Hong Kong

I'm a bit late on this post, since we got back from Hong Kong last week, but here goes.

As I mentioned earlier, Matt had a business trip in Hong Kong, so we made a weekend out of it. The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens Tournament was going on, so there were a bunch of people in town. To recap:

Friday:
Matt went to his meeting, then to the tournament for some testosterone fueled bonding. I worked from the hotel. After work, I went in search of jeans in what is supposed to be Asia's shopping mecca known as Hong Kong. What I discovered was that it is a shopping mecca if you are a sub size zero. So after a couple of hours torturing myself, I made myself feel better with a pedicure. Then Matt and I went to Lan Kwai Fong for a night out. More on Lan Kwai Fong later.

Saturday (a.k.a, How many different modes of transport can we take in one day?):
After rolling in around 2am the previous night, we got a late start. Took the ferry over to Hong Kong Island, went on the Peak Tram, took photos, then took the ferry over to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha. We had a yummy late lunch (satay anyone?). Sidenote about the food: Now, I really like American Chinese food, but I found out when we went to Beijing last year that American Chinese food is not real Chinese food. Real Chinese food is not my favorite. I have too many texture issues with most of the food, and I don't like chicken feet floating in my soup. So I steered away from Chinese food this time.
Then we tried to find a cab to take us up to the Big Buddha. Uh, yeah. Not a lot of cabs on that island. So after an unfortunate encounter with the one cab driver we could find (in which I wasn't at my most ladylike best), we luckily came across an expat, Amanda, that said we could share a cab with her. Very cool of her! She gave us some great sightseeing tips. So after a scary cab ride up some winding roads, we arrived.

The Buddha was great; I'm glad we saw it. We didn't realize how many steps would be involved, but we walked up them anyway. Took lots of photos.


Bad hair day being in the clouds and all. Then we took the airtram down. We hit a night market (all the same stuff in Chinatown in KL), then we rounded out the day having some drinks in a bar in Kowloon.
All in all, we figured we walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 miles that day. Modes of transport: Walking, bus, subway, ferry, cab, ground tram, skyrail.

Sunday:
We got up and headed out to see the tournament. We really didn't know much about rugby, but we enjoyed it a lot. I now kind of understand why some people think that American football is for weenies. These guys were hard core. No pads, lots of brutal hits, and they never stop moving. Even when they get injured, they lay there for a minute, walk it off and get right back in the game. The 7s series is a tournament with teams from around the world, and it differs from regular rubgy since it is played in two seven minute halfs with seven guys on each team.

After a few hours of that, we took a cab to see the bird market, flower market and goldfish market. Then off to Lan Kwai Fong for another night.


More on that in a separate post.

Then we came home on Monday! All in all, it was nice to go, but I don't have any real desire to go again. Hong Kong is very modern; in fact, the most westernized city we've visited since moving to Asia. And I have to say, big westernized cities aren't really what I'm interested to see while we live over here. Plus, the sheer number of people would be maddening if I had to deal with it every day. Especially when many of them don't realize that they share their world/their space with other people (like on subways, sidewalks, etc. - let's all work together to move in the same direction, people). But I'm glad we went.