People watching in Hong Kong

One of my favorite things to do is to “people watch,” especially in a foreign country. Even though we have only been in Hong Kong for four days, I have noticed several interesting mannerisms thus far. For whatever reason, I have always thought of Asian people as hard workers, and from what I have observed; the people of Hong Kong appear to be no exception. On Friday, Kenneth, Eric and I took a quick break from the heat to enjoy the wonderful air-conditioning in a skyscraper and rehydrate. As we visited, I watched the 3 teenage-young twenties aged attendants in the Circle K convenience store within the building who were working away like little bees. When they didn’t have customers, they were not hanging out chatting; they were busy mopping the floor, restocking, and yes, even taking products off the shelves to clean them! I was humbled and impressed that the Hong Kong people appear to take great pride in their jobs, even if it is a job that Americans would consider menial.

I have also been very impressed with Hong Kong’s emphasis on cleanliness. Even for me, at times, it seems a little over the top (and that is saying something since Kenneth always refers to me as “Melvin” from “As Good As It Gets”). When we entered the Tea Museum on Friday, for instance, there was a sign on the door that said that the entire museum was disinfected every four hours! We came across a similar sign when we were putting our ticket into the machine to get on the cable cars that read the waiting area was cleaned six times a day! As the moving tram cars came in to the docking area, an employee wiped the inside down furiously before the next group loaded up.

Not only do the people of Hong Kong keep their surroundings impeccably clean, but I also feel they have high standards of personal hygiene. Everyone is well groomed and tidy-looking. Despite the ridiculous heat and humidity you rarely smell wafts of body odor. Many women carry wash cloth-type towels to blot the perspiration from their face, and some carry them tucked into the back collar of their shirt.



With 7 million people in this place there is no shortage of opportunities for some people watching!!!

Sunday, June 20th: Lantou and The Big Buddha

On Sunday, we decided to visit Lantau Island, the island just west of Hong Kong Island. Unfortunately, Eric wasn’t feeling great in the morning, so it was just the two of us for the day. We took the MTR to the island, and from there we boarded the Ngong Ping Skyrail, a 3.5 mile aerial cable car ride that goes from peak to peak until it reaches a small touristy, white walled village. The village is nestled in a valley that looks up on The Bid Buddha.



It was quite the sight looking up at the largest outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha in the entire world, even though he kept hiding behind clouds! In front of the 250 steps leading up to the Buddha was a courtyard, where people were praying.





Past the courtyard and a large archway was a monastery, were we toured a temple and ate a vegetarian meal of noodles and a few pieces of dim sum including, curry sauce pastry, spring roll, mushroom pastry, and steamed rice cake with black beans.


Inside the Lantau Monastery


View from the cable car on the way back down

While we were in Lantau, Eric had discovered some restaurants close by our apartment. After surveying the options, we decided on “Yummy” Vietnamese Cuisine. And yes, I can confirm that it was in fact very yummy. Kenneth and I split a bowl of Tom Yum soup. This was not any soup. It was served in the largest bowl in which I have ever eaten (about the size of a basketball in diameter), so it was more than enough for the two of us.

Saturday, June 19th: Getting off the island

Today, we decided to venture off Hong Kong Island to Kowloon, which is a peninsula attached to mainland China and located directly across Victoria Harbour! According to my Hong Kong Guide Book, there was supposed to be a really good, hole in the wall restaurant called Friendship Thai in Lok Fu. It was more of a jaunt than expected, and the sunny, hot, and humid weather was wearing us out quick! We discovered quite quickly that the Hong Kongese use their umbrellas for more than just the rain. When the sun is shining, it is relentless since we are so much closer to the equator. According to the local weather the UV radiation index often reaches the level of “extreme.” Even though I am not quite sure what that means, it doesn’t sound good! Unfortunately, when we reached Friendship Thai they were not open, so we went right across the street to Hot Thai Basil. The experience was very enjoyable with awesome food and great service. Kenneth had pad thai and I had a noodle dish with veggies and a spicy chili sauce. Kenneth’s pad thai dish was the closest we have come to Thai Orchid in KC, but I think Thai Orchid still wins!

