Hong Kong

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Hong Kong

Like most of the previous days, our transportation has once again proven to be very interesting. We flew from Bangkok to Hong Kong via an airlines called SriLanka. The plane was huge and mom and I had the whole row to ourselves on takeoff. Each seat had its own personal TV where you could watch different channels, play games, or make phone calls to other seats. We were once again the only Americans on the whole plane, the majority of people we assumed were either Asian and some srilankans As soon as we took off, and I'm talking before the wheels were even retracted, the entire plane was up out of the seats moving around, forming little groups to chat, switching seats...mind you, the seat belt sign was still on. The stewardess' were constantly running around telling everyone to remain in their seats, but it was like no one cared! Mom and I have never ever seen anything like this plane, it was like one huge giant party. Every 5 minutes someone new would be sitting in the seats next to us, just bouncing around. Overall though, the plane was very nice and we got an entire free meals and all the free drinks we wanted ! I would recommend this airlines to anyone, just be forewarned that you may be the only person sitting in your seat during the flight.

We got to our hotel in Hong Kong around 5:30PM, so we decided to do a little bit of exploring of the city and maybe grab a bite to eat. Our hotel had a metro stop connected to it and we both agreed that their system is very easy and clean to use. We ended up in the high end area of Hong Kong with all the business men and women getting off work. Mom and I felt totally out of place because the area we were in, I could easily compare to New York, and we were dressed in shorts in T-shirts with backpacks. So we went on home because we knew the next day we were planning on seeing the entire city in a day.

Waking up early, our hotel had a nice breakfast buffet . Mom had found this book called walking tours of Hong Kong, I believe you supposed to do one a day, but I think we did about 6 of them. The first walk we went on took us to the flower market, the bird market, the dried seafood market, and the medicine/herbal market. All very interesting although the bird market was extremely noisy as you'd expect and the seafood market was pretty gross and smelly in my opinion.

Next we went to a temple called Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin. It is famous because apparently three religions, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism are all practiced there. Also, it is rumored that if you make a wish and an earnest plea to the gods there, it will always come true After the temple we walked through several markets including one called the Ladies Market selling lots of iPhone accessories and knock offs. Mom and I really need to work on our bargaining skills because we walked away empty handed once again. We did several other walking tours but I won't bore you with the details..let me just say, we covered ALOT of ground in one day and my feet were about to quit on me.

Towards sunset time, mom and I took a cable car up to the peak of a mountain which is an absolute must if you are in Hong Kong and want one thing to do. We unfortunately had a really cloudy night so our view wasn't as great but it was still neat to see the entire city of Hong Kong and across the river to Kowloon island. Once it got dark, mom and I quickly got down and rushed to the ferry to get over to Kowloon island where all the huge buildings on the waterfront put on a light show called the Symphony of Lights. We made it in the nick of time to see the 19 minute show, I only wish it had been a clearer night for us to see better.

We rounded up our day by going back over to Hong Kong island via ferry . We had heard of this area which is supposed to have a great night life so we made our way there. It was a bunch of American/European looking people all getting off work and having a few drinks. It was nice to see other people; however, it wasn't ideal for a mom and her daughter to hang around and have some drinks so we went on home.

Things about Hong Kong:
1) Who told us they speak a ton of English over here???? We must have been in the wrong areas, because there was very minimal English spoken or written.
2) The city is very very clean, no street vendors selling food at all and no trash or anything on the streets.
3) One day in Hong Kong was enough for us.
4) $100 Hong Kong dollars = ~$12 US dollars. However, they use the $ sign like we do, so it has been really confusing and really hard for us to spend money over here when it starts so high... Also their change is super heavy and not all of it is round, I think we have a little bit left over we will have to show when we get back.

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