Blogs from Kowloon, Hong Kong, Asia - page 10

Geo: 22.3236, 114.173Today we have a little bit of a sleep in, like 8am, all got up and showered and could see it was going to be a beautiful day, sun was shining and there was only a little bit of smog. We set off for some shopping at about 10am, but a lot of the shops only open at 11am or 12noon as they stay open till midnight or just before. We decided to catch the underground to central on Hong Kong Island and with about 12 different exits, we took pot luck to where we would end up. We landed in an area which was Louis Voitton and Chanel, and all the expensive shops so we weren't really interested in staying around. We saw a sign for the Peak Tram and although we had ... read more

EVENING I felt quite unwell after leaving the tea museum. I saw some caged orang-utans, and walked into the centre where I was overwhelmed by the amount of people on the streets. I hid in Mcdonalds for a while, went back to my hostel and had a nap. Mcdonalds has rescued me for the fourth time this trip, usually providing me with a big Mac or Filet of fish and fries. There I can eat safe in the knowledge that there is some hygiene standard and it gets me away from the noisy streets where I am constantly pushed around by busy people looking at their ipads, and not paying attention to anybody else. In fact in the evening I had a wonderful experience. I walked around to Causeway bay and along it past the ferry ... read more

Today I went to the National Museum of History of Hong Kong. It was so fascinating I spent four hours there with a break in between to eat in a Vietnamese restaurant (which took me ages with chopsticks.) The museum has seven sections. The three most interesting for me were The Folk Culture in Hong Kong, the Opium Wars and the Cession of Hong Kong; and Hong Kong under the Japanese Occupation and of course, it’s return to China from the British The Folk Culture In Hong Kong Most of the traditions stemmed from the fishing days, agriculture, and involved worshipping the Gods or killing off evil spirits. The most impressive Folk Tradition was that of The Seven Sisters Festival. On this day spinsters offer sacrifices to the Seven Sisters and pray for a good husband ... read more

Guten tag! I've been thinking about posting some of the following photos on here. I'm really not trying to portray Hong Kong as weird in their choice of food, snacks and markets. On the other hand, I realise (realize) it's only weird because some people have never encountered anything like it so if you are curious, please continue but I will warn you, contents might be disturbing... I went to a very traditional Chinese market, which is crowded and incredibly fascinating. I grew up going to these markets and always remembered being bored and irritated but now, I am just fascinated, grossed out and curious all together. We have our store-style mall where everything is packaged and laid out beautifully. And when I say everything is wrapped, everything is wrapped and packaged almost all individually. Vegetables ... read more

Ni hao! It's a bright Monday morning and I am mostly awake with a hint of jet lag. It's good to be home but it's also been an interesting three and a half days - I didn't think I would be as overwhelmed with the crowds and such but apparently, I'm not as used to it. Nonetheless, it's still a good time and I've done quite a bit of sleeping and little bit of traveling including a wedding reception, lunch date with Winnie and Christmas party. I've also been eating none-stop! In addition to restaurants, there's a ton of street food and pastry stores and man do we love our pastries. Hong Kong is a city on the go and there is so much walking that it's incredibly convenient to have these stores lined up everywhere ... read more