Hong Kong: May 2016

Hong Kong

Our trip to Hong Kong was so quick, I almost skipped it in the blog. But, here it is- two days in HK. 

After three weeks of intense traveling through Japan, we were trying to keep the momentum for our short stopover in Hong Kong. Javier had never been. I didn’t really feel a need to return, and tried to push for Taiwan, but in the end, Hong Kong won. That being said, Hong Kong is a cool place. 

The airport transfer to our hotel was AMAZING! We took the train to the shuttle station. Everything is underground, but all very well marked, clean, and accessible. We boarded our shuttle, which dropped us off half a block from our hotel. Even though we didn’t have to walk far, it was hot, much warmer than Japan. And thus began our sweltering summer. 

Avenue of the stars

Our hotel was cool. It came with a cell phone that we could take everywhere. AND…we didn’t need wifi- it had its own data. Whaaaaat?!? We tried the local food and it was just…okay. Our hotel was across the water on the China side. So after dinner, we walked to the water and made it just in time to watch the light show. From our side, we could see all of the buildings on the Hong Kong side, light up and dance to the music. It was so interesting to see all of this technology going on, while the old, red sailed, Hong Kong Junks (boats) passed by right in front of us. 

Selfie madness

We walked the Avenue of the Stars, which is like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and took photos of those we recognized (there weren’t many).

When we arrived at the Bruce Lee statue, it took forever to get a decent photo. Some people have no courtesy when it comes to photo-ops. 😉 Once we reached the end of the stars, we took a different route through the city, back to our hotel. 

We took the metro to Hong Kong island. From there, we started hiking. Our plan was to hike over the mountain to Stanley. We hiked up the first hill and were drenched in sweat. There were people running all over the place up here. It was so green and lush. We hit sidewalk and walked along this fence. It was chain-linked, with the top angled out, over the sidewalk. As we approached, we could see something blowing in the breeze, but didn’t pay much attention. When we were almost next to it, I looked up, screamed, and jumped into the street.

Scary

Thankfully, there were no cars. I honestly would have been hit. There was a spider at least the size of my opened hand. It was so nasty. Javier was just behind me and saw all of this happen. He stopped, looked, and he too walked into the street. He just made sure there were no cars. It definitely gave me the creeps. 

We walked along the until we arrived at our turn-off. The path veered off the street and up into the woods. We were greeted by very large bugs all over the bushes and trees. When we looked ahead, it was dense trees and bushes. It didn’t take any convincing for either of us to decide we were going to take the bus the rest of the way.

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View from Stanley

Stanley is a sleepy tourist beach town. We walked the shops, had lunch, and went into this creepy temple. It’s an okay place. We were more interested in the hike. It was one of those things where the journey, not the destination was supposed to be the reward. Well, that didn’t happen. 

We took the bus back to Times Square where we walked around and had some of the best bubble tea, ever! We felt a little awkward in the mall. There are some really nice shops, and most of the people inside are quite fancy and well dressed. We were sweaty, stinky and let’s just say, not the best dressed. After our emotionally trying day, we didn’t feel up for much else, and made our way back home for dinner and sleep. 

The giant Buddha

We had only one day left in Hong Kong, and we had to decide between Hong Kong Disney, and the Tian Tan Buddha. You’ll be happy to hear we chose the giant Buddha. But let me tell you, the Disney stop was on our line, and we almost got off…almost.

Before this adventure, Javier had to go to a sports bar to watch his Warriors in the NBA finals. Priorities. 

The gondola was in the cloud. nice.

We had to take a gondola to the island Buddha sits on. This was the longest gondola ride I have ever been on. We were so high and it was cloudy that at times, you couldn’t see anything. It felt like we were sitting in the clouds. When we could see out, we noticed a great trail down below. Had we only known…

First thing we did when we landed in the small town of Ngong Ping, was grab some lunch. We opted for dim sum, and even though it was touristy, it was pretty good, and ended up being the only dim sum we ate in Hong Kong. 

Stairs up to the Buddha

The Tian Tan Buddha is made of bronze and sits on a hill. We climbed several stairs to get to Buddha and the hike up left us a little winded. He is very big, like 112ft tall and has 6 Devas surrounding him all offering different virtues needed for full enlightenment. There are three floors below Buddha. We didn’t go inside, but just walked around. Back at sea level, we tried some bubble tea, looked in a few shops, before finally making our way back to the city. On the metro ride back, a man fell asleep on me. 

Before heading to the ferry building to take the sea-route home, we stopped for more of the most amazing bubble tea. The ferry ride is one of the cheapest things you can do in Hong Kong. It costs something like…$2 for a one-way. You get to enjoy the views from the water, and get to your destination! Javier was looking for new running shorts, so we stopped to do some shopping on the way home, before eating some not-so-memorable dinner and calling it a night. 

Ferry

That’s all for Hong Kong. It was quick, but satisfactory.

To see more pictures of Hong Kong, click HERE.