things they have going down a major street on the island.

The main street near the bar I went to Thursday night. And yes, that is a coach store on the right Mom. 

Two of my new friends. The one of the right is Nicola from Hong Kong and the one on the left is Doney, she's Chinese but just moved to Hong Kong.

The next morning, I woke up and headed north towards Yau Ma Tei area. I strolled through the streets up there, Temple Street, Shanghai Street, walked through Tin Hau Temple, and Jade Market. I then went over towards the pier to check it out and take the star ferry across the water. The star ferry takes you from the mainland to the island and it’s dirt cheap. I took the ferry there, looked around and then took it right back, haha. I just wanted to take it; I didn’t plan on going to the island for anything else that day. It was so great to be out on the water!

They do their construction with Bamboo.

Inside the Jade Markets

One of the many parks they have in Hong Kong, I loved how many parks they had... 

Star Ferry, this was taken from the island facing the mainland.

Looking towards the island...

Later Friday night I went to the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, a promenade right on the waterfront facing the island. They have a section of it called the Avenue of Stars that has famous actors stars on the ground with their handprints like in Hollywood. At 8pm, they had the light show. It was in English on Friday night, so lucky of me! They played music from the speakers on the promenade and then the buildings lit up to the music. It was pretty cool!

This was my home for 4 nights, the building in the back (Chungking Mansions) - on the 15th floor overlooking Nathan Road.

Jackie Chan!

The promenade

Light show! 

This was my subway stop.

Nathan Road was closed on New Years for all traffic. However, I didn't enjoy any of it - I was in bed before midnight... Haha.

Overall Hong Kong was super fun. It was very clean, for a big city that is. It was refreshing being there after Bangkok – one of the dirtiest cities I’ve seen so far. Hong Kong was very English friendly and very westernized. All of the signs were not only in Cantonese (the Chinese dialect spoken in Hong Kong) but also in English. I was very impressed by all the street signs and information poles every couple of blocks that showed where the tourist attractions were close by. Also, the public transportation was great. The buses even ran throughout the night!

My last day was Saturday (New years). I spent it hanging out in Disneyland Hong Kong. I felt so at home there. I have so many pictures and so much to say about it that I’m dedicating a whole blog to it… Hope to get it up soon. I had such a fun time over the holidays traveling about Asia but was so thrilled to be back home in Korea on Sunday. I was craving some tasty Korean food all week that I was away from it. I can't imagine how bad my cravings are going to be when I go back home to America! Happy new years to everyone, I hope your holidays were as fun as mine were!