Hong Kong weekend was a great success. Three full days of tourist-ing and two days for travel was just the perfect amount of time to see the city, spend a bunch of money, and thaw. We had terrific weather- I would guess it hit 70 on several days, and though the views were plagued by some heavy pollution haze, it was sunny every day. We also had terrific food- managed to eat Chinese food at least once a day and squeezed in pasta, deli sandwiches, treats at assorted coffee shops and lots of ice cream in too.
Wednesday was travel to Tokyo and then Hong Kong which left us enough time to find our hostel in the Mong Kok area and crash. The building itself was a bit sketchy, but the Dragon Hostel (where we stayed) was clean and for the most part a really great bargain in an awesome area of town (right on top of a street market and an ice cream store!).
Thursday we explored Tsim Sha Tsui, the overpriced and mobbed tourist drag centered on Nathan Road. Imagine a shopping district even more packed with tourists than the Magnificent Mile in Chicago and then add a crowd of Indians hawking Rolex watches or tailoring services on every corner. Whoa. After some light shopping we crossed the harbor on a Star Ferry and then explored the Central downtown district of Hong Kong. We timed lunch badly and hit business lunch hour so were starving and had to settle for pasta instead of the Chinese food we'd been dreaming of... but, as I discovered once again, when it is time to eat- its TIME TO EAT! After lunch we strolled through all the crazy streets and checked out two different parks. Around dusk we caught the tram up the "mountain" to Victoria's Peak to watch the haze turn darker shades of pink and finally become night. Then we had ice cream. We were exhausted by all the walking and grabbed the subway all the way home instead of taking the Ferry back to Kowloon.
Friday we headed out to Stanley which is located around the backside of the island. We sat on the second floor of a double decker bus as it wound in and out of all the coves and bays along the coast and appreciated the beauty of all the condos, homes, and apartment buildings stacked up on such limited land. It reminded me of driving along Highway 1 up and down the coast of California (and of doing the same drive to Stanley 5 years ago...). Stanley Market was still as full of tourist "stuff" as I'd remembered- chops with names carved in them, lots of silk shirts, pajamas, pillowcases, plastic mah-jong sets, chopsticks, sequined bags, paintings involving Chinese kanji, and on and on. I bought a bracelet and a couple of postcards and both Jaclyn and I bought some fresh fruit: black cherries, huge strawberries and some incredibly fragrant plums. (after carrying them around all day we realized why you usually deliver your fresh fruit home immediately after purchase- and regretted our mistake while trying to enjoy our mashed fruit). We also had a delicious lunch of fried rice and sweet and sour Grouper (we think). After the ride back from Stanley, we wandered around downtown Hong Kong again and visited Man Mo Temple. The funky looking spirals hanging from the ceiling are actually incense burning- talk about instant watery eyes! We took the ferry back to Tsim Sha Tsui, searched unsuccessfully for a Thai restaurant and settled for sandwich & soup combos. I also debated about and then purchased a gorgeous gold silk jacket with flowers and vines embroidered all over it. I'm excited to find an occasion to use it. Afterwards, we were exhausted but still managed to walk all the way from the shopping district back to our hostel. After a break for mashed fruit and some TV, we headed out into the street market. We both made at least 3 purchases in under an hour- we even bartered succesfully (well, at least we thought we were good- the vendors surely still made off with substantial profit). With our new stuff and some delicious ice cream,... we headed back to our room and crashed.
Saturday we woke up with our feet still exhausted from the previous two days. Feeling as though we'd made serious dents in our wallets and being a bit overdosed on shopping areas- we made the trek out to Lantau Island to visit Po Lin Temple and the largest outdoor Buddha in the world. The bus ride took forever and by the time we got to the temple we were ready to eat. We enjoyed the vegetarian set menu and the crazy people watching available at the monastary's restaurant. After lunch we climbed the hill of stairs up to the Buddha, some 27 meters tall. We really think they should change air paths into the new airport (on the same island) so that people arriving in Hong Kong are greeted by this Buddha who appears to be waving! In the afternoon, we trained out to Sha Tin, the haunts of the Global gang of '98. We were overwhelmed by the Saturday afternoon mobbs and quickly made a retreat to a nearby Ikea. We finished the day (and most of our money) with dinner at Pizza Hut and headed home (for a last ice cream with the last of our money).
Sunday we woke EARLY and headed to the airport. We did some last shopping in the airport (with Japanese yen!), grabbed some breakfast and took off for Narita. Just before we got there, we were granted a lovely view of Mt. Fuji out the window. It was a fun end to a fun (and tiring!) trip. Check out the pictures- they are even all the right direction and labled!!
