A Tale of Two Cities 第1章: The Place for You

Guess where I've been!

Last year, when DG transferred to his new job, he mentioned to me that one of the perks that might come of it was a business meeting in Hong Kong.  He asked me if I'd want to vacation in the area if that actually happened, to which I answered, sure, of course, why not.  Like most things that sound fun and exciting, I brushed it off as an interesting, but not-so-likely possibility.

Note to self:  do this more often.  Maybe more good things will happen to you this way.

Then in December, DG got the green light from his manager, which meant we had to start planning.  Since neither of us had an exhaustive amount of vacation time, we decided to limit it to about a week abroad, plus travel time (HK is 13 hours ahead of EST and a 15+ hour flight, which meant we'd be losing a couple of days in transit alone).  Early on, one of the questions DG posed was, did we want to spend the entirety of the trip in HK, or did we want to visit another place in the region because, honestly, how often were we going to have the opportunity to be in Asia?  After some hemming, hawing, and weighing of options, we settled on half and half of our trip in Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan.

Time to hit up TripAdvisor

 

With a fairly extensive list of possible things to do and attractions to see, all that was left was to wait for February to roll around and play my favorite game of planes, trains, and automobiles

Flying over Siberia.  Those are mile+ long cracks in the ice!

From the bus depot at HK International

Pictures from a bus at night are hard :/

For the curious, the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong is a territory made up of the Kowloon Peninsula, as well as several islands (probably most prominently, HK island itself and Lantau.)

The hotel where DG and I were staying was on Hong Kong Island, right off Victoria Harbor, which meant that this was our view every morning:

No, no, the lack of sunlight isn't due to smog (though, yes, HK does have a bit of a pollution problem due to urbanization.)  Because we had a limited time, we ended up waking before sunrise every day to get an early start and pack in as much as possible.  Generally speaking, all three days were actually quite clear, if misty in the mornings.

The first morning, we opted to stay on HK Island and visit Victoria Peak (no narcissism was involved with this decision.  This is just what happens when you share a name with a British Queen.)

Touring Hong Kong is a relatively simple thing to do, thanks to the extensive transport system throughout all the islands.  There are not only cabs aplenty, but both the MTR (Mass Transit Railway, HK's rapid transit rail line) and the buses run frequently and to every destination you might need.  Not only that, but fare is remarkably inexpensive in comparison to what I'm used to in the US, like with SEPTA or Amtrak.  To put it in perspective, I probably spent around 100 HKD, or about $13, on travel across 3 different islands in 2.5 days.  It costs me $5 to get across Philadelphia, one way.

Even so, DG and I often traveled by the seat of our pants if we could.  After a quick ride to Central, we chose to walk the remainder of the way to the Peak.  Our travels led us on a detour through the Hong Kong Zoo and Botanical Gardens, which by the way, were both completely free and open to the public.

Photo duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuump!!!

I seriously have close to 1000 photos from this trip between DG and myself, so I will not inundate you here.  The curious can visit my albums here and here.

It wasn't a massive zoo, but I still probably could have wandered for another hour at least.  But, we were on a mission, so we resumed our trek.

Probably one of the craziest things about the urban parts of HK is that everything is built on an the incline of some hill or mountain, even residential areas.  There were cars driving past us on what I would consider treacherous turns, and people walking along like it was no thing.  I, on the other hand, confess that vertigo and lack of athleticism occasionally got the better of me on some of the 50°+ inclines.

Still, the view was worth the climb.

And, for our efforts, we were rewarded with...

TONY MOLY!!!

A mall.  Yup.  Just... a shopping center about 500 meters from the tippy-top of the mountain because why not.  A really nice mall, mind you, with plenty of brilliantly colored shops, tourist booths, and tasty-looking restaurants, and after that long hike, we were definitely down for a hearty delicious meal.

Hah.  JK, we got pudding.

It is quite easy to not eat real food in Hong Kong if you are determined to sugar crash.  There are ice cream shops (Häagen-Dazs seems to be the preferred brand), creperies/bakeries, etc. everywhere, all just as cute as a button (which is actually a point that I will probably come back to a few times over the next few entries.)

Once we'd had our fill of sweets and the Peak, we made our way back down by tram and tooled about the city center in search of a quick bite.

With no real preference in mind, we settled on food court bbq roast pork.

...Oh, sweet mother of mercy, how I do already miss the availability of good roast pork.

While we noshed, I took a moment to muse on my surroundings for the first time since we'd woken up.  There'd been a thought in the back of my head that I'd not really made concrete until I glanced down at my tea cup.

For as crowded as it was, everything in Hong Kong felt like a very deliberate art piece.

I mean.  Sure, yes, you had your actual traditional art dotting cafes and outdoor gardens, but even stairwells, escalators (scroll back up to the criss-crossing escalators for a sec), buildings, and underpasses seemed to have been designed as much with aesthetic in mind as functionality.

Is that strictly a Hong Kong thing?  No, probably not.  But of the many places I've been in the past few years, this is where I felt it the most.

And, while not the end of the today, I think I will call this the end of today's entry.  Next up:  we get schooled in HK history, and then get mobbed by a schoolyard horde.

Until the next.