Hong Kong

Since we had a 4 day weekend (which NEVER happens, and will never happen again), Mark and I decided to venture over the pond to a little city called Hong Kong.  I have always been curious to see Hong Kong, but did not quite know what to expect.  Since it is only an hour and a half plane ride away from Taipei, we thought it'd be stupid to not go see it, considering it is one of the biggest/coolest cities on the planet.

Hong Kong is situated in Southern China.  Although part of China, it's one of two "Special Administrative Regions" in the people's Republic of China, and even has it's own currency, the Hong Kong dollar.  The city is divided by sea into two areas, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.  Hong Kong is mostly surrounded by the South China sea, so it experiences winter, and boy was it chilly!  Being so close to water, we were constantly chilled and needed steaming hot showers every chance we got.  Unfortunately we were in Hong Kong when there was a monsoon going on the South China sea, so it was very overcast and misty and damp every day.  I think this city would be 10 times as magnificent in the sunlight, so I guess I will have to go back.

Hong Kong skyline (some of it) from Kowloon

Hong Kong Island

I have to say, Hong Kong is one of the most phenomenal cities I've ever been to.  New York used to be my number one, but I think Hong Kong has taken the cake.  Since we wanted to see as much of the city as we could in our short stay, we decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour for the time we were there.  We were there for 3 nights, but only had 2 full days to sightsee, so we made the most of it.  The bus was great, and we got to see a lot, but it was ohhhh soo cold!!! You have to sit on the open air top of the bus to really soak in all the sites, but we sure had to bundle up!

On the bus!

This bus took us all around Kowloon (the area we stayed in), then we took a ferry which takes you from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island which only takes about 5 minutes.  Hong Kong Island is where most of the skyscrapers are and where all the world business goes down.  Big BIG money circulating I'm sure.  Oh did I mention skyscrapers?  Oh ya, Hong Kong has around 8000 of them, double that of New York's skyline, no big deal.  The skyline in Hong Kong was something to see.  Tall buildings for as far as you could see, super neat.  Hong Kong Island itself is really cool as much of that part of the city is build on a mountain, so many of the streets and buildings are situated on sloping ground.  The streets intersect under and above one another which was really something I'd never seen before.  Next time I go there I will definitely stay on Hong Kong Island, it gives off a really cool vibe, and there's a lot more of it I'd like to explore. 

Hong Kong Island

Another cold day on the tour bus!

Oh and I haven't mentioned this yet, but this city is FULL of English people and you can smell the money from a mile away.  You see tons of white families with an Asian helper, and I even naively pondered once "How is that Grandma Asian and both parents are white?.... Ooooooohhhhh", hired help of course!  This city is just FULL of money, and what a city to have money in.  Designer stores are EVERYWHERE, you sure won't have to walk far to find the newest bag at Chanel or Prada because they are literally in every neighbourhood.  And the diamonds!  Wow, there are jewellery stores everywhere and they showcase these ginormous diamonds in the windows that blind you and leave you breathless!  Maybe I'll play the lottery this year and cross my fingers..

These are the real deal people! BLING

Hong Kong is located by the sea and is made up of a couple hundred Islands.  Our tour bus took us to Stanley Beach which is south of all the city skyscrapers.  We literally went from skyscraper concrete jungle to the coast in less than 10 minutes.  This is another reason this city is so amazing.  You have city bustle, then beaches and coastline 10 minutes away by car, it's crazy.  If you want to get out of the city for a day, boom you're on the beach in 10 minutes.  SO cool. 

10 mins by car away from downtown Hong Kong.. like whaaaatt???

Mark at Stanley Beach promenade

 Another famous site to see when you visit Hong Kong is called Victoria Peak.  I had been eager to go there as it looked amazing from what I saw on the internet.  You ride a tram up a mountain and when you get there you are overlooking the entire Hong Kong Island/Kowloon Harbour and skyline.  Wooo I was so pumped to get some awesome pictures!  That morning it was quite misty and overcast so I worried it wouldn't be the best at the top, and boy was I right.  What we saw when we got to the top was a whole lot of CLOUD.  Literally, all you saw was white, you could barely make out the sidewalk that was beneath you.  I was super bummed but what can you do?  Darn mother nature! Doesn't she know I'm only in Hong Kong 2 days and want to get a picture to frame?? Gaaahhhh.  Anyways I will share with you what we should have seen and what we did see haha:

Ahh if only the sun were shining, this picture could have been taken by meee!

This is what we saw (behind me pouting)... nothing but WHITE :( :( :( so sad

  On our last night in Hong Kong we went on a dinner cruise which takes you across Victoria Harbour where you can see all the skyscrapers lit up.  We were also celebrating Mark's birthday!  Some of the buildings also shoot laser lights off the top, so at 8:00pm every night there is a "Symphony of lights" show from the skyline.  It was pretty awesome, but again the clouds and mist were so low so the view wasn't 100%.  Still really neat though.  I say neat a lot.  That's neat.

Well, I think I have covered most of our trip!  Yes, we did do some shopping but nothing major.  Everyone who thinks of Hong Kong thinks of knock off purses and watches and wallets, but I've already seen and done that in New York and the quality is absolute garbage and the purses fall apart within weeks so I just opted for one Miu Miu wallet.  Had to buy something! Oh and a few dresses and souvenirs.  Mark cleaned up 4 watches, one of which already started to fall apart before we even left the hotel room haha.  Honestly, Taipei has way cheaper shopping and the prices in Hong Kong were not very cheap to us at all.  So we will continue shopping here in Taipei for a few more months!

On the domestic front, not a whole lot is new unfortunately.  Spring is in the air, and there has been sunshine a few days this week which is promising.  My mom and brother are here 7 weeks today which is amazing, I hope the weeks fly by.  Then we will take two weeks holidays to spend with them and see some of Taiwan.  Looking forward to it!  Until next time....