Advertisement
Published: January 3rd 2010
Our hostel room at Yesinn
This hostel is AWESOME inside compared to anywhere we have stayed in HK. It is on Hong Kong Island at the Fortress Hill metro stop.HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We had a great 2 nights in Hong Kong to celebrate New Year's Eve.
We met Staci & Martin Thursday at 2pm at the Ke Xue Guan metro stop in Shenzhen; both of our Express buses from the outer districts both end there. We then took the metro to the Futian Port/Hong Kong border crossing where the lines weren't that long for it being New Year's Eve. We successfully were allowed to exit China and enter Hong Kong.
At the Hong Kong duty free shops we decided to buy some liquor in order to save money that evening at the bars. Pete bought a bottle of Jack Daniels for 230 HKD=$29.63 and Martin bought Absoult Peach for 145HKD=$18.69. Then we took the Hong Kong metro over to Hong Kong Island Fortress Hill stop where our hostel was located.
Yesinn, is one of the highest rated hostels in Hong Kong and now we know why. It is newly decorated and looks straight out of an IKEA catalog. We got a quad room for 2 nights and were taken to a room with 2 single bunk beds which would fit 4 people but we asked it they
Cali, Martin and Staci
pre partying in the room had 2 double beds. Pete of course got it handled and the room was a little bigger with a double bunk bed and larger bathroom. Jimmy and Cali also got a room for one night at the Yesinn but arrived about an hour after us and were put across the street where the Yesinn had more rooms.
Three of us couples ate Indian food for dinner, then went to the room for a little pre party action with the mixed drinks and a sport bottle of bai jou(Chinese white liquor). Around 10pm we met Kris & Kelly at the Central metro station to set out for the evening. We saw other CTLC'ers in the subway station heading out for the night among all the people in Hong Kong for NYE, some we don't mind seeing others we don't really care for. That happens with 115 people.
We watched the countdown on the waterfront near the huge building that had the countdown and fireworks along the Victoria Harbour. Most of the group was pretty drunk by this point in the evening and it was hard to keep together. Kris, Kelly, Pete and I headed to Lan Kwai Fong, bar
street, to catch the action and see more of how HK celebrated NYE. We arrived in Lan Kwai Fong around 1:30am and still lots of people/partying was going on. We walked around and had a few beers at The Keg until 3:30am when we decided to call it an end to the evening/early morning.
New Year's Day 6 of us went to find some brunch and found a Mexican brunch that included one drink choice: sangria, margarita, bloody mary or fruit juice. I was feeling great and had a bloody mary, Pete wasn't feeling too hot but I made him order a bloody mary and water. I got 2 bloody mary's and he drank the water. First, bloody mary since leaving the US. The service was HORRIBLE. There were other CTLC people there waiting an hour for their food and still nothing. After the waitress told the table next to us it would be a bit longer cause they ran out of eggs, we asked how long our food would be. The waitress responded over 30 more minutes after we were there for 30 minutes already. Staci, Martin, and I decided to pound our drinks and go find something
else.
It was 2pm and Pete, Martin, Cali and Jimmy had bought tickets online for the 3:40pm showing of Avator at the New 50 million HKD United Artist Imax/3D theater. So we found another cute place a few doors down with great sandwiches and omelets.
Staci and I went shopping instead of seeing the movie, I would get sick from the Imax film and it wasn't worth the cost 148 HKD=$19.08. We found some awesome deals at H&M and the clothes were in our sizes. This was the first time I felt like I was really shopping since the USA. I have bought some warm fleece clothes but that was Wal-Mart. After H&M we walked outside to see a demonstration march going on that the police had blocked one lane of the streets off for. We knew at that point we weren't in the PRC(People's Republic of China) they could NEVER do this since Freedom of Speech doesn't really exist.
Staci and I then went over to the Kowloon side of HK to go to the Ladies Market in the Mong Kok district. I bought my 1st pair of shoes since leaving the US and Staci got
a new wallet for her and one for Martin. It was then time to meet up the other 4 since the movie was over. We found Tequila Jack's, Mexican restaurant, thanks to the Holiday Inn concierge advise. Oh the food you really miss while living in Mainland China.
Around 9pm Jimmy and Cali decided to check into their new hostel for the night and found out their room was given up. New Year's Day and they are now without a room. Martin, Staci, Pete and I went back to the room to use the internet to search for a place for them. Most places were sold out since it was the holiday and Friday night. We found 2 places for them and they were expensive but not many options since they didn't have a room and our place had a concrete floor with 2 double beds.
On Saturday, we woke up and all 3 couples went our separate ways since we had different agendas to accomplish before going home. Pete and I went went to eat at Kraze Burger, a restaurant we ate at in Seoul and a new one just opened in the new ISquare Mall in
Martin, Cali, Jimmy, Staci, Pete and I
getting on the metro to go meet Kris & Kelly Kowloon. We arrived at 11:40am and it wasn't opened yet at 12pm they opened. We looked for a shoe store since Pete wanted new outdoor shoes for our trip to Australia and New Zealand. It was a successful journey as he found a nice pair of Merrell shoes on sale. Back to Kraze Burger as it was now a little after 12pm.
The food was just as amazing as we remembered it in Seoul. We also got free chili cheese fries since it was a Grand Opening and 30% all food until January 31st. SWEET !!!! We got chili cheese fries, burger, chicken sandwich and a coke for 129 HKD=$16.63. This was a cheap meal as ALL food in HK is priced like the USA. Hong Kong is awesome but then very expensive compared to what we pay/spend in Shenzhen.
By 1pm we were on the metro back to the border to go home. It was our quickest trip from Hong Kong to Longgang at 3 hours. Once we got off the bus stop our friend Zak got off his bus. He was coming from his place to our's to watch the Rose Bowl. He graduated from Oregon
and has come to watch several games this football season. It was a sad loss for Oregon but glad that they made it to the Rose Bowl. All of Pete's siblings were at the game in Pasadena. Laura flew in from Portland and Mike flew in from Houston for the game and Tim's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tim.
Back to work on Monday but only 2 more weeks of class maybe less. My class coordinator said to me last Wednesday that starting January 4th there MAYBE no regular English classes. Possibly the teachers will ask us for our classes then we will teach even less now until our break that starts Jan 15th. Our students have 3 days of finals on Jan. 25th, 26th, 27th then on break until Feb. 22nd when the 2nd semester starts. WOW our time is starting to fly by as we left the USA 5 months ago(Aug 2nd).
Happy New Year Everyone and there are LOTS of pictures so make sure to scroll all the way down!!!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.307s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 73; dbt: 0.1623s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
paulette
non-member comment
Happy New Year
Hi Elyse and Pete - Happy New Year to you guys! We are so happy that you are getting to enjoy Hong Kong for New Years. Sounds like you have made great friends there and have done a great job at learning how to get around. I am also very happy that Peg and John are meeting you in Australia. You guys will have a great time. Any thoughts on whether you are thinking of extending for another year or will one be sufficient? Paulette