I <3 Hong Kong

Prepare for a long blog! But it will be full of pictures and stories from our GREAT trip to Hong Kong :)

It was really a fantastic trip and a nice break from mainland China; what a relief to be around people with English skills, delicious food, and familiar shopping!

And We're Off!

We departed from Beijing airport on Thursday evening. Despite my cold, I made it through health checks (common concern of mine - but who wants to get stuck in Chinese quarantine?), and we were on our way! Once we arrived at Hong Kong airport, it was a quick and comfy ride to the Kowloon station. We hopped in a taxi, checked into our hotel, and had a quick snack at McDonalds (gotta try it in every city right?).

Hotel Butterfly on Prat

Out hotel was really nice. A boutique hotel, Butterfly on Prat, in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui.

An idea of what Tsim Sha Tsui looks like at night:

The hotel is pretty new as I understand, and I really liked it. The lobby smelled delicious, the decour was trendy, and the rooms were comfy. The bathrooms were innovative to say the least. Per didn't really like them because they had glass windows from the bedroom looking into the shower (you would think he would like that!) and only a glass sliding door by the toilet (interesting choice by the designers).

Per "sitting" on the toilet...not too much privacy. Stay here with non-awkward roommates.

FRIDAY
Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island

We woke up early the next morning to head out on touristy adventures. We walked through the busy city to the Star Ferry terminal to take a ferry over to Hong Kong island. It was SO hot and humid. After a few minutes outside, we were wet and gross!

Notice Per's very shiny sweaty head while we were on the ferry :)

Victoria Harbour:

Genius City Planning

Once we got to Hong Kong island we had a rather tough hike through the city to get to The Peak Tram. What was really cool about Hong Kong, is if you really know the city well, I think you can probably get almost anywhere without ever leaving a building. Most of the malls and buildings are connected by indoor walkways, and because the city is so compact, it is usually a pretty quick walk from one building to the next if they aren't connected. This is OBVIOUSY necessary because its so DAMN HOT! It was the end of Septemeber and still over 90 degrees and HUMID. I can't even imagine how hot it would be in the middle of summer.

The Peak Tram

The Peak Tram is this cool trolley type thing that takes you to one of the highest spots with an amazing view of Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour, and Tsim Sham Tsui.

The Tram chugging up the mountain:

The view!

Per and Hong Kong!

After a sub-par lunch at Bubba Gump's (Per's choice), we headed down from the peak.

World Class Shopping

There is a TON of insanely overpriced shopping malls on Hong Kong island, and after exploring them (and only being able to window shop), we headed back to the other side of the harbor. I can't wait till the day I too can shop with the Hong Kongers at Dior, Prada, and D&G. We did some more shopping exploration back in Kowloon in the search of something slightly more affordable. We visited a few electronics stores (Per ended up buying an iPod), and some more familiar and very welcome stores!

I was THRILLED to find TWO H&Ms in Hong Kong, and I bought stuff at both :)

We went home after spending some money at Lacoste, H&M, and buying a pricey scarpbook.

Symphony of Light

After resting up and struggling to decide on a place to eat dinner, we headed down to the Avenue of the Stars to watch the Symphony of Light show. It is the largest permanent light show that basically is the buildings on the coast blinking to music. A must see but not that amazing.

Pricey Dinner #1 - Japanesse

By this time we were starving, and we didn't think we could wait till 9:30 to eat at the restaurant we had a reservation at. We wandered into the shopping mall near by and found a Teppanyaki Japanesse restaurant (our favorite type of food to eat in Tianjin) so we decided to try it out. This was our first encounter with true Hong Kong prices. After we sat down and ordered a beer, we opened the menu, and just sorta laughed at what we were about to spend on dinner. And we thought Sweden was expensive! Despite the tremendously large bill, the food was great and we really enjoyed it! We ate the biggest shrimp we have ever seen, I wish I had a picture of it.

Here is our adorable chef! He was nice and told us that the innards of a giant shrimp are very good and we should eat them...he also constantly had to warn Per that the food was hot which is usually my job.

Here is the aftermath of our dinner.
Please note that on the right (my side) there is a white piece of toast on the foil in the back. The chef puts the food on this piece of toast to soak up the cooking oil on the food. Well...the first thing we ate was squid, and when the chef put the squid on the piece of toast, Per picked it up and ate it with the squid on it. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm sure the chef had a good laugh with his chef buddies when he returned to the kitchen about the silly Swede that at the grease toast!

