Hong Kong

Shopping (uh, eating) festival!

Our Philippines business visa was near expiry, so it was an excellent excuse to visit a neighbouring city -- Hong Kong, a mere 2 hour flight away!

Naturally, we had to fight traffic getting to the NAIA airport in Manila especially on a Friday evening. Even though I gave us ample time to get to the airport we've only managed to get to the airport just on time! Luckily, we were flying Cathay Pacific, and I had checked in online (and chosen my seat) so all we needed to do was to walk past the long queue of people, straight up to the front to get our boarding passes. We didn't have any lugguage to check in either, so we went straight in. (Note to self: Cathay Pacific allows you to pick Non-Lactose meals, which means a non-bloat flight for once!)

It was midnight by the time we'd arrived ... and since we'd miss the last ferry to Tuen Mun (New Territories) we had to catch the taxi.

First things first -- food! Jason kindly brought us to a dessert place ...

 

And we ordered ...

Trams, Trains and Buses!

Jason bought us an Octopus Card each, a smart card that allowed us to travel on all public transportation in Hong Kong. You could also use it to pay for your purchases in convenience stores, etc. You can top it up in the convenience stores and at the stations. So, with the Octopus Card, Jason and Mich showed us around the place ...

We hopped onto a bus outside the apartment, and headed for a temple ...

 

As it was close to lunchtime, we decided to wander a little closer to the food ...

 

We soon found ourselves at the Central-Mid-Levels escalators , the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world!

 

... and food!

HK cafe food!

This was our first Hong Kong cafe-style food.

It wasn't exactly a nice place to sit and chat -- after waiting for a few minutes (a table for four is hard to seat!), we were shown to our table, which was small, round and shared with other people. Our orders were placed and was fulfilled almost instantaneously! Our plates were cleared as soon as we'd finished, and we were off soon after.

Going walkabout ...

We spent the day leisurely walking through markets, ducking in and out of shops, and found a free indoor plant display. We also wandered around some parks, and then it was time to wander towards the Peak.

 

 

The best way to take photos without people noticing ...

 

Victoria Peak

We decided to join the hordes of tourists in the queue up the Victoria Peak.

 

We were treated to a spectacular light show at 9pm. According to Jason, we were lucky to have had clear blue skies during our visit -- the skies are usually polluted from factory emmisions blown over from neighbouring China ... Perhaps the cyclone a week before we arrived had something to do with it :)

Reptiles!

It was our last day in Hong Kong ... *sniff*. Since our flight was later that night we had to bring all our bags with us ...

First stop was the Reptile House nearby (Tuen Mun).

 

For such a highly populated city, Hong Kong did not feel as hectic as Tokyo, as it had plenty of parks and open spaces. It was also a safe place for elderly people ...

It's mind-boggling to imagine what the streets will be like if everyone came out of their apartments at the same time ...

 

Balls!

Lunchtime, finally! Jason brought us to a really yummy Teochew noodle soup shop somewhere in Kowloon ...

Muffin and Jason were still hungry / greedy after they'd finished their food ... so they ordered a bowl of tripe noodle soup to share ...

Mongkok

Muffin bought his PS2 from one of these arcades ...

One of the arcades were freshly raided by police ... all that were left of the stalls were ripped out posters ...

I can't believe the last thing Muffin ate in Hong Kong was a Stinky tofu. I was just commenting to Jason how much Hong Kong had changed in 20 years ... how clean and hygienic it had become, when suddenly this awful smell *assults* my nostrils. We then saw the source of the smell -- a stall selling "stinky" tofu was up ahead. Naturally, he couldn't resist it and had to have one ...

Luckily for me, my last meal in HK was a toast with condensed milk, washed down with a HK milk coffee and tea drink.

Big thanks to Jason and Mich, our very kind and hospitable hosts in HK! Thanks for showing us around, and showing us all the best places to eat! We'll be back again, for sure!