Hong Kong

Hong Kong certainly exceeded my expectations! It was one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. We flew out from Singapore at 4 in the morning and arrived in Hong Kong at around 10. Hong Kong is made up of 260 islands, which makes the whole city so mountainous and surrounded by water. We had pre-booked out hostel on Kowloon Island, which ironically was called the Canadian Hostel haha. Accommodations are much more expensive in HK compared to what we pay anywhere else, at $30 per person a night. The hostel was clean and small. The only problem with it was the sketchy market we had to pass through to get to the elevators. Oh and the staircases that looked like a murder scene. We learned quite quickly to stick to the elevators…yikes.

Sticking to our roots

No but actually...did someone die here?
We decided to spend the day walking around the city. The city was as bustling and crowded as I had imagined. The first thing we did was stop at a Japanese restaurant for some sushi. The sushi we ordered was the biggest I have ever seen or eaten. Since you could barely put it down in one mouthful, things got pretty messy. Although I ended up with half the sushi on my lap and mayonnaise sauce in my hair, every bite or should I say “attempted-bite” was delicious. We then made our way to HK island by using the super efficient MTR system(HK’s subway system). We ended up in some ritzy area and didn’t really know where we were. It ended up being Hong Kong’s business district, which is close to HK’s famous Peak Tram.

Before the big mess all over my lap and the table
The Peak Tram takes you up to the top of a mountain peak by a trolley cart (similar to the trolleys you would see in San Francisco). For only $10 CND, you get to the top of the mountain and access to the peak which looks over the entire city. Since we got there a little bit before sunset, we stayed up at the peak waiting for it to get dark. The only problem was, it was freezing! Not being prepared for the cold weather to begin with, we almost froze to death at the top. But it was all worth it since the view was unbelievable. I never knew Hong Kong was such a beautiful city. We ended the evening on the Temple Street market, which is a whole street of handbags, jewelry and other accessories. The amount of Marc Jacobs and Tiffany and Co. knock-offs was obscene. It was a great market and the salespeople weren’t overly aggressive, which is always nice.

We Love Peak

It was stunning!
The next day, we were off to Cheung Chau and the Mongkok markets. We arrived at the ferry terminal in the morning and took the slow boat over. It ended up being about a two hour journey. Once we got there, we were overwhelmed by the overpowering fish smell. Cheung Chau island is actually a fishing village with market-type alleyways and a spectacular view of the plentiful fishing boats across the shore. We spent the day gallivanting through the markets and stopped off for some delicious freshly grilled vegetables. Later, we discovered a dumpling vendor, where you could see a man actually making the dumplings with his hands. For 3 large pork and shrimp dumplings it only cost us 12 HKD ($2 CDN). They were so fresh and so yummy.

Hitting up the markets

Fresh grilled vegetables and meat...so good and so cheap!
We then headed back to the main island to venture to the Mongkok market. This market was like the market on Temple Street, except it was ten times the size. The area was flooded with people, food stands, shopping malls and market booths. It was chaotic in a good way and was great for shopping.

I'm really easy to spot in this crowd
The last day in HK, we decided to check out the Kowloon harbor front area, which was walking distance from our hostel. The whole area was right beside an Arts center, making it very glamorous and colourful. The view of the HK skyline from the harbor front was beautiful aside from the vast amount of smog blurring the buildings. While we walked along the harbor, we came across the HK Avenue of the Stars. Since Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee are the only actors we would recognize, we were on a mission to find their stars. They seemed to be the only two stars with people crowded around them, so we had to fight to get our picture with them. For lunch, we stopped at a Turkish restaurant that had the best lamb salad and tandoori chicken rice I have ever tasted. Although we didn’t really experiment with authentic HK food throughout our trip, everything I ate was some of the best food I have had in SE Asia.

The Kowloon harbor

Finally found Jackie Chan's star

Best tandoori fried rice I have ever eaten
Since our flight was late at night, we decided to head to Lantau island to see the big Buddha and wisdom path before we headed to the airport. We took a 40 minute bus ride to the top of the mountain and then climbed 400 steps to the Buddha. It was huge! The view was even more spectacular than the Buddha, as we looked out onto the enormous mountains. Since we only had an hour to kill, we practically ran to wisdom path. We had heard about wisdom path on a promo video that was playing on the ferry the day before, so we didn’t know what to expect. So when we got there, we were blown away!! The sun was slightly setting behind these tall pillars covered in calligraphy. Even more beautiful was the mountains and the water that surrounded the area. Absolutely stunning.

Me and the big Buddha

Just taking it all in

Wisdom Path

After a long day of gallivanting around the city, we head to the airport by the MTR for our flight home. HK is definitely a city I want to go back to in the future. It was a perfect mix of culture, city and beauty. I look forward to going back some day!

We will miss you HK