On our way back to the MTR station, we realized we had completely missed a traditional Hong Kong Cemetery that sat back behind tall concrete walls and climbed steeply up the hill. We were a bit hesitant to enter, as we had no idea what the policy was on visitors and pictures. Because of the lack of land for burying the dead in Hong Kong, there is a 7 year time limit after which time the person loses their spot and must be moved or cremated. There were multiple grave stones, one after the other, going up the hill as well as multiple columbarium, where the ashes of loved ones are stored. It was interesting to see that each person had an individual picture posted where their ashes were placed in the columbarium. Apparently, there is quite a debate about Hong Kong’s need for more columbarium, but no one wants it near them!



Next, we found ourselves walking up and down the streets of the flower, bird, fish, and jade markets. It was amazing smelling and seeing shop after shop of beautiful bunches of roses, carnations, hydrangeas, orchids, lilies, and even sunflowers as well as decorative baskets and figurines made of flower petals. The fish market had aquariums filled with fish in addition to small individual plastic baggies (similar to what you would see at a carnival in the US) of fish. Gold fish seemed to be the most popular because many Asians believe they bring good luck, but there were beta and other tropical fish too. Several shops also sold turtles, frogs, and lizards. Since it was getting to be evening, the Temple night market was also starting to get set up. This market sold everything from electronics and other gadgets to clothes, purses, art, and jewelry. I found myself a nice Jimmy Choo handbag with a big flower on the front, but decided not to get it yet in case I found something else I liked better. Here are some pictures from the different markets:


Flowers in the flower market


Fish in a bag

Unfortunately, we missed the bird market, but we did have a chance to briefly swing through the jade market. It was a female’s jewelry paradise! There were probably about one-hundred small stands within one tented area with all kinds of beautiful jewelry and not just jade pieces. Of course I found several things that I liked, but I knew that I couldn’t spend too much time gawking since I had the two boys with me! Each of the vendors wanted me to come see their merchandise. I found a beautiful jade necklace, but the lady wanted $80 Hong Kong dollars for it. I talked to her for several minutes while I tried on the necklace, showed it to Kenneth, and made my best effort to get a better price! I told her I would pay $50, and she said “no.” Then she wanted me to get 2 necklaces for $150, and I said “no.” I countered, saying I would buy 2 for $100, and she said “no.” Finally after about 5-10 minutes of haggling back and forth with her, I could tell the boys were getting antsy and wanted to go so I just thought I would come back another day. Just as I started to catch up with the boys, the lady called me back and said that she would take $40 for the necklace! I was really excited about my great deal, but at the same time I felt a bit guilty because the lady seemed so defeated that she had not gotten more money out of us.

We were getting hungry, so we made our way near the Kowloon southern coast for dinner. Several places were already booked up, so we went to Shakey’s for a quick dinner so we could make it to the 8 o’clock light show. We arrived at the viewing area for the light show about 30 seconds before it was over, but we were not too disappointed as they have a show every day of the week since it is so popular. From what we did see, it was quite spectacular with the skyscrapers and other buildings on Hong Kong Island lighting up with various colors at different times and coordinated with music. What a day!

NOTE: Batman fans will recognize the tall building as the building Batman jumped off in the Dark Knight

Friday, June 18th: Our first day touring Hong Kong

Although we were able to get some shut-eye for a while, Kenneth and I woke up at about four in the morning due to the jet lag! I am sure that our bed, which is not far from two plywood boards put together with some very strong springs, had something to do with it as well. I am pretty sure that Priya’s floor was softer!

We set out to explore the city in the late morning, and we were all astonished to find that there are markets that line both sides of the street outside our building during the daytime! I looked directly to the left as we stepped out the door, and to my surprise was a lady selling all kinds of fresh fish and other sea creatures. Some of the fish were even still alive and jumping about wildly! Well, that explains that smell and the rats too! There were probably about 40-50 small stands in total selling everything from pork, fresh fruit and vegetables, bakery items, and meat balls to clothing, shoes, and knick-knacks. Here's a picture of the fish shop right outside of our apartment.



Our first goal was to find the Deloitte office, where Eric and Kenneth would be working. Our North Point subway station is about 5-10 minutes from our apartment, and from here you can take the subway to almost anywhere on Hong Kong Island or the mainland. I am extremely impressed with the subway system. It is clean, efficient, and also air-conditioned. People just touch their pre-paid Octopus Card to the sensor to enter and exit the train terminal. This card is quite ingenious and definitely a must-have in Hong Kong. With this card, one can also travel on the buses and buy items at convenient and grocery stores.

