Hong Kong, Day 2

Our second day in Hong Kong was quite packed, filled with a LOT of walking. It didn't help that Hong Kong's weather is dreadful, ridiculously hot and humid. There's a constant layer of sweat on your skin, which isn't fun.

We started off the day with a walk down Ladies' Street, which was almost the same as the Night Market, except closer to our hotel. Then we took the subway (which they call the MTR) down to Central, another area in Hong Kong. You would not BELIEVE how amazing their subways are. It's so clean, and air-conditioned, and organized...completely different from NYC subways. I love that the map that shows how many stops you have left in the cars actually include the whole system. NYC should do that.

See?? Isn't it so awesome?!

Once we got to Central, we headed to Lin Heung Tea House for some famous Hong Kong dim sum! I actually found it online because Time recommended it. It was crazy packed, and not exactly the cleanest restaurant either...but the food was excellent. Then we walked around and saw all the shops as well as some tourist spots, including Lan Kwai Fong, which is this small area filled with bars and clubs that apparently many celebrities go to.

Doesn't look like much during the day, but it's supposed to be hopping at night!

After touring Central we went to IFC, which is this huge mall right by the water with a lot of high-end stores. We killed some time there and then took the bus to Victoria Peak, which is a mountain in Hong Kong that has some great views of Victoria harbor and Central. The night view in particular is beautiful. We got there kind of early so we had to wait until nightfall to see the night lights. It was worth it though! 

Pretty, right? =)

We had dinner on The Peak (as it's called by locals), at a Vietnamese restaurant. It wasn't fantastic, but it was decent. It was also really overpriced since we were eating at a tourist attraction. After dinner we took the tram back down and then took the Star Ferry back to Kowloon! That was fun, because we got to see the night lights from the water. I would put up a picture but all of mine are really blurry, so...yeah. All in all, though, a productive day!

Hong Kong, Day 1

So my mom and I actually flew into Hong Kong to get to China this time around--it was our first time there! We got there on August 30th and stayed until September 1st. Obviously the trip included a lot of sightseeing since it was the first time there for both of us.

The day we arrived, our flight landed around 1 pm or so, and we immediately took a cab to the hotel. Even though we had 5 suitcases (since we're flying directly to France after China and I had to bring all my things with me), the trip went pretty smoothly because the taxi driver helped us put the luggage in the car and then the hotel porters took care of the luggage once we reached the hotel. We rested for a bit and then headed to take a look at the Avenue of Stars, which is essentially the Hong Kong version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame. We saw a giant statue of Bruce Lee there! It was also right along the water so we had a great view of the Hong Kong skyline.

Bruce Lee...hi-yah!

Amazing Hong Kong skyline!

After that we headed to Din Tai Fung, which is famous for its soup dumplings. They were quite delicious--the skin was so thin!! I've never seen soup dumplings with such thin skin before. Honestly though, I haven't had soup dumplings too often. The last couple times I had them was in New York City before I left, and I was sick when I had them so I couldn't taste much, sadly. (I had them at Joe's Shanghai and Shanghai Cafe.) Thanks to that, I didn't really have much to compare them to. I also forgot to take a picture of them. =( They did have a little laminated card that taught you how to eat soup dumplings though, which I thought was hilarious.

After dinner, we headed to the Night Market, which is this street in Hong Kong filled with all these outdoor vendors and stalls selling really cheap items (including really terrible knockoffs). I thought it was really interesting to see, but my mom said it was essentially the same as Chinatown. We browsed it for a bit, looked for wooden fans that my sister wants us to buy for her wedding, and then headed back to the hotel for the night.