Temple Street Night Market

Our day wasn't over yet even though we were getting super tired! After dinner, we jumped into a taxi and headed to the night market. Tons of stuff - fake purses, t-shirts, fake watches, jewlery, souvenirs, fake belts, and much much more. After buying some junk, including a pink stuffed Super Mario Mushroom, we headed home to get some much needed rest.

SATURDAY

Dim Sum - Yum yum!

Saturday we woke up prepared to do one of my favorite things, EAT! Our first toursity event for the day was to eat a traditional Hong Kong dim sum brunch. I found a famous place called Tsui Han Village in the Mirimar Shopping mall not too far from our hotel, and I couldn't wait! We were the only white people in the restaurant, which is odd in Hong Kong because it is so touristy. I took it as a good sign and a confirmation that the food would be authentic. It was truly scrumptious. I'm not so sure how Per felt about it, he is a bit more weary of food. I couldn't have been more satisfied, I just wished we had ordered more!

My favorite was the steamed bbq pork buns, SO delicious. I insisted we eat there again on Sunday before leaving, and Per agreed. So we ate there twice :)

Me enjoying a delcious pork bun (Sunday):

Big Buddha

After brunch, we took the best day trip I could have imagined! We struggled between a trip to see 1 giant buddha or 10000 little buddhas. We chose the giant buddha! We took the train to another island, Lantau, and stopped in Tung Chung. From here, we expected to get on cable cars which would take us over the mountains to the Po Lin monastery in Ngong Ping. For whatever reason, the cable cars weren't working, so we had to take a long windy bus ride there instead. This wasn't a bad deal though because we saw parts of Hong Kong people probably don't see much of - beaches and jungle. It felt a lot like being in Hawaii. When we finally reached the top, 500m above sea level, it was well worth the trecherous drive. I absolutly LOVED it. I have always enjoyed seeing churches (and now monasteries) on vacations, and this really was super impressive.

At the top of the mountain is the Tian Tan Buddha statue, the world's largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue (I read online that this was true until 2007 - poo). It is 34 meters tall, and it order to get to it, you have to climb 260 stairs! NOT so fun in 90 degree humid heat but well worth it!

As some people know, I am rather freightened by over size things, like big statues or huge ships. At first I was a little bit creeped out by it because it is so gigantic, but I got used to it after a while.

Our first view of it (shudder)!

On the way up to the top:

Offerings to Big Buddha:

Besides the Big Buddha, there is also a nice monastery with real munks!
After suffering in the heat as long as we could (including a PAINFUL wait for the bus), we headed back to Kowloon to get ready for dinner.

(More) Pricey Dinner #2 - Aqua Roma

We had a "photo shoot" at the hotel before we left for dinner. Per hates when I make him do this, he usually limits me to two photos which would be OK if he didn't always ruin one.

We had made a reservation at Aqua the night before during our search for restaurants. Aqua has a great view of the harbour and we were hoping to be able to admire the view and maybe catch the Symphony of Light again from the restaurant.

When we walked in, we knew it was NOT going to be cheap. It was really swanky, very trendy, and they had great service. The good news was that they also had really amazing food. You can either eat Italian (Aqua Roma) or Japanesse (Aqua Tokyo). We decided to eat Italian, and it was a truely delcious dinner...with really yummy cocktails too! We never thought we would beat Friday night's bill...but we did! Only live once right?

Aqua on the 29th floor, with a bar on 29 and a half.

The most delicious dessert which we ALMOST passed up!
After dinner, we had a cocktail in the bar (Rasberry Bellini - so yum!) and then decided it was time to head home!

What a GREAT day!

SUNDAY

Time to go Home :(

Sunday we ate some more dim sum (I gotta find a dim sum place in Tianjin - I bought frozen bbq pork buns today at the grocery store so I don't have to live without) and we did some last minute shopping, including hitting up the Ladies Market (not to buy ladies and not just for ladies). And there happened to be a parade to celebrate something...I forget what.

It was a wonderful weekend. We could have used a few more days, but I'm so happy we went. Truly one of the coolest places I've ever been and one of my favorites. We will have to go back in the future...with more $ and when it isn't as hot :)

Per caught my cold :( and has a really busy week ahead of him at work. Poor guy. His parents arrive on Monday, and we are really looking forward to it! I'm doing lots of trip planning, which after Hong Kong I have to say I'm pretty good at. I get it from my mom I'm sure!