The EPIC: Hong Kong

Japan; 5 months down.


HONG KONG EPIC.
For winter holiday, Pat, Ed and I went to Hong Kong!

WARNING: This is very long. Pictures are small to conserve space. Click on the HONG Kong photo button to the right to view ALL photos.
Stay tuned for more photos, videos, and panoramic shots.



Dec 21 Thursday
It was only a 4 hour plane ride to Hong Kong. And before you know it, you are seeing the coast light up.


Pat is Canadian, but has family in Hong Kong and his ex-cop uncle graciously picked us up from the airport. On our way to the hotel, I was saddened. This is not what Hong Kong is supposed to look like… this looks like Cleveland! Just cement highways and green shrubbery and trees and some construction. Then we went through a long tunnel, and much like Pittsburgh, when you come out the other end WHAM! City! We drove over a long suspension bridge, the apartment and business buildings all lit up in the evening, all sorts of colors bouncing off the water fronts (Hong Kong is a series of islands, collectively). I think I could only count jaw-dropping moments on both my hands, and I could add another one.
There is nothing to compare it to. Yes, it is a big city. But big cities are not this crammed with high rises. Hong Kong has nowhere to build but up, so everything is tall and amazing. The streets have the scent of Chinese food (for the most part), and its busy and noisy and everything that is great about big cities. After getting to the hotel (which was in Kowloon, the southern tip of mainland China- still Hong Kong)


Hotel day & night


I wanted to go out straight away despite it being late. Stores didn’t start to close until 12:30 am, some not at all. I went to the 7-Eleven across the street and made my first purchase. Hello Kitty juice and Skittles (I can’t eat American Skittles, for some reason there is gelatin in them, but not international versions of them…).

Things about Hong Kong.
--> Hong Kong IS international. Everyone speaks English (even a little bit), everything has English interpretations, and international foods are everywhere and easy to buy or dine with.
--> Hong Kong understands what vegetarianism is* due a population of strict vegetarian Buddhists and (probably) some Western influence. I was very happy to see the largest selection of fake meat I have seen in my life. I also purchased fake cheese and fake mayo. I was super happy.


*Japan thinks as long as there are is no meat chunks or if it’s “only a little”, it’s ok. Also, fish is not a vegetable.

-->The weather, was amazing. Late spring/early summer feel. Sunny everyday but one, only needed a light jacket, and no wind!
--> HK is duty free. No taxes!
They still use bamboo scaffolding, and their toilet paper is THREE-ply.
--> Octopus Card. Used like a debit card, you “beep” is for using any transportation (subway, train, bus, tram, ferry…) you can also use it at places like convenience stores to pay for stuff. Super convenient, and you even get a small discount on the transportation fees. It has a microchip in it, so all you have to do is wave it over the scanner.
--> Public Transport fees. Super-duper cheap. It cost me 30 cents to cross the Harbor on a ferry. 30 cents!! Nothing really cost me over $1.50 , and most trips were less than a US dollar. In Japan, it takes me $3 just to get to the city over. Bah!
--> I rode in a private car, train, subway, tram, cable cars, private boat, ferry, people movers, & escalators. I also walked a ton!
--> One of the first things I saw on TV was for new fitness equipment that simulates riding a horse. This isn’t the exact commercial, but it’s just as ridiculous:



I actually saw a bored fitness equipment employing sitting on while while it was on, just sitting there with her arms crossed waiting for customers...

Dec 22 Friday
Ed and I went out for our first real Chinese meal at some place not too far from our hotel. I had mushroom noodle soup, stuffed veggie buns, and veggie-stuffed tofu skin. Num-num.

Next it was off to Kowloon Park. Like most parks in Hong Kong, there was some odd balance of a refreshing green park, with skyscrapers gracing the background. Ed got a grape juice from the vending machine, and along with it popped out 2 mango juices! Rad!



We wandered over to the Pier at China Hong Kong City and took in the view.






Then off to Victoria Harbour for the sunset!



Walking around, we got some toiletries and Ed discovered he got a FREE Christmas moose in his shopping bag! I went to Hard Rock Café to pick up a pin to add to my ever-growing collection.

We later went back to Victoria Harbour for the nightly light show. The Harbour was gorgeous lit up by itself. Then the laser light show started and the buildings would flash different colors in sync to music.





Daytime & nighttime Harbour comparison





After that we had too-spicy Indian for dinner, and went to the grocery store. There I bought real granola cereal (cheap!) and a bag of apples (cheap!!) and a little bottle of soymilk. When I got home, I sniffed the soymilk. Smelled like tofu, “OK” I thought, “I’ve had worse, won’t be too bad.” I took a sip and it tasted like there was a pepper aftertaste! How odd! I looked for ingredients for an explanation and found none.

