Goodbye Hong Kong, hello China!

Our third and final day in Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. All we did was take the Star Ferry back over to Central, saw the Hong Kong Convention Center, and then took the ferry back. I mean, it's an impressive center, because it's huge, but really not that interesting.

See? 

The daytime ferry ride was a nice way to get some more pictures of the Hong Kong skyline though!

We had lunch at Cafe de Coral, which is a fast food chain in Hong Kong. But Asian fast food is very different from American fast food! So if you're imagining hamburgers and fries, try imagining pork over rice instead. After lunch, we took the shuttle back to the hotel, returned our Octopus cards--oh yeah, I forgot to mention Octopus cards! So Octopus cards are these cards you can buy in subway stations in Hong Kong, which you can use for public transportation...and also a ton of other things. Almost all the big stores take them, so it's a super convenient way to pay! You just put however much you want on the card and then you're set! All of the machines that read them also tell you how much you have left on the card after you swipe it. I thought it was a genius idea. America needs to adopt this.

Anyway, after we returned the Octopus cards we went back to the hotel and just waited for the shuttle to the airport. Everything went pretty smoothly, until...our flight got delayed. By an hour. All I have to say is, thank god for free wi-fi in Hong Kong International Airport. So we arrived in Chengdu an hour late, and my uncle (my dad's younger brother), who I call Yao Ba, had been waiting for a while because he didn't check the flight status before leaving. We managed to fit all of our luggage into his car by shoving two suitcases in the back seat, so I was squished in there with them. We managed, though, and got back to their apartment just fine. However, they live in a 6-floor walkup...so you can imagine how tedious it was hauling the luggage up there. But we made it back alive, and finally arrived in Chengdu!

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!