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Published: October 22nd 2015
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Hong Kong! I'd wanted to visit Hong Kong for a long time with a window seat was really hoping to get a glimpse of the city as we flew in. But the weather had other ideas! We dipped in and out of low cloud which meant we got only small glimpses of the city as we descended. Damn, I guess I'd have to wait for those epic skyscraper views! We arrived late in the morning and after a night flight was really grateful to our hotel in Kowloon for allowing us to check in early so we could grab a couples of hours sleep before exploring.
And our explore started with food! In a great little place called Good Hope Noodles, I sampled my first taste of Hong Kong with friend noodles topped with spicy pork and greens. It was so delicious we went back a couple of times in the following days! Our actual exploring started with the wonderful Tin Hau Temple, spiral incense burners added a smoky atmosphere as well as creating fantastic patterns of light. Outside old men played chess and it was a great spot to sit and people watch for a while. Over the road
was a Jade Market full of intricate pieces, and although Amy didn't buy anything then, the seed was sown! We strolled down to Kowloon Park, watching people practise Taichi, passing wedding couples having their photos and peeking at the exotic birds in the aviary. Before long the sun was gone and my belly was rumbling! Luckily we were right at the bottom of the Temple Street Night Market! From fake CDs and handbags, to fortune tellers and saucepans, the market reminded me of a phrase I learnt back home... 'if you can't buy it in Temple Street Market, you can't buy it'! We ate another wonderful noodle dish before walking down the Nathan Road, which is lined with all the bright neon lights you expect to see. Back near our hotel there was another street market to push through that didn't seemed aimed a little more at locals even though it seemed like every other stall was full of Little Kitty!
The next day we went to Lantau Island to see the worlds largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha! Getting there was an adventure as first we took Hong Kong's underground service before getting on an cable car over the
bay and mountains of the island. When we arrived at the Buddha he was enveloped in cloud giving this wonderful atmospheric view as the clouds revealed some parts hid others. We walked up to the base of the Buddha to get a true sense of his size... he sits at 23 metres high! Walking deeper into the island we reached the Po Lin Monastery which contained a few wonderfully exquisite temples. In front of the main temple was a small Buddha statue in a fountain where for luck you are meant to pour water from the fountain over the Buddha's head 3 times. We ate the Monastery's restaurant and tried 3 different tofu dishes with noodles, 2 of which where great but the other.... I wasn't to sure about! After passing the Buddha one last time we left Lantau Island behind and got the cable car and train back to Kowloon but carried on right through to Tsim She Tsui East promenade, and it was here that we got our fantastic views over the water to the Hong Kong skyline. So good in fact we stopped for a beer at a bar in the prime location! As we wandered back
up the promenade we went through the 'Avenue of the Stars', the the vein of Hollywood's Walk of Fame it honours film stars such as Jet Li and Jackie Chan as well as a statue of Bruce Lee.
It was time we got onto Hong Kong Island, and so the next day we jumped onto the Star Ferry. A dirt cheap service that has been taking people to and from the island since 1888. The skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island looked big enough from Kowloon but seemed to grow higher and higher as we approached. We pushed our way through the city (wow just so many people!) stopping briefly for Morning Tea before arriving at the tram stop to take us up to Victoria Peak. The tram climbed up the near vertical mountainside before delivering us pretty close to the top of Hong Kong's highest point. The views down over Hong Kong and Kowloon are spectacular, almost an overload of the senses as I just didn't know where to look next. Whilst on the peak we followed one of the nature trails around the peak which was a great escape from people and then got the tram back down
to the bottom. We had time before dinner to visit the Man Mo Temple, one of Hong Kong's oldest. Inside the temple is decked out with gold plated chairs, countless deities and of course burning incense! We skipped the noodles that evening and instead dined at the Hard Rock Cafe, for our traditional HRC visit. It was only a short walk from here back to the Victoria Peak tram so we decided to go back up and enjoy the views at night. We managed to time our second trip with a passing rainstorm which meant we could barely see over to Kowloon and in fact even the tops of the skyscrapers of Hong Kong disappeared momentarily. But we waited out the storm and was rewarded with clear views with twinkling lights as far as the eye can see.
For our last full day in Hong Kong we decided to explore the island a bit further, and started in the historic district of Wan Chai. We barged (so many more people!) our way through food markets buying fresh fruit and popped into two more wonderful temples Hung Shing and Pak Tai, which was my favourite of them all. The temple
is almost hidden down a small lane but is the largest city. An upside to it being hidden away is that we where the only people there. We ended up at Victoria Park in the Causeway Bay, enjoying the green respite from the city before getting the tram back into the thick of the action. Our day finished back on Kowloon with the daily Symphony of the Lights show, where the skyscrapers are lit up to music. It was as cheesy as it sounds!
On the final day we had time to fit in a quick visit to Stanley before our flight onto Australia. The seaside town of Stanley has a compact little market and great sea views. Stanley is on the other side of Hong Kong Island from the city and what's great is that once you leave via a tunnel through the mountains you emerge in a completely different world. No more skyscrapers, small towns where houses cling to the mountainsides and the pace of life is 1 million miles slower than that of the city and Kowloon. I loved our visit to Hong Kong, my advise to anyone though would be stay on Kowloon. Hong Kong
is a bit 'business' like whereas Kowloon has the markets, the temples and the views!
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