Dec 23 Saturday
I opened my wonderful cereal and embarked on eating it with this pepper milk. It was hard to taste the cereal with my mouth feeling spicy. After I finished, I checked once again for ingredients, and found them on an over looked sticker! They read:
“Water, non-GMO soyabeans, sugar, ginger.”

GINGER?! No wonder my mouth was a-flame! Mystery-solved.
After breakfast we met up with Pat (who was staying with family) and went off to Hong Kong Island and could mingle with the big buildings we were viewing across Victoria Harbour the previous night.



We walked around and got some coffee and found a (packaged) sandwich at our table someone forgot. Hong Kong has been treating us well with all these free things!
For lunch we stumbled upon a vegetarian restaurant. Prices are a bit cheaper than the states, and for being a fancy-looking veg restaurant, it was super cheap. I had sweet and sour “pork” since I have never had it in any form and it was love. Plus, check out our view:



We then took a bus to the top of Victoria Peak, which is where you see most pictures of Hong Kong shot from. It’s best to go at night and it gives you a birds-eye view of the city. Many famous & rich people live on the mountain, like Jackie Chan. I didn’t have my coat and it was pretty chilly and my nose was running, but that’s OK as I bought a fleece-hooded jacket for $6 up there. Rock.



Dec 24 Sunday

On Christmas Even we thought it would be most excellent to go to Ocean Park, Hong Kong’s conservation amusement park, which also offered a fantastic view.



Being from Ohio, the capital of roller coasters and theme parks (and home to the never-ending rollercoaster record-breaking park Cedar Point ), other coasters have a lot to live up too. These rides were way too short, but still fun.

We also saw sharks and pandas and Ed bought me a panda purse I was eyeing. ^_^



All animals are protected, all funds go to conservation, the park is about awareness of the environment and education, which is cool.

There is two parts to the park, upper and lower, and you have to take the cable cars to get there. I think they look like gum balls. What do you think?



The nighttime brought about closed roads and an ocean of people back in our area (called Tsim Sha Tsui). Christmas is brought in like New Years the TV told us later. Stores were having super sales, crowds of Santas were singing, and there were even fireworks! Even though there are all sorts of people in Hong Kong, everyone seems to say Merry Christmas. No one thinks anything of it, and everyone is just happy.



Outside the hotel, Hark The Angels being sung in Cantonese


Here is a video (not mine) of the Christmas countdown.





Dec 25 Monday
Had a nice sleep-in from the excitement of Ocean Park and staying out in the crowds.

We then went to Hong Kong Food Fest at the Expo Centre which was shoulder-to shoulder and then some. I do love me some free samples! There was a big booth of veggie food that was incredible. Most of the food was frozen so I couldn’t buy it, but it did get some shredded “pork” and a pouch of “Pure Vegetarian Rendang Meat (Malay Flavour)”. It was saucy and tasty though. I did get to try the best hot dogs, fake or real, squid (hey it is rubbery!), roasted eel, chicken nuggets, ham, steak, and lots of other fake things. Good and cheap. If only they weren’t frozen!!

I also found a new love of mine, I do not know its name but Pat’s uncle informed me it was a specialty of Guangzhou –SE China- (I think). It was made in a roll and then cut into piece. It has a chewy thick outside made from rice. The center is peanuts with sugar... like Snickers. Then the outside is rolled in coconut. Oh man, it is GOOD!

Then we saw Curse of the Golden Flower (by same person who did Hero and House of Flying Daggers) starring Chow Yun Fat. It was beautiful and intense. All movies have English subtitles, so that was good. This one also had Cantonese subtitles as the movie was in Mandarin (which I can now tell the difference by listening to).

Then I had some vegetarian fish for dinner. Despite having good veggie fish in Nagoya, this stuff was kinda weird.



Dec 26- Tuesday
Another laid back day. We planned our adventure for the next day, and set out to explore. We went to Hong Kong Park, which is very large and calm, again with the backdrop of skyscrapers.



We brought a little lunch earlier from the station and picked out a nice spot to eat.



We went to the “Mid-Levels” also on HK Island, a loose grouping of areas on a steady slope up a mountain. They have installed escalators (with no steps, just an incline) in small sections up this incline, so you can get on and off wherever you like if you pass a place of interest. The escalator ride, from top-to-bottom, is 10 minutes. They only go one way until late at night, and then they switch going down. But as I said, they are in mini sections, and the ride is usually 30-45 seconds before you have to walk over to the next one waiting (or get off and explore all the busy little shops). The cool thing is, at one part you can “beep” your Octopus Card, and get $2 HK off your next public transportation fee. Why? Because you are out walking around this area being healthy, and this is a reward. Love it.

Anyways, places in this area are Hollywood Road which is known for antiques, as well as Soho (like its arty counter-part) as well as Boho and Noho. And finally I was given a taste of what I imagined HK would be, street markets.



