Day of Travel

Today is a travel day for Dax and me. I'm writing this on my iPhone while waiting for our flight to shanghai to depart. Free airport wifi is awesome. My phone is in airplane mode so I don't get roaming charges, but wifi still works so I'm good to go.

Cool thing that happened today: We took a cab to the Airport Express metro station, where we could catch a train to the airport. Get this - you can check your bags at the metro station, before you even get on the train. So when we got to he airport all we had to do was go through security and we were in. Crazy stuff!

Another interesting thing about hong kong travel is that everywhere is international from here. There's no such thing as a domestic terminal. Our passports were checked after exiting security, as were everyone else's. Just thought that was interesting.

Our plane just showed up, so until next time, over and out.

Tips for surviving in Hong Kong

Tips for surviving in Hong Kong:

1. If you're on a sidewalk, waiting for a walk light, watching cars whiz passed you inches away from your face, you're doing it wrong!  Look up and find an aerial walk way.  Or, if you're in Kowloon, look for a "Subway" sign and go under ground.  There are huge networks of underground walkways where pedestrians have the right of way, but remember to walk on the left side - we are in a former British colony after all.  Need a snack, beverage, or Nuetrogena  moisturizing hand cream?  Look no further.  The subways are flanked with shops containing anything you could possibly need.  If you walk long enough, you're bound to run into an actual mall entrance.  Enjoy department store shopping on your commute!
2. Looking for something touristy to do?  Go see the Botanical and Zoological Gardens.  Entrance is free and there's no waiting in lines.  The Giant Buddha at Po Lin Monastery was cool and all, but what I might not have expounded upon in my last post was that there were tons of tourists, long lines, and someone trying to sell you something at every turn.  By contrast, the Zoological gardens contained exotic and rare species of lizards, birds, primates and rodents, and didn't cost a thing.  I took some pictures of the flowers too, as they were nearly as spectacular as the animals.  There was a large fountain with colonial style terraces where we found a man doing tai chi.  Dax and I enjoyed a brief rest on a stone bench inside a tall green garden accessed by narrow stone winding pathways.  The public toilets here are plentiful, clean, and awesomely enough, consisting of both western and eastern style toilets.  After going on and on to Dax about how I learned on my trip to Japan that easter style toilets are better for evacuation,  I knew I had to use one at least once on my trip.  I really do like them.  I want one for my apartment.  
3. There aren't too many carnivorous bugs here, but it still might be a good idea to wear bug spray.  I got a nasty bite on the back of my calf my first day here, and the huge itchy red mark does not seem to have gone down in size in the last two days... sorry if that was TMI.  
4. Remember, when travelling, consider carefully your traveling companion.  It doesn't hurt to bring with you the love of your life.  :)

Some pictures of our day:

We took the Star Ferry across the harbor again today.  It's been operating since 1880.  

Interesting seat belt policies.
Btw, we took a cab to the gardens after failing to navigate the bus system.  Oops!
To our credit, we had a nice walk back to the ferry terminal at the end of the day.  

Happy Dax entering the botanical gardens. 

Pretty fountain. 

Beautiful flowers.  Bess, what kind are they?

Just hanging around. 

Happy travelers.  

Hong Kong: Day 2!

Hong Kong Day 2!

Today we went to see the Giant Buddha at Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. It was pretty frikkin big! It's a huge tourist attraction and in good capitalist fashion, was surrounded by a colorful theme park complete with cartoon primate mascots and lot's and lot's of bubble machines! It was pretty wild.

Cute mascots and bubble machines!

Once again, we scored on good food. Since we were at a Buddhist monastery, there were plentiful vegetarian options. Dax had sweet and sour veggie chicken, and I had veggie dim sum! I meant to take a picture before we started eating... but my appetite got the better of me, so this is all that was left!

Taro egg rolls, sweet and sour veggie chicken, egg buns and soy sauce.

