Day 66-72: The Rest of Hong Kong

The rest of my time in Hong Kong was a blur. I stayed at the Jack's house for five nights. I was super lazy and was spoiled with Sarah's big comfy bed. Their rescue dog Charlie warmed up to me by the end of my stay, even allowing me to pet him. I tried lying on the beach (which was swarmed with Chinese tourists) and going on a run, but it was so hot outside the best option was lying in the room with some air conditioning.

I met up with two friends from elementary school, one of whom I hadn't seen in over eleven years! It was so fun reminiscing about the stupid things we used to do and what everyone is up to now. We also went out later that night meeting up with a few more people from the past.

Morgan and I. I hadn't seen him since we were 10 or 11 years old!

After my visa freakout I decided the best thing was for me to send my passport back to the US to get it. I went into Central early one morning to send it and its due to arrive the day before I leave for China! Fingers crossed.

Lynne and Duncan were kind enough to have me back after staying at the Jacks. They spoiled me rotten with some last home-cooked Western meals. I read to and was read to by Jamie and Ian, the cutest little boys. Other than that I just lounged around until my very flight to Shanghai.

Another gorgeous view from the MacFarlanes:

I had a great time in Hong Kong being lazy and catching up with some old friends. Now I'm just ready to unpack a bag!

Day 60-66: Staying with the McFarlanes

For five nights I stayed with Lynne and Duncan and their two boys Jamie and Ian. I had never met Jamie and Ian before but they were the most welcoming, talkative, lively boys. They accepted me straight away and within five minutes were showing me their TinTin books and lego.

Jamie and Ian:

Over the week we did a lot of swimming at the pool close by. Luckily for me I had the excuse of taking the boys to swimming lessons, when I got to lay poolside and do nothing. We also went to see Brave, which made poor Jamie cry, but was a great movie overall. We visited the Aberdeen Marina Club, where my family and I used to go when I was little. The outside looked the same but the inside had been completely revamped. We ate at the Italian restaurant there one night where I had some delicious gnocchi. Lynne also kindly treated me to a haircut, which I desperately needed.

The view from Lynne and Duncans:

 The Adventure Zone in the Marina Club:

We prepared for a typhoon on Friday but it turned out to be a measly T3 so nothing to worry about. I even got burned at the pool that day!

Some random footage of the typhoon coming in:

There was a bit of a freakout on my part when I found out my original plan of getting my visa in Hong Kong wasn't going to work and I would have to ship all my stuff to the US. Of course I only found this out on Friday, which left me full of worry the whole weekend. Hopefully it will all work itself out though!

I had such a lovely time with the McFarlanes and was so thankful for them letting me stay with them for that long!

Day 59: Hong Kong

For Marco’s last day we lounged around some more. We had a fantastic lunch of burgers and steak and then a delicious dinner. We ate some ice creams overlooking the water. Funnily enough we were there in time for the laser show and our trip seemed to end just as it had started. At 9pm Marco took the shuttle to the Airport Express and sadly we had to say goodbye.

Eating lunch by the harbor:

Day 58: Hong Kong

After a lazy start, Marco and I finally went to go see The Dark Night Rises. Of course an IMAX ticket here costs $20 USD each, but it was definitely worth it. We didn’t do much else until dinner at an awful Indian restaurant (my bad). Luckily drinks at Deck N Beer, which overlooks the harbor, was great. 

Day 57: Hanoi to Hong Kong

-We finally arrive din Hanoi around 10am and took an overly expensive taxi to the airport. We used the last of our dong and started watching Seven Years in Tibet, which was not that good. There were mosquitoes swarming everywhere and they would not go away. Not too pleasant to wake up to after an uncomfortable nap on the benches. Finally around 5pm we could check in. We even got moved up to emergency exit row seats.

-After landing in Hong Kong and making it to Kowloon we found out we had missed the free shuttle to Tsim Sha Tsui so took a cab ride over before crashing for the night. 

Day 3: Hong Kong to Singapore

-Woke up early to catch our 11am flight to Singapore. Had some confusion over the terminal we were actually in but finally made it! We sat next to an American Mormon who lived in Singapore. His name was Dion and he had some very helpful tips about visiting the city. He even gave us his business card just in case we ran into any trouble!