It was kinda late and the little street sellers were packing up their wares. We weaved in the narrow streets and down little brick pathways between buildings, the only thing that semi-resembles an old Hong Kong. We headed to a Mexican restaurant I had excitedly seen earlier in our escalator ride. Because Ed lives in that silly English land with no real Tex-Mex, I explained in detail the differences between tacos, burritos, soft tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, etc… I had a lukewarm burrito and yearned for Taco Tanto’s fresh baked burritos of yore. But I hadn’t had one in so long, I gobbled it up!

Dec 27 Wednesday
Today we were up and out to visit the island of Lantau which is famous for the Big Buddha, and more recently the new HK International Airport and HK Disneyland. Not anticipating too much because it was a weekday, we found ourselves in a queue for 2 hours just to buy a ticket to ride the 360 Skyrail (fancy name for cable car) that would take us straight to the Buddha. Buses were also available, but how could you NOT go on the 360 with its panoramic views? We shared the car with 3 other groups of people for our 25 minute journey through the mountains and over the sea.





For about $7 we had a communal veggie lunch. Despite its looks, it was very filling! Our meal stub also got us into the Big Buddha and into the special relics rooms where 2 pieces of Gautama Buddha (the most well known Buddha) is stored.



“The Tian Tan Buddha is the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha. The statue is located near Po Lin Monastery and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion.“



There was also a special Shaolin performance at the Po Lin Monastery.







We took the bus to another part of the island than where we came from. It was a gorgeous ride, as Lantau Island is the biggest and least populated main island in Hong Kong (there are many tiny inhabitable islands in HK, they don’t count ;) ). We took a ferry back to Hong Kong Island and went back to the mid-levels to drink a little and ended up a nice little health restaurant. This led to…



Dec 28- Thursday
Me being incredibly sick in the morning and nauseous all day. Thankfully I was well cared for. We made it out mid-day to the Chi-Lin Nunnery, closing a half-hour earlier than our guide book stated, probably due to the holiday. However the garden was open and gave us some beautiful things to look at.




Went back to the veg restaurant (hey it’s good and well priced!) for some hot noodles that made my belly happy and called it a night.

Dec 29- Friday

In college, in order to graduate, I took this course called “Economies of the Asian-Pacific Rim” and next to Phys Ed, was the bane of my college career. I didn’t live near campus and I had to be there at 7:45 until 9:30… AM. I had/have no interest in economy, most of the students were international business majors and the professor talked about money terms a lot- I had taken no finance classes, and I had no idea what was going on. My ability of being an honor student faded into the background and I knew my secret weapon had to be unleashed: the art of BS.

How I got a B+ in that class I will never know, I could only bank on the powerpoint presentations I had to give as my saving grace because it was something specific I could research and figure out. In one such presentation, I was assigned Hong Kong. I had no prior interest or desire or knowledge of Hong Kong. Upon doing research, and seeing all the pretty lights, Hong Kong seemed like a place I would actually like to visit one day. I saw a travel show on Hong Kong and then I learned HK has PINK dolphins. Two years later I am making sure I would be going to HK since Japan is not too far from it. So if it weren’t for that awful morning class, I may have never seen pink dolphins, which is what I did this day.

I had made reservations with HKdolphinwatch.com for Friday morning. The chilliest day of our trip, we met as a tour group and were bussed to the boat. On the bus they lady told us about the dolphins, what we can expect, how humans are impacting their environment, etc. And also, the biggest question, why they are pink! Because they live in between fresh and salt water, it is a bit murky, and they need less pigment to protect themselves from the sun. They are also making sure they are staying warm by flushing blood around their blubber. Babies are born grey and “fade” to pink. Unfortunately, because of all the toxins from the waters stored in the mother’s body, the first borns have a high fatality rate. Mama dolphins also baby-sit other baby dolphins! We received pink dolphin postcards. Did you know Pink dolphins are also only found in HK.

The boat was fun to be on and had plates of cookies and coffee for us. About 45 minutes or so the boat starts to slow down and dolphins were spotted following a fishing boat out in the waters getting some lunch! We were very lucky as our boat was surrounded by different groups of dolphins. Some got has close as 10 feet to the boat swimming around. You could see a few pairs together and a couple mama/baby pairs. They really are a light bubblegum pink! Of course, my camera died on the first photo I tried to take. I will try and post some of Ed’s (whose battery also died on the boat trip) later. It really was amazing. We watched them for maybe an hour before heading back.

