Our section of Kowloon Peninsula was hopping. We were super close to bars (sweet, glorious bars), two subway stations, The Peninsula Hotel, and Victoria Harbour. We were really excited to begin exploring the "New York City of Asia" and we really wanted to see the famous Hong Kong skyline, so we headed in the direction of Victoria Harbour. We would wind up spending a lot of our time over the next few days admiring this skyline. It was absolutely amazing!
After exploring the waterfront area for a bit we headed back towards our hotel to grab something to eat. We quickly realized that, although the streets looked simple to navigate, we could easily get lost and the odds of encountering something we'd seen earlier were slim to none without serious navigation skills. To avoid any regrets, we decided that if we saw something that interested us we would not save it for later, because we may never find it again, instead we would seize the moment and just do it. This may have been our best travel strategy ever because it led us to a fantastic "welcome to Hong Kong" meal. Our new rule: carcasses in the window equals good eats.
After our lunch we rested in our hotel for a bit and then headed out for some bar hopping. After a few weeks spent without any bars, the number of bars visible from just our hotel's front steps almost had Desi in uncontrollable giggles. The drinks weren't cheap (equivalent to prices in Seattle) but Hong Kong (and Taiwan for that matter) are not tipping cultures, so that saves some money. We proceeded to explore the neighborhood from the party side of a cocktail, having one in each establishment we encountered until it was time to head back to the waterfront for the evening's light show.
Every night at 8PM Hong Kong puts on a harbour light show incorporating lights from some of the buildings and music. It doesn't last very long, and isn't too impressive, but it's cool that the city does this nightly and it was a fun way to see the skyline.
After the light show we grabbed some of the spiciest soup ever made. For future reference, a medium in Hong Kong is not equivalent to a medium in Seattle. There is nothing equivalent in Seattle to that level of spice. Seattle palettes cannot tolerate that spice. We're still recovering from the damage.
The next day we began with a morning trip to the harbour. A Monday morning was less crowded on the harbour than a Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed the virtual solitude.
We played around for a bit on the Avenue of the Stars and then, via ferry, we headed to Hong Kong Island.
We walked to the Peak Tram, an obligatory tourist experience which takes you to the top of a mountain for city views. The view from the top was amazing. We could've stayed up there the whole day. There were birds, trees, water, buildings, houses. Honestly, this one view captured it all and it truly was amazing.
When we finally headed back down the mountain we made our way to the Central Bus Station to grab a bus to Stanley Market, located on the other side of the island. This itinerary item wasn't in any of our guidebooks. We had only heard about it immediately prior to our departure from Seattle, when we were watching anything we could find about our imminent trip. Stanley Market was mentioned on an Australian travel show, in passing, as the market that locals shopped at. We can't confirm that statement but we do know that the #6 bus to Stanley Market was the most scenic drive of our entire trip. And, for only $10 HKD ($7 HKD = $1 USD) and about 20 minutes, it was one of the highlights of our trip.
After a day spent at Stanley Market we made our way, this time via bus #260 (the express), back to Central District for some drinks at Sevva, on the top floor of the Prince's Building. This was suggested to us by a friend (currently living in Hong Kong) of a friend. We wound up there just as the harbour light show was beginning, so we got to experience the light show from the middle of it. We couldn't hear the music but the lights alone were pretty cool.
After our drinks we headed to Red Pepper in Causeway Bay for dinner, also a suggestion from the friend of a friend. Another excellent meal. We topped our night off with a walk along Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong Island side, before hopping on the subway back to our hotel.
The next morning we experienced dim sum for the first time. This was the most frustrating experience of our Hong Kong trip. First of all, we received a recommendation from someone at our hotel for a dim sum restaurant. He wrote the restaurant name down (in characters) and gave us a vague description of where to go. We had to stop at a number of different Circle K stores, plus asking random people along the way, before we were able to locate the shop (on the 2nd floor of an office building). When we arrived no one spoke English (or was willing to) and the menus were entirely in Chinese. We matched descriptions of pictures with the ordering sheet, selected five items, and placed it on the edge of our table. When the waitress came around she looked at us oddly but took the paper and walked away. We had no idea if we were going to get food or not.
Luckily, all our prior experience had paid off and we not only got food but we got exactly what we had expected. We were thrilled with ourselves. Plus, the food was delicious and now we're no longer intimidated to try dim sum in Seattle, or probably anywhere anymore.
After dim sum we headed to Lantau Island to see the giant buddha. This incorporated a subway ride and a gondola. Desi was scared the gondola would be closed, just like in Taipei. But, Hong Kong was liking us more than Taipei had, so we weren't too worried.
Our gondola ride to Lantau Island was gorgeous. It took 30 minutes and it was fairly stormy, but it was a wonderful part of the experience. The Lantau Island buddha was amazing! You're able to see it from quite a distance and it's just awesome.
There's a small tourist village where the gondola loads/unloads and a small monastery near the base of the buddha. This was a very inspirational and scenic day trip.
When we arrived back in Tsim Sha Tsui we stopped at a night market before heading to The Peninsula for afternoon tea, one of the things Desi really wanted to experience. The Peninsula is where we saw all the Rolls Royces and Bentleys. It's a gorgeous hotel, and also a Hong Kong institution. Afternoon tea at The Peninsula is definitely an experience, though probably not one we'll repeat.
After The Peninsula we headed to the harbour for one last light show. The night was stormy, adding a bit of fog which gave the show an ethereal quality. After the show we stopped at a bar for a couple drinks and did some shopping before heading back to the hotel for the night.
The next morning we headed back to the harbour for one last stroll along the waterfront before leaving for the airport.
We took a cab to the airport, grabbed some dim sum at the airport before boarding our flight, and were on our way back to The States that afternoon. The flight was only about 11 hours, which was about 4 hours shorter than our previous experience. Plus, we arrived before we left, which is difficult to explain and equally as hard to understand. We left at 4:30PM in Hong Kong and arrived in Los Angeles on the same day at 1PM. We arrived back in Seattle at about 6:30PM.
The return flight was difficult to recover from. The worst of our jet lag lasted over a week but we didn't recover fully for at least another two. Our internal clocks were off for about five days and the lethargy lasted more than a week. Overall though, our trip was amazing. The whole experience had an almost "once in a lifetime" feel to it. We feel like world travellers now, even though we've only added one (or is it considered two?) countries to our list of places we've been. We did add a whole new continent, though. That's pretty cool.
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