After finding the Deloitte office in One Pacific Place and eating lunch at a fast Chinese food restaurant, we made our way to the nearby Hong Kong Park. Here we walked around the beautiful gardens and lake and toured the Edward Youde Aviary, Flagstaff House Teaware Museum, and Conservatory.

For dinner, we decided on a cheap Indian food restaurant called Chillie Garden that is in our North Point neighborhood. It wasn’t the best Indian food, but it was a nice change from Chinese food.

Thursday, June 19th: Getting to Hong Kong

When we arrived to our apartment in North Point we were greeted by the congenial Mr. Chan, who showed us to our apartment on the 16th floor. I knew it was going to be small, but for some reason I was still surprised by how small! My bedroom in Wichita is bigger than our entire apartment! We also have a bathroom, kitchenette, and “closet” area. Proportionally speaking, it was ironic to find that the largest thing in our bedroom is the massive flat screen TV with only 4 Cantonese channels. I am actually glad that we don’t have a wide range of TV channels and that I can’t watch TV or Netflix movies on my computer out of the US. Otherwise, I would be very tempted with all of my free time on my hands!



Eric, Kenneth, and I decided to walk around our area of town and find somewhere to eat dinner for the night. As we walked outside of our apartment towards the main street, my senses were taken aback by several things. First, our side street outside of our apartment reeked of a “fishy-fish” smell. Secondly, about 25-50 yards from our apartment were multiple rats scurrying around! Fortunately, this would be our first and only rat sighting!

The main street was lined with neon-lighted signs in Chinese characters that none of us could understand, but eventually we came across the same hole in the wall Chinese restaurant that Eric had eaten at during his first time to Hong Kong.

Catching up

So even though we haven't been posting a lot on our blog, we have been documenting our trip fairly well. Melinda has been writing a lot of stuff offline that we are going to start posting. Keep in mind that much of this has been written gradually over the course of the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Saturday in the City

OK, so this blogging thing is much tougher than I expected. Actually, that’s not true, I knew that it would be difficult to consistently devote time to documenting our adventures. More appropriately, I should say that my poor time management skills have completely lived up to expectations and the quality of my blog has suffered immensely. Whoops. Realizing that I have skipped a few weeks, here is a quick recap of yesterday’s activities…

After spending Friday night strolling through the Temple street night market looking for a cheap tripod and a particular Jimmy Choo knockoff purse, we got around a little later than expected on Saturday. When we finally ventured out, we made our way to the Tourism Office at Tsim Sha Tsui where Melinda signed up for some of the Cultural Kaleidoscope classes. She took 2 classes last week, and really had great time learning about jewelry and tea. More to come from her on those topics in the not too distant future.

From there, we set off in search of a few tailors that I had heard about: Raja Fashions and David Fashions. Both stores run pretty slick operations. In addition to making bespoke suits in HK, they make frequent trips to the US, London, and a few other hot spots, to visit old customers for repeat business and find new customers. Although they can make suits in as little as 2 days, I’m hoping to spend a little more time with them to get a high quality suit that I really like. After flipping through swatches of fabric for almost an hour, I settled on a navy blue with subtle pinstripes. I didn’t pull the trigger on the suit yet, though. This week I will spend some more time looking through various styles to make sure I know what I’m talking about when I talk through the style that I want. It’s a pretty interesting process that is pretty fun if you like clothes and don’t mind taking a little extra time to really figure out what you want.

The next stop was intended to be a nice dimsum meal at Maxim’s in City Hall, but the restaurant was booked. We found another restaurant in the area, though, as well as some great views of some of the buildings downtown.

Hong Kong at night is a pretty amazing sight. To get some more great views of the city, we took our first trip up to Victoria Peak on the Peak Tram. The tram has been in operation for around 100 years, and climbs at a 45 degree angle up the mountain. Here’s a picture of the train at the station.



It’s a pretty cool ride, and the view at the top is even cooler. I got to put my new $12 tripod to the test, and although I definitely have some more work to do on night photography, I was pleased with the results.



OK - enough for now. Like I said, we'll try to do better. Also, Happy 4th of July. Kind of crazy, but this is our 2nd year in a row celebrating the 4th of July overseas. Last year we were in Bora Bora on our honeymoon, and this year in Hong Kong.