The Giant Buddha is on Lantau Island, which is about a 45 minute train ride from Kowloon. Once you get to the Island, there's a glass bottom "cable car" that takes you to the Buddha theme park. The "cable car" is actually what we americans would call a gondola, or a tram - one of the tallest we'd ever been on. The glass bottom was a trip. We made a couple of water crossings and travelled over beautiful green forests on our way to the Buddha. We were also able to take aerial photos of the Buddha on our way in. Very exciting. :)

Dax's and my feet resting on the cable car's glass bottom. See the shoreline below. 

Giant Buddha aerial view taken from the cable car.

In the evening, back in Kowloon, we experienced our first Chinese massages. It was about 30 USD to get an hour massaged by an amazingly skilled massage therapist. She did pressure point therapy and hit all the right spots. Whew! What a treat.

More veggie pizza for dinner, but hey, it's really good and super cheap and right next to our hotel, so we were very stoked to have it after a long and adventurous day!

Hong Kong: Day 1!

We're in Hong Kong!

We got in late last night.  When we got to our hotel we were hungry so we walked outside to check out some of the restaurants... there was a sushi place and a oyster steak house and a bunch of places with seafood and noodle pictures out in front, but Dax found a falafel / pizza / indian food place called Ebeneezer's, so we actually had falafel and vegitarian pizza on our first night in HK!  Hahah, we'll get more adventurous as the trip goes on, but in the mean time, it was nice to have a familiar meal after a 14 hour flight, a train ride, and a slow cab ride through the extremely trafficked streets of Kowloon on a Saturday night.

Train Map From Airport

We're staying in Kowloon, which is across a narrow channel from Hong Kong island itself.  Tsim Sha Tsui, where our hotel is, seems to be the main shopping district of Kowloon (hehe, unless all of it is that way!).  There are blocks and blocks of Giorgio Armani, Channel, Burberry, Tiffany's, Rolex, all juxtaposed by flea-marked style hand bag and clothing shops in alleys and small storefronts.

We walked the short distance to Victoria Harbor today and caught the Star Ferry across the channel to Hong Kong central.  We tried to take a bus to the Peak Tram terminus, where we could catch the tram up the mountain, but we got on the wrong bus and ended up taking it all the way to the top of the peak.  It was fine though, because you only need to take the tram one way, and we took it down.

Dax took video on his new camera while we rode on the Star Ferry

At the top of Victoria Peak we ate sushi and admired the glorious view.  The average tall building in Hong Kong is taller and narrower than any building you'll see in San Francisco, but from the top of Victoria Peak, even the tallest buildings look like toothpicks!

Hong Kong from a boat on Victoria Harbor

At the bottom of the tram, we found the correct bus... a two-story open air short but wild ride through the narrow streets of Hong Kong!  I held on to my hat, it was such a thrill.  It also happened to take us right passed one of the most impressive Apple stores I've ever seen.  I needed a USB to ethernet adaptor for my Air, so we had the perfect excuse to check it out!  It was busy busy busy but the mission was accomplished in 10 minutes flat.  Ah, Apple... <3

Hong Kong Apple Store!

Done with our adventure, we walked back to our hotel, picking up some snacks on the way... yogurt,  cereal, milk, tea, oranges, and mango jellies... ate, watched "Hollywood TV" and passed the bleep out.  But whoops, it was only six o'clock!  Hehe, now it's 2am and we're wide awake.  Eek! Jetlag!

That's it for our first day of adventure in Hong Kong!

Thanksgiving

I'm enjoying an apple nut muffin from the batch my aunt and I baked in preparation for our long flight tomorrow.  I just woke up after a night of dancing (and a little drinking!),  but Dax's party last night at Public Works was a lot of fun and a big success.  Dax sure does know how to throw a good party! I love it.

Today is Thanksgiving, and we leave for Asia tomorrow.  So far, I think we have everything we need and are almost all the way packed!  I'll be doing some laundry today and shoving the rest of my stuff into my pack, but other than that we are sooo good to go... I can't wait! :)

Coming Soon...

We leave for Hong Kong the day after Thanksgiving, November 25, 2011.  Asia here we come!