I've been getting so lazy with blogging, but I wanted to write about my experience in Hong Kong! It was a great first experience in Asia, and I also appreciated that it forced me to use my Cantonese. Maybe I'll be fluent after a few more visits? Ha! There isn't a particular order to my ramblings. I'll just be posting tidbits of my adventures in HK and splitting it into multiple posts so it's not too long!
Everyone says that December is THE perfect time to visit Hong Kong. It was definitely jacket weather, but all the walking around and switching subways warmed us up, so we were never too cold. I did buy a nice fall jacket at UNIQLO (when in HK - do ALL the shopping) since my coat was too heavy, and my bomber jacket was too thin - I'm obviously very sensitive to temperature.
What surprised me the most the first day were all the neon signs in small streets... in some areas, you couldn't even see the sky because of the concentration of signs.
Almost every day, we woke up pretty early (6-7am). We learned quickly that nothing is really open that early in Hong Kong, but seeing peaceful streets was always a great, refreshing start to the day. AND it helped us beat long lines for dim sum and desserts!
Before the crowds
Tim Ho Wan's famous baked BBQ pork bun
When we travel, we normally want to try at least one Michelin starred restaurant. We were set on Tim Ho Wan - dubbed the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world! We arrived after a couple, who tried to open the door to no avail... we were 10 minutes too early. We had gotten lost on the way, but we still arrived JUST in time because not a minute after, the line behind us was long enough to fill the whole restaurant.
Their delicious baked BBQ pork bun dish is about $2.50 USD for 3 pieces. We had stacks on stacks on stacks of dim sum, and the total was about $12 USD/person. In Dallas, it probably would have been $80/person for how much we ordered!!
I've lost Jean behind these skyscrapers of dim sum
The image above just kept repeating itself as they took away baskets and replaced them with more.
I could go on forever about food (maybe in the next posts), but let's skip to an adventure: riding the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car to Tian Tan Buddha! Definitely get the Crystal cabin pass - you get a clear floor and you get to skip the standard line. It saved an hour of our time when it was time to get off Lantau Island!
Worth it
My favorite moment of the cable car ride was when we saw a jogger resting below us, and 2 wild sleeping dogs were a few feet away from him. It was a surreal experience passing over them. I wish I could have gotten a photo, but I was just in awe.
Met up with Chris's friend Doug
Lantau Island was very relaxing (besides walking up 268 steps to get to Tian Tan Buddha). I really enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals, temple, and scenery.
Walking around the top of Tian Tan Buddha
Cute dogs everywhere. It made me miss Mika!
U.S. entrance form: "Did you touch any livestock?" ... *thinks* ... ... ...
View from the temple
I got yelled at for taking this photo. Life of a photographer.
I didn't take as many photos as I liked because I spent a majority of my time just enjoying the experience. It was really a relief to just be in the moment instead of thinking, "I need to take a photo of this! THE perfect photo!" I still had those moments of course (Ngong Ping cable car ride - we were ready to kick some children), but not as much as I normally would :) Finding a balance...
Stay tuned for part II!