Hong Kong Day 2 & 3

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Hi everyone! I apologize I'm not getting these posted quick enough, but the photo upload on this thing takes forever!! I finally gave up on it and decided to upload only a few photos on the blog and then the rest on a Flicker album. The album links are at the end of each day. Also, since I'm new at blogging I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts on our daily adventures. I've been trying to be as detailed as possible, but we're doing so much, so I feel it starts to get monotonous. Therefore, I'm going to keep things as simple as possible in the blog and add more descriptions to the photos. I guess just bare with me until I get the hang of it :o)



Day 2:



Since our first day was so hectic, we decided to have a very chill 2nd day. We hung out on the boat and did some school work for most of the morning, then explored the Aberdeen area in the afternoon. We love that we're staying on Boat Moshka! The scenery is so beautiful and it's quiet, so it's very relaxing. There are hawks that live off the cliffs of the surrounding mountains and in the morning and evenings you can watch them hunt. Every day there are 20 men canoe teams training through the harbor. There are 18 rowers, 1 steerer and 1 drummer whom I'm assuming is the coach b/c the beating of the drum is keeping their pace. And the boat itself is so beautiful that it's enjoyable just to be on it. I have to be honest, I can totally see us living on a boat one day.



In the afternoon we took a sampan to the Aberdeen Center. Our sampan rides up to that point had only been to and from the bus stop, so this time we got to see more of the harbor. We cruised past a large boat that looked like an emperor's palace and realized we had seen this massive structure from our boat before b/c at night it is lit up like the 4th of July. We later found out it was the Jumbo Kingdom Restaurant, which is a famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong. We looked it up and the meals are $1,500HK ($200US) and up!! We won't be eating there, lol. Once we got to Aberdeen Center we knew we made the right choice. It is a much smaller version of central HK and at a much slower pace. Don't get me wrong it's still a busy congested area, just not as jam-packed as Central. There are lots of produce vendors aligning the streets with some pretty funky looking fruits. I recognized dragon fruit and lychee's, but there were plenty I'd never seen, like this huge green fruit that I got to see being opened for someone. It looked like a type of bread fruit. They cracked it open like a walnut and the meat comes out easily.

After a leisurely stroll checking out our surroundings we realized we were super hungry. We saw a sushi place and made it our lunch spot. To our surprise it was a conveyor belt sushi joint!! I've heard of these, but have never been to one. We loved it!! How awesome is it to have all kinds of options go by and you pick and choose what you want?!? If you know me well enough you know that I like being able to get an array of different things in one meal (which is why I always order too much food, lol), so this place was just for me. Our favorite part was you make your own green tea! Every table had a hot water dispenser and a can of green tea powder. Raelynd loved making green tea and shockingly enough actually drank it.

After lunch I think our bodies just finally gave out from the time change. We were pooped!! It was about 4pm, so we decided to grab some ramen to bring back for dinner and head home for a nap. We slept until morning, lol.



Album HK Day 2



Day 3:

We woke up at 5am....holy smokes, did we really just sleep 12 hours??? I guess we needed it. Today the plan was to meet up with Logan and Abra to go to Sai Kung Island where Abra needed to shoot some photos for school. Logan was going to show us around while Abra was doing her thing. We'd need to take the MTR, then a mini bus, then a ferry to the island. Logan and Abra live on the far northwest side of Hong Kong, so are meeting spot was the Hang Hau station.

Did I mention that we love the MTR here?!? It's so clean and so easy to use. The exits can be a little confusing when you don't know what you're doing, but you get the hang of it quick. When we got to Hang Hau it started to rain :o( Abra said the ferry wouldn't take us if it was raining, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and hope for the rain to pass. We ate at a dumpling place that was really good! We ordered 3 different kinds not realizing that about 8 dumplings came w/ each order. Woops! No worries, they didn't go to waste :o)

The rain never stopped, so Logan suggested we check out the K11 Mall where some of their photography is displayed. Logan, Abra and 5 other artists started the All-Yen Collaborative and their work was part of the K11 Public Fair No. 1, which was another collaborative of many artists from all over the world.

Before I get more into that let me tell you about the malls in Hong Kong. Seriously, these things are out of control! Multi-levels, gigantic and super modern. Each level is organized by category, i.e. electronics, clothing, and filled with real restaurants. Nothing like the food courts we're use to in the states. It was funny b/c going to a mall in HK was not on the top of my list, but I'm glad I got to see it!

We went from level to level viewing all of All-Yen Collaboratives work. We also viewed work from Suitman, Sticky Monster Lab and artist Hitotzuki. I usually avoid malls, so it was sort of funny going to a mall to view art.

That evening we went to dinner with Logan, Abra and some of their friends from SCAD. They took us to a local BBQ spot where you choose your meat and veggies and cook them yourself on your table. When we walked up to the place we quickly realized that this was going to be a true Hong Kong experience! The only way I can describe it it was like going to the fair, but the meat on a stick was raw. And this place was packed!!! This concept would never work in the states, but the people here live in very small quarters, so cooking their own food outside is a treat.

There were two grilling options. Option 1: Limitless time and you get a free standing grill where you cook your food over an open fire, just like camping. Option 2: Three hour limit and you get a table grill. Both options is all you can eat and all you can drink sodas and water. We chose option 2. The meat choices were crazy! Chicken breast, chicken wings, chicken legs, chicken cubed, red meat cubed, lamb, mini sausages, cartilage (who knows from what) and fish. There was more, but I don't know what it was, lol. Lot's of veggies too, corn, green pepper, mushrooms. We had a blast! The only down side was this place was about a 2 hour commute from the boat. Needless to say it was a late night, but well worth it!



Album HK Day 3

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Comments

[Jade Skidmore]

Conveyor belt???
I've never heard of that! Sushi on a conveyor belt? Did it go in a circle? That's so cool!

[wanderlustrians]

Yes it did!!
It was seriously awesome..