Fragrant Harbour

 
Our trip to Hong Kong was a major success, even if after visiting, I still don't get exactly what it is. So it's a division (if you will) of China but what does that mean exactly? I know I don't have to visit the Chinese embassy to get a visa before traveling like I do when I go elsewhere in China, so I guess I get it? But it also gets a little hazy when navigating around. So there's Hong Kong island, then across the bay is Kowloon, and then you have something called the new territories. Isn't it all Hong Kong? (I probably shouldn't skip over the history and geography sections of our travel books.) Regardless, the things I am sure of are: Hong Kong is pretty awesome and it's a great place to buy a camera, take in an underwhelming light show on a junk boat, and break your toe.

Doesn't Christian look thrilled?

Our hotel arranged a free shuttle from the airport and as we were driving into the city we took in the lush green scenery. With all the hills and waterways, we couldn't help comparing it to San Francisco. This is going to be good, I thought, as I tucked into my newly purchased chewy candy (the pack that made us nearly miss our shuttle). Once we got settled into our hotel (on the Kowloon side, if that means anything to you), we grabbed some lunch and started plotting our day. I was anxious because our only working camera had been lost in Melbourne a few weeks before and I hated being somewhere new without a camera to capture our every move. I had done a little research and found to my great surprise that the lowest cost and most highly respected camera shop (insert Christian's eye rolling here) I'd narrowed in on was right around the corner (another eye roll). Thirty minutes later, we set off to shop, me with my shiny new Canon around my neck. The touring can commence!

Something actually fits!

As we scooted off to find our first shopping destination (after all, we are who we are), I continued to pretend that the fancy new - and entirely clunky - DSLR camera we just got wasn't weighing me down immensely (it was) for fear of hearing Christian's first "told you so" of the trip. We entered the crowded MTR station and navigated around surprisingly well for two directionally challenged individuals. Our first stops were several menswear shops for Christian. He has a real knack for finding such awesome men's stores everywhere we go that even I enjoy the time (countless hours) we spend in them. I don't have the same luck finding women's threads. Not surprisingly, clothes made for Asian women just don't work for me. Hmm, most likely the 5 foot 10 inch body with very broad shoulders, long monkey arms, and extremely big hands. Nonetheless, the strolling, the window shopping, and trying on the occasional stuffed bear head work for me. I just like to take it all in.

Aside from being a pretty great shopping destination, Hong Kong also boasts one of the loveliest skylines I've ever seen. It's so spectacular, Christian suggested we take it in in two ways. A duo of total tourist-ness. We joined hundreds of others, who I was delighted to see were also lugging around ginormous cameras, on a crowded tram to the top of a very large peak to peer out over Hong Kong.

Later that afternoon, we signed up for yet another tourist trap - a junkboat tour of Victoria Harbor to see the light show. At 8pm every evening, the buildings on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side light up to the tunes of very bad music, complete with lasers. Think 80's Tron, on water. You get on this boat made to look like an old junkboat, cash your drink coupon in for a beverage of your choosing, they sail you out to the middle of the harbor, and you sit back and wait for sundown. Once it's dark, the pre-recorded play-by-play begins and you sit back and enjoy the show.  It as about as ridiculous as one might expect, which made for a pretty fun evening and one spectacular view.

After the laser-fest, we headed back to Kowloon to check out the Temple Street Night Market. A series of streets and alleyways that are full of food stalls, fortune tellers, and stall after stall of cheap crap that for some reason always looks deceptively cool and necessary to have in the moment.

I had almost talked myself into a set of silk pajamas and a sign reading "No smoking I will crazy" but hunger set in so we set off to find some streetfood. It was a little overwhelming with so many options. We finally settled on a kebab joint. It was only when we walked up to it that we noticed some drunk man left his sick all over the entry way. Hunger quelled. So we ended up at Outback Steakhouse. Don't knock it 'til you reintroduce yourself to the rib platter. Sweet BBQ sauce deliciousness.

Seeing Hong Kong was every bit as cool as we thought it would be. There's a grit and dirtiness to it that is just so much fun to visit, especially when you reside in Singapore. Hong Kong is The Fonz to Singapore's Richie Cunningham. It's a city that caters to many cultures. It's both old and modern, but it doesn't try too hard. There are places to go and people to see (a TON of people - over 7 million people reside there) and we both left hoping we'd come back. One more stop on this journey down, two more satisfied travelers.

To check out all our Hong Kong pics, head on over to flickr!