-Once we landed and went through immigration, got our one checked bag (for the price of $320 HKD) and ate a sandwich, we headed to the MRT.

-We were supposed to be staying at this one hostel, but of course I messed the dates up by 10 days and they were full for the night. Luckily they gave us the names of some other hostels in Chinatown, one of which was available for $33/person/night. Singapore is not cheap.

-Once we got settled and refreshed we walked through Chinatown and up to the Singapore River and walked along it. Neither Marco nor I have been here before so it was exciting exploring the city for the first time.

Chinatown:

-We wandered up to the central part of the city, with the big buildings and fancy hotels. We were both a little curious as to why Bank of America has buildings in both Hong Kong and Singapore yet no partnering bank that lets you withdraw money without the foreign transaction fee?

-We walked to the Marina Bay Reservoir and went to look at the shops at the Sands resort. This was probably the most ridiculous mall, complete with a fake mini-gondola ride at the bottom of it. It also had every designer store imaginable.

Marco in front of the Sands:

The ridiculous mall complete with gondola and quartet:

-We then went up to the top of the Sands (after waiting in line for an hour and paying an exorbitant entrance fee). It was really cool though. There were great views of the city. We grabbed a beer just in time for... another laser show! Must be the theme of the trip. At least this one actually had classical music. It also projected images onto little water fountains.

The laser show:

-After that adventure we walked to Lau Pa Sat Festival Market. It was a big food market full of hawkers selling foods from all over Asia. I had some delicious beef and chicken skewers. Marco had stingray and a noodle dish. I tried the stingray and was not the biggest fan. Marco also has this obsession with trying weird drinks so bought a starfruit drink that he did not like.

The beautiful Lau Pa Sat market:

Marco's stingray (ewww):

-Walked back to the hotel to change before having a beer on Smith Street, parallel to our hostel. We then walked to Boat Quay and Clarke Quay. The bridge and waterfront was full of young people drinking and pre-gaming the clubs. It was a lot of sun and such a lively atmosphere. We didn't end up going to a club because Marco was wearing shorts, but it was still fun to join in on the fun!

Everyone out at Clarke Quay:

Day 2: Hong Kong

-Was rudely awoken by Marco at 7am because we were on different jetlag schedules.

-Ate some breakfast at Deli France. Yum?

-Dropped off my suitcase for China at the Jacks' house in Repulse Bay (thank you again!). Caught up with Sarah's mum, Celia, who I haven't seen in maybe eight years!

-Went to Stanley Market and ate some dim sum at Shu Zhai.

Dim Sum at Shu Zhai:

-Went back to Central to walk around the herbal medicine market. Saw lots of dried things and shark fins :(

-Listened to Marco complain about how I didn't know where I was going when trying to get to the Peak Tram the fastest way possible. We got there in the end and road up to check out the view.

Marco and I at the Peak:

The view- a little better than when Katie and I went!

-Hung out at the Peak for a while and had a beer. Eventually headed back down.

-Walked over to the Star Ferry to get back to the Kowloon side. We walked around the waterfront and eventually grabbed some dinner at the bottom of a random mall (Italian for me, Chinese for Marco).Then went back to the hotel to rest up a little.

-At 8pm we went to see the 'Symphony of Lights' over Victoria Harbor. The Avenue of Stars was packed with tourists. The 'symphony' ended up being a few lights choreographed in time to what sounded like Mario Party music. Very impressive. They made sure to mention every single building participating for shameless publication. There was also an open-mic on the harbor so we got to hear a lovely rendition of Adele's Rolling in the Deep. Video to come.

Marco and I in front of the harbor:

The laser show:

Day 1: Hong Kong

-Faj drove me to Heathrow after a teary goodbye with the family. My bag was not overweight (packing only 44lbs for 8 months is not an easy task). On the plane I spent my time sleeping and watching We Bought a Zoo.

View from the plane:

-After my 11 hour flight I waited for Marco at the airport who arrived 4 hours later than me. I spent my time eating Burger King and drinking Starbucks. I also participated in a survey about the luxury stores in Hong Kong airport (I did not notice that all of the clocks in the airport were luxury brands).

