Hong Kong and loving it! (Sept 22-23, 2009)

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Our first trip out of China since moving here last August was to Hong Kong in September 22-23. Although it was a short and official trip, I was still excited because finally I can see Hong Kong outside of the airport! I had been to Hong Kong twice before but every time it was just to pass through for my onward journeys to other destinations.

We went to Hong Kong by ferry from the Shunde port. The trip took 2 hours and I was surprised to find some familiar inscriptions on the glass window (see photo). There were no interesting sights during the majority of the ferry boat ride until you reach Hong Kong territory and you see the harbors of both Kowloon and Hong Kong island. It was really just like in the movies!

First stop was to check in at the Kowloon Hotel which is located on Nathan Road while Hubby proceeded to his official purpose for the trip. I was surprised to find that we were actually staying in the expensive shopping street of Kowloon. Along Nathan Road you can find high-end designer shops like Gucci and LV to name a few. When Hubby came back to the hotel, we went to have lunch at TGI Friday's which is just across the road. Finally we were able to order food that we've missed since moving back to Asia. I ordered my favorite chicken caesar salad and Hubby ordered his favorite pasta. Yum!

After lunch, we went walking around Nathan Road and its neighboring streets and did lots of window shopping and a little bit of real shopping. LOL! We walked and walked until our toes ached taking snap shots of the place and anything interesting we can find (see photos). In the afternoon when we were thirsty and exhausted, we stopped by a healthy dessert place called Hui Lau Shan and savored some mango desserts. Yum!

After the short break, we decided to walk to the Avenue of Stars which is also not far from where we were. This is also a very famous spot in Hong Kong located just at the Kowloon harbor. There we took some more photos of the harbor and also of the "stars" dedicated to the superstars of Chinese show business. Here you can see some familiar names.

Finally evening came and we went looking for a place to have dinner. We decided on Asian food this time. We found a restaurant serving Hainanese chicken rice near our hotel so we tried it. Unfortunately, we both did not like their version of it. We still like the one made by Kota Raya restaurant located along Blackburn Road in Clayton, Victoria in Australia (there, I'm giving you the complete address!). They have the best Hainanese chicken rice so far!

We decided to finally rest our feet at around 9PM (still too early, huh!) and enjoy our hotel room for the single night we're staying there. Late into the night, we can still see people walking on the streets below and the shops still open! (something we are not accustomed to in Australia). We didn't even notice when the shops finally closed but I'm guessing it could have been by midnight.

The next day, after Hubby got his paperwork done and after checking out, we ventured out into the streets of Kowloon again to continue our shopping (real shopping this time!), had some lunch (Chinese goose rice and roasted pork rice) which were both nice and continued shopping again. Finally in the late afternoon we headed down to the China Hong Kong City mall where the ferry terminal is located. We purchased our tickets and had some "real" coffee while waiting for our scheduled trip back to the mainland.

The trip was short and sweet and I'm telling you I will keep coming back to Hong Kong even just for some sanity. More on Hong Kong in my next entries...

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