HONG KONG

So we pulled into Hong Kong very early on March 29th. I didn’t really know what to expect so boy was I blown away by the amazing skyline. We were docked on the Kowloon side so we had the best view in the City of Hong Kong Island. We went through customs and got our departure cards and went to meet up with Alice Law the young woman that Greg works with and hooked me up with for the day! She told us she would be wearing a pink coat so we immediately found her and her friend Yolanda at the mall. They were ready to take us anywhere and we heard that the Stanley Market was a good place to go. They hadn’t been there in a while which we should have taken as a sign of it not being the best but we went anyways. We took the star ferry from the Kowloon side to the Hong Kong side. It was only about a 3 minute ride then we hopped on a bus to take us to the Market. The bus was huge a double decker, we sat on the top of course. The views were amazingly beautiful. I had no idea that Hong Kong had so much natural beauty. Away from all the tall buildings is a beautiful beachfront area which we were able to see from on top of the huge hills. We made it to the Stanley market and were a little disappointed. It wasn’t very big, all their knockoffs were terrible SOOO terrible, and it was kind of expensive with not a lot of bartering which we were all very used to. I swear we are all going to go home and be shopping at like Macys ask how much something is and say no I will give you 10 dollars for this shirt, what NO? ok I am walking away this is me walking away haha that’s probably funnier in my head or only to the people I am with oh well. We did a little shopping then sat down for lunch. We went to a restaurant that was a mix of western food and Chinese food. Alice ordered for my 3 friends and I, she got us Dim Sum and rice then she ordered spaghetti for herself and Yolanda! We found that funny. Then we ventured to Hong Kong Park. Here is where you ride the gondolas up to the top of Victoria’s Peak which is a really famous lookout but it was so overcast that we decided not to. So we just walked around there for a little. There were coy fish ponds everywhere, families picnicking, and crazy cool fountains.
Then we took the subway to the downtown area of Hong Kong. While going to get on the subway we were there at a time when half the people were getting on and half were getting off. One of our friends Trish hopped right on while the rest of us were waiting for the next train because we wouldn’t all have gotten on that one. Well the doors shut Trish saw us all out of the train and we saw her in it and we all immediately burst out laughing! Poor Trish she was probably freaking out. Alice kept screaming at her to get off at the next stop but she looked like she had no idea what we were saying. Luckily for us and her someone on the train saw what had happened and told her to get off at the next stop so she did and Alice got off the train and found her there! We couldn’t stop laughing about it! We thought it was hilarious.
When we got off at the Mokow stop we all had to take a step back because there were so many people! That was the first time that I had felt the rush of an enormous amount of people like I had been expecting in Hong Kong. There were flashing signs, electronics, and lights everywhere on the street. When you imagine Hong Kong in your mind this is what you think of. We were so excited! Trish had to buy a camera so we had a reason to look at all the cool electronic stores. Alice called her husband to come and help us which was so sweet. It was really nice having locals there because they were able to communicate with the shopkeepers for us and make sure that we didn’t get taken which tourists usually do!
In Hong Kong they have this strange religion called fall of the dome or faulk dome or something like that I’m sorry can’t really remember the name. It’s not so much a religion as it is a political view. As you all know China is a communist country and Hong Kong is a different like sect of China it’s really confusing. But in mainland China you cannot speak out against the government ever or else you are thrown in jail for a pretty long time however Hong Kong is more tolerant of outside views. So this religion speaks out against the government and often has demonstrations on the streets. In the middle of the street I saw a man lying on a table with white sheets draped all over him. Standing above him was a man dressed as a doctor holding a scalpel over the guy’s heart. This was all very strange to me so of course I asked Alice’s husband what was going on. He told me it was too complicated to explain but I had learned a bit about the religion in school so I asked him if that was what it was and he said yes. It was a demonstration to show how the Chinese government enforces capital punishment more than any other country and when they kill the prisoners they sell their organs. I was SHOCKED I couldn’t imagine this actually happening anywhere it just sounded so wrong to me. I’ll never forget that eerie feeling I had staring at this demonstration.
We went to the ladies market which was a little more of what I was expecting when I thought about shopping in Hong Kong. We shopped for a few hours but I contained myself, I didn’t want to go wasting all my money on the first day when I didn’t know what else China had to offer! After shopping we took the subway underground under the water back to our ship in Kowloon. Once we got there I gave Alice a cubs T shirt and my friend Trish who is from New York gave her husband and Yolanda I <3 New York T-shirts, they seemed pretty excited about them. It was so amazing having them take us around for the day. It was fun too because we got to learn more about Hong Kong having them as local tour guides. I also think they learned a bit from us too while we were there. They were both so nice and giving and so excited to show us their hometowns. It was really an amazing experience.
That night we ate dinner and watched the light show in the skyline. Like I said before we had the BEST view of the Hong Kong Skyline and every night at 8:30 they put on a show. The buildings each have very colorful lights and they create really cool patterns with them. Overall Hong Kong was really really cool. I only had one day there so it would have been nicer to spend more time there. I don’t think that my one day visit did Hong Kong much justice. There was so much that I wish I could have seen and experienced there. Oh well guess that just means I have to go back!