Hong Kong Trip 2008 Pictures

Two Islands, One Fun Place
Adventures in Hong Kong

Our mornings started very similarly: we would get up, watch some news (CNN and local [English-language]), shower, go down to breakfast, and head out for the day's destinations.

Saturday, March 22, 2008:
		We walked 30 minutes down Nathan Road toward the Victoria Harbour waterfront. Men were putting up bamboo scaffolding. It was neat (but a bit scary) to walk right under it.

There were some giant Banyan trees along Nathan Road!! They reminded me of the ones I've seen in Hawaii.

There were flowers and greenery all over Hong Kong!		A Detroit connection! There was this fist sculpture along Nathan Road. So fun! Notice the shops on the right are closed. It was only 9:51 am, so everything was still closed. Hong Kong is a late-night place; stores are open until 10 pm or 11 pm at night, so they don't open until 10 am, 10:30 am, 11 am, or even 11:30 am!

I adore the Olympics, and Hong Kong is my kind of place: Olympic-crazy! Next to the Kowloon Island-side of Victoria Harbour, there were blow-up versions of all of the Friendlies (the Olympic mascots) participating in the Olympic sports. So cute! I loved the equestrian Friendlies (as Hong Kong is hosting the equestrian events), while EHG's favorite was the fencer.

Also along the waterfront was the former clocktower of the KCR railway station. Nifty!
		This display of Friendlies was especially fun--we had to wait in quite a line to get our picture with them!
Next, we went to the Hong Kong Tourism Board's info center at the Star Ferry terminal. We wanted to book the free baking class (full) and the free junk boat ride (also full). Instead, the lady told us how to get the Octopus Card. We walked a few blocks north to the Tsim Sha Tsui subway station. Each card was 150 HKD ($19), but 50 HKD ($6.50) of that is deposit. All unused money (other than a 7 HKD [$1] processing fee) is returned to you when you turn in the card before leaving Hong Kong. It's a great system!

Next we took the Star Ferry from Kowloon Island (where our hotel was) to Hong Kong Island. The cost was 1.7 HKD ($0.22)!
		Our first Star Ferry journey was very foggy and hazy. But it was so fun!

The ferry trip was short. We landed at the Central Pier on Hong Kong Island.
The Central district of Hong Kong Island has a strong New York City feel. We were even in an all-designer clothing mall. All the big names we hear about on Project Runway were well represented! (Even Alberta Ferreti!)

After the ferry, we got on the tram and rode it west to the end of the line (Kennedy Town). The fare for each tram journey is 2 HKD ($0.25). It was amazing to see the shops change as we went further west! There are a lot of dried seafood shops in Hong Kong!
		After riding the tram to the western terminus, we got off and re-boarded an eastern-bound tram. We then rode it to the eastern terminus (Shau Kei Wan), where we walked around a fruit and vegetable market before the skies opened up and it started to pour. We ate at this second-floor McDonald's (2 McChickens, 2 small fries, and 2 small pops for 44 HKD [$5.67]) before catching the tram back to Central.
We then walked around several Hong Kong shopping malls (Pacific Place, ifc Mall) and stores (Shanghai Tang, Wellcome--where we bought a 1.5 L bottle of water for 4.40 HKD [$0.57]). We even found the Mid-Levels Escalator (longest in the world!) and started to go up. I was fading, though, so we checked out the Hello Kitty store and headed back to Kowloon Island. I wanted to see the 8:00 pm harbourfront light show, so we got small pops at a Burger King (6 HKD each--$0.77) on the Kowloon side after taking the Star Ferry back across to pass the waiting time.

We (and every other tourist in Hong Kong!) were along the waterfront for the 8:00 pm light show. There are "lazers" and all the buildings along the water light up and flash along to music. So neat! Very Niagara Falls!

It was an exhuatsing first full day in Hong Kong.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a McDonald's. I got the double cheeseburger meal; EHG had the filet-o-fish meal. We also bought a 100 HKD ($12.88) international phone card (the "Talk Talk" brand card) at the 7-11 around the corner from our hotel. While it always took a few times to connect using the card, we could talk a long time for very few units. If I had a choice again, I would get a lesser denomination card, although we used it up throughout our week and at the airports (both in Hong Kong and Tokyo--it had international dialing directions) on the way back.
On to the next pictures!