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Published: February 10th 2015
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I recently had about two weeks for my winter vacation and decided I was going to take full advantage of the time to visit some other countries while I'm here. First stop: Hong Kong!!
After talking to several people / asking for advice, Hong Kong was one place that was suggested by a few. I've read about the city and seen photos and was definitely intrigued. My flight from Busan to Hong Kong (with a layover in Shanghai) was uneventful enough... best thing to hope for when traveling by plane! I arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday evening, had my money converted at their airport, and got onto the city bus that would take me to within a block or two of my hostel. Task #1: finding my hostel without getting totally lost! Considering this was my first time really traveling 100% on my own, my map reading skills were going to come in high demand...
One thing I've noticed about Asian cities I've been in so far... they don't believe in street signs. Or, if they do have a street sign, the numbering of the buildings is not always the most logical... at least not in my mind.
But I digress. I got off at the bus stop indicated on the hostel website and started looking (without success) for some signs to point me in the right direction. The area the hostel was in was very populated and well-lit so I wasn't worried about being in some deserted alley at night by myself or anything... I finally just started walking towards the nearest intersection I could see. Finally found some street signs and managed to figure out how to get to my hostel... took about 15 minutes. OK, Task #1: Success!
After checking in at the hostel, I was brought to my room one floor up. I was in a room for three women; one room mate was in the room mate when I arrived. Viktoria, a girl from Germany, is a student in China and was travelling during her break as well. We started talking and decided that since we were going to be in Hong Kong basically the same exact amount of time we would explore together. The next morning we met with another English teacher from my city in Korea, Steven, and started out.
The three of us visited Hong Kong Park
and a bird sanctuary that morning. The weather in Hong Kong is beautiful this time of year! We headed to Hollywood Road and checked out a couple of temples and some street markets. The incense being burned in the temples is quite intense... I felt my sinuses building up after about 10 minutes and was more than happy to get back outside into the fresh air. That being said, many of the temples here are stunning and well worth the visit!
The Peak is an area where you can get some of the best views of Hong Kong. We hiked / walked around there for a few hours, exploring some of the trails and looking for the best views. As we were walking around we stumbled upon this almost-deserted hill with a stunning view of the sunset and the city. We sat down and watched the sunset and the city start to light up. (On a side note: Steven and I grabbed a beer from a stand near this area and drank it at the top. In Hong Kong, it is perfectly legal to walk around drinking a beer... this small-town American girl had a bit of trouble adjusting
to that the first time or two! haha) We met a couple of people at the top - Henry, who lived in Hong Kong, and a girl from England, Emma. We chatted for a while as we walked back down and decided that Emma would join Steven and Viktoria and I the next day as she was on her own while her friend was at work.
Day 2 started with a trip to the Big Buddha! I had heard about this and was definitely interested to go see it. The line to get on the cable car was probably about an hour long but once we were on the cable car and saw the views: totally worth it! We could see the Big Buddha from quite a distance, it really is massive... Once we got to the landing area we walked around and got some photos as we headed towards the main attraction. The stairs seemed endless... and I hate stairs... but seeing Big Buddha up close like that was incredible. The detail on the statue is awesome: you can see the folds in his robe and the design of his hair.
That night we went to the
Avenue of Stars. The views of the Harbor at night were beautiful. I've always loved the feeling that a city becomes alive at night as everything starts to light up. Having grown up in various small towns in New Hampshire, the feeling is very different: after maybe 7 or 8pm, it seems that everything is shut down for the night. Sure, you might find a restaurant serving dinner or a movie showing... but spending my teen years in a town with less than 4,000 people, the options are pretty limited! I have visited many major cities around the world: Boston; New York City; Las Vegas; London; Paris; Rome; Edinburgh; Madrid; I can now add Hong Kong (and Manila and Taipei) to my list. Cities seem to do the opposite as my small towns: when the sun goes down, that's when the excitement starts to happen! While the Avenue of Stars seemed a little overrated to me - possibly because I had heard of only one of the actors/stars featured, Bruce Lee - it was still fun to see a bit of the city at night.
Lesson learned from this night: the "monks" that want to "bless" you just want
your money. Watch out. Oh well, got a cool necklace out of it! 😊
Day 3 began with a trip with Viktoria to see the Ten Thousand Buddhas. No, I did not count all of the Buddhas... but after the hike to the top and seeing all of the statues and images of Buddhas, I would not be the least bit surprised if there really are 10,000+! At the bottom we saw some more monks (managed to avoid this one!) as we started up. By this point, I was pretty sick of stairs but I was not about to miss out of seeing the site. Luckily, I was able to pace myself and enjoy the statues on the way up. At the top there was a group of girls (from India maybe?) that practically chased Viktoria and I down and asked if we would take a picture with them. They were very funny (if a bit louder than I found to be respectful considering we were right next to a temple) and seemed very happy to get a picture.
After making our way back down from Ten Thousand Buddhas, Viktoria and I headed to an area of Hong
Kong called Stanley. The beach here was very pretty, I can only imagine how busy / popular it is in the summer! The weather was perfect and we sat by the water for a while and watched the boats and people. The bus ride to and from Stanley was... well, let's just say it was a bit of an adrenaline rush and I may have been gripping the armrest on more than one occasion! On the way back from Stanley we sat on the top of a double-decker bus right in the front and got to see the entire ride from the drivers' point of view (just a little higher up). Once safely back in Causeway Bay where our hostel was, we went to change and met Steven for one last night in Hong Kong.
We stopped at the Hard Rock so I could get my traditional pin before heading to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. The three of us found a bar to check out and ordered a few beers - I was given one of the largest glasses with Hoegaarden that I've ever seen served at a bar - and just enjoyed our last night (well, mine and Steven's) in Hong Kong. It was the perfect end to a few days with some new friends and a great start to my Winter Vacation adventure.
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