- Finally met up with Marco and we took the Airport Express to Kowloon. We stayed at the Homy Inn in Tsim Tsa Tsui. It actually turned out to be a great location (despite the tiny room). By the time we finally got there it was four hours later than we said we would be (ooops). Luckily the people were super nice and didn't seem to mind at all. We ended up just going to bed since we were pretty exhausted from all the traveling.

Day 3

So a little behind, we've been so busy!! But on day 3 we went to stanley market in the morning. I bought a Chinese Minority doll, it's actually really cute! A little elephant ornament and this tiny little thimble. Crazily ran into some people from Tufts in one of the stores! It was a girl who was in my orientation group freshman year, so insane! Ohhh Katie and I also found the coolest lights! They kind of look like yarn balls but with xmas lights inside. I bought colourful ones and Katie bought white ones, I'm so proud of myself!
Headed back home and had some lunch in Repulse Bay, then headed back up to the Jack's to pack and do some last minute things. We for some reason decided not to wear our backpacks but to lug them up the hill to the busstop in our duffel bags. Note: this is a bad idea.
We took the Airport Express, which is great because you can check your bags before you get on the plane - no more lugging! Had dinner at some cafe then tested out the perfumes in Duty Free- since we didn't bring any perfume with us. Managed to find the third installment of the Stieg Larrson book's in paperback so I was super happy!
Our flight to Bangkok was delayed for about 90 minutes (when we were on the plane), but it didn't even matter because we were fast asleep!
Promise I'm going to catch up on pictures soon! (Internet here is a little slow).

Day 2

Good morning everyone! (Since everyone who probably reads this is asleep right now). Today is a beautiful day in HK, but SO hot!

Katie and I went to Ocean Park today. It has changed so much since I last went, it's completely revamped. I'm guessing this is probably due to the new competition with HK Disney.

We saw all four of the panda's the park has! Jiajia, Lele, Anan, and other-one-whose-name-I-forgot. So my Chinese name is Lili. Turns out I have a panda name, since all panda's are named with the first word repeated. Don't really know if that's good or bad. Oh and also got a panda bouncy ball for my bouncy ball collection, ohhhh yeah.

So wandered, went on the carousel and took the cable car over to the other side of the mountain. On this side of the mountain, we saw the new exhibit on sturgeon fish in the Yangtze, went on the Dragon Rollercoaster and Flying Swings. We were going to get lunch there but the lines were so long, and we were dripping in sweat and didn't feel like waiting around. So now we're back at home.

I just took a lovely shower. Couldn't put my shorts back on because they were literally wet from sweat. So gross. I don't remember it ever being so hot here! Must have slipped my mind. Anyway, I think we may go and have a shandy on the beach soon. Perfection.

Day 1

Helloooooo! So the internet's a little slow so I can't currently add pictures but today was SO busy! I woke up twice last night but not for long (just once to finish a game on Nancy Drew). So what we did today:


- Toast and tea for breakfast, sitting on Sarah's balcony, and overlooking Repulse Bay

-Bus to Times Squre- we looked forever for the jewelry market but to no avail. We did stumble upon this cute little market though. Katie thought this nightgown said 'Mature Looks Great.'

-Lunch at a japanese restaurant (fyi.an order of sushi in HK is made up of two rolls, not six)

-Walked over to Wanchai to try find the market where they sell frogs and reptiles (also couldn't find it)

-Took the MTR to Prince Edward Station where we went to the Flower Market, Bird Market, Goldfish Market, and another street market

- Took the MTR back to Central where we walked around for a little


-Took the Star Ferry across the Harbor 


-Bought some delicious British chocolate and looked at the view


-Wandered around past the Space Museum and the new Avenue of Stars (I think they're trying to make it like the Hollywood one except with all Chinese actors)


-Took the Star Ferry back across the harbor


- Walked to the Peak Tram and then waited in the super long line it


- Went to the sky view on top of the Peak, but instead of a view we were in a cloud


- Had dinner at a French Deli with a Tsing Tao


-Took the bus back down to Central and then to Repulse Bay


-Got home, figured out the internet password thanks to Sarah's brother Michael, then passed out!


Busy busy day! but so much fun! I've missed HK so much. It really is such a beautiful place.

HONG KONG!

I'm here in HK! Katie and I just got to the beautiful Jack's house and are about to head down to the beach for a late night drink! More updates to come once we figure out the wireless password!