Hong Kong - Day 78 - 80

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We have a new favorite city and its name is Hong Kong! Arriving in Hong Kong we found it was a breeze to get around and we easily navigated public transportation to our hotel. We stayed at the YMCA in Kowloon (it is immediately next door to the historic Peninsula Hotel and not your typical YMCA...). Kowloon is a quick ferry ride from the main business district across the river from downtown Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong we will meet up with our tour group consiting of memers of the Norther California Chapter of the American Planning Association. We will be travelling through China with a focus on urban planning and development and it will be especially great to be with some like minded folks from the Bay Area.

On our first night in Hong Kong we met up with our good friend Hing Wong and had dinner with his friends that are locals. We had some fantastic sushi, some good laughs, and a tour of the temple street markets followed by some traditional Hong Kong desert of sesame soup. Looks like black tar, but it is sooo good!

After meeting up with our group in the morning we headed over to the business district to get some rather tasty dim sum at Drangon I, a trendy resturant and bar. After lunch we met up with a planner from EDAW and walked around the city taking in some of the sites. The city has an interesting elevated walking path complete with escalators. We were surprised with a special tour of the HSBC building and a trip to the 44th floor for a birds-eye view of the city. Around dusk we took the cable car up to Victoria Peak to watch the buildings turn their lights on for the night. Beautiful!

On our second day we visited Macau. It is a 1.5 hour ferry ride from Hong Kong and because it is semi-autonomous region we had to go through customs there and back. Upon arrival we headed straight to a delicious Portuguese resturant for lunch. The Portuguese were in control of Macau until 1999 when they handed control back over to China. The rest of the day was spent on a guided walking tour of the Island. We checked out a buddhist temple, the historic district, and Macau's version of the "Vegas Strip". The only thing missing was Elvis!!

While in Hong Kong we also checked out the history museum, planning museum, the temple street markets, hong kong nightlife, and the tea room in Hong Kong park. The skyline is stunning and there is an energy that really makes you feel alive. Can't wait to see you again Hong Kong!!

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