PIX PENDING

example:


In the mood for crap, we decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock Café, and had some crazy big veggie burger which was also cheap (gotta love these prices).
Afterwards we checked out the HK Museum of Art, and encountered a marching band escapade of sorts. All these different bands were lined up and ready to go and started marching, then another group would go, etc. They went on for awhile, I could hear them in the museum! The museums contemporary showpiece was HAIR Dialogue. There were these little shoes made of hair. And giant curtains made of hair with things in different languages written on them with more hair. And in this curtain was a giant wooden table with wooden chairs that had TV screens on the seats that were just playing clouds. The level of creepy was too intense and I left. I think it had to do with hearing all the TV frequencies and the hair and the weird video, was just too much RINGU for my liking.

Dec 30- Saturday
We started off the day to see the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas. I guess there are actually over 12,000 there. It was very impressive, quite a walk up the side of a mountain, but it was really amazing.

PIX PENDING

example:


I bought a pretty stone flower bracelet and finally found a 108-bead string of prayer beads that didn’t cost a stupid amount (and as you may have guessed it was also stupidly cheap).

We met up with Pat and he showed us all the street vendor markets. We went to the Ladies Market, Shoe Street, etc. Pat had to leave and I went to enquire about a pair of adult Hello Kitty shoes I had seen. I hold the shoe up to show the guy and he says:
“For you?”
“Yes.”
“Oh really?”
He was shocked because my feet are so big and said they only have to a 36 (I need 42).

Another funny shoe story from that night: I am looking for a pair of shoes to go with my New Years dress. I see a pretty neat pair, and say it goes up to a 40. Hoping for the best, I try it on. I can’t do it. The guy (note: HK native) helping me had white-framed glasses and a blonde, permed afro. I look at him sadly. He says:
“Too tight?”

I nod. He then proceeds to do a “oh well” shoulder shrug/ arms raised motion… but does so, so that it is very pronounced and over extended, then brings it back in with the added sounded effect of “Wah-waaah.”
I think they really don’t know what to say in English, but the reactions that I got while looking for shoes were hilarious!

Instead of catching the MTR home, we decided to walk it and go to the Night markets and Jade market. I got a sweet sea-horse belt buckle for $5. We also stopped at a different veggie restaurant, cheaper and not as fancy, but there were super busy and 2 monks were eating there. That’s a good sign! Their sweet and sour “pork” was not as good, but still was a good meal!

Dec 31- Sunday
We met Pat in the afternoon for some last deal shopping. We split up and I could finally power shop. But still found no shoes, I was a failure as a shopper and I only ate a bagel as punishment. I still had to get accessories, and how could I do that if I didn’t know what color my shoes were?! We went to another shopping plaza. Flip-flops were my last hope, and I managed to find nice light pink ones with sea-shells and beads on them. They sales guy gave us a scratch off coupon and we got 25% off! It was worth not finding anything!

I then gave myself 15 minutes to get jewelry. I found a neat cat-shaped hair clip while looking, and the sales lady then proceeded to show me every piece of cat-related jewelry they had. I found cheap star barrettes, and some anchor earrings. No necklace caught my eye, so I was afraid I would be necklace-less. At the register, I find out my sale is US$2.50 short of getting a free Swarovski crystal necklace (which were pretty and not cheesy like most free things). She holds up a pair of neat cat earrings I had been debating and asks if I want them. Oh yes, she was good. So I ended up with a nice necklace after all!

We went back to the hotel to change, have a quick bite to eat, and then went out among the waves of people back in the street to meet up Pat and his friend Leo. We go to Hong Kong Island to Causeway Bay’s Times Square for a concert and countdown. We were a bit too late and couldn’t see anything. Finally we get trapped in a way-too-sober crowd and lights shaped like apples with numbers in them start lighting up going down the building and everyone starts counting down! But by the time I’m at “8” I realize it’s all in Cantonese and I start laughing because I don’t know Cantonese and just listened to the numbers and yelled when everyone else did!

We caught the tram and headed over to THE after-party central Lan Kwai Fong, where drunken foreigners were stumbling about because they know how to do New Years right! Around 2, Pat and Leo left. On the streets shops were offering deals on drinks. Also experienced my the 2nd worst mojito ever. Ed went to the bathroom and about 30 seconds later a cute Indian guy hit on me, only to have his dreams crushed. Good to know I still got it! A little bit more people watching later, we got some “kebabs” (pita wraps!) and went back to eat it at the hotel before passing out!

Happy New Years!

Jan 1- Monday
Did some last minute souvenir shopping for my office and schools and took the infamous Star Ferry across the Harbour at sunset. I once again became sick later (I finally narrowed down the culprit as a berry smoothie. Albeit, from two different places… it’s the only thing that matches). Packed all my goodies and slept well.

Jan 2- Tuesday.
Pat’s uncle took us out for some pre-departure official dim sum. Started watching The Departed on the plane, but the flight was too short and couldn’t finish it. I also barely touched my special meal because of being sick. Got back and relaxed!!!