It's a Small World...

After leaving Cape Town, we decided to change our flights to spend two days in Hong Kong instead of one. Since we weren't able to visit mainland China due to visa issues, I was really excited to see what Hong Kong had to offer. In some ways, it was just what I expected, it was a chain of islands with more skyscrapers crammed on it than one would think humanly possible. In other ways it surprised my with it's charm and quirky systems. Like New York, Hong Kong is a huge commercial center with wide boulevards and towering skyscrapers. Unlike New York, the people of Hong Kong are some of the friendliest and most helpful people I have ever seen. Everything is very organized (throught security at the airpot you get a laminated piece of paper with a number that matches the number taped to the bucket that your hand luagge goes through the x-rays in) and clearly marked to cut down on confusion, and if you show the slightest hesitation about direction a local would stop to ask if you needed help or directions. It is also spotless. There are trash cans everywhere, people with colds were face masks to avoid infecting others with their germs, and there are regular announcements at the train station reminding you that littering and spitting are prohibited.

We stayed on the island of Kowloon, just across the harbor from Hong Kong island. Our tiny guesthouse was one of many located in a building called Chungking Mansion, a HUGE shopping and commercial center filled with restrants, currency exchanges, and every type of retail outlet you can imagine. The room itself was incredibly clean, but was about 12 square feet large (including the bathroom). The owner, Simon was helpful and friendly, just like everyone else that we met, and went about and beyond to make sure that all of our needs were met.

Our first day we took the ferry boat across Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong island to explore Victoria Peak. There is a cable car that runs up the mountain and offers extrodinary views of the city and water below. The tram ride was quick and uber effiecient like everything in Hong Kong, and at the top we found a shopping mall, just like everywhere else in Hong Kong. :) The views and the tram ride were worth the trip though. On the way back down we decided to find lunch, and thought we would have no problem finding a place to eat near such a major tourist attraction. Instead we walked for blocks, confounded that there were no eateries amid all the shopping. Finally we were clued into the fact that all the resturants are located, where else, in the shopping malls. We found a lunch spot, but since we were so late she was nearly out of food. Our only option was to try the local specialty, fish ball soup. We decided just to dive into the deep end of Chinese cuisine and we pleasantly surprised. Fish ball soup is yummy! We spent the evening wandering through the evening street markets, looking at the junk and haggling with the shop owners for the best prices. We bought a small jade buddah from one vendor whose only English was, "Cheap price for you, cheap price for you".

The next day we took the train out to the small and relatively undeveloped islant of Lantau. From the metro station you hop on a cable car (gondola for all you skiers) that would take us across the island to the Golden Buddah. The cable car seemed to stretch on forever across the mountains, and in all the trip took about 30 minutes. We got off and walked through a small village to the base of the Golden Buddah (actually brass) and then up the stairs to the foot of the statue. What an impressive sight! Amidst the only remaining natural area of Hong Kong, a huge buddah and a quiet monastary. While we weren't allowed to enter the monastary, we were allowed to walk around the outside and peek in the doors to see the ornate areas reserved for the prayer and meditation of the monks; while outside the inscense sticks lit in prayer by the faithful scented the air with their thick spicy aroma. Exhausted from our long walk, we decided to splurge on on the the tourist traps, massages. We each got a 45 minute back message, and then went to sleep and prepared for our flight the following afternoon to India.

Hong Kong