Ain't No Party Like a Hong Kong Party

I love Hong Kong!! Seriously by the end of our stay we were both trying to figure out how we could move here….at least short term anyway. This was the first city in which we knew people so it was nice having people show us around…..Thanks Jay, Kevin, Nate, and Holly (and Tam for recs)! Hong Kong really is an easy place to travel. Many people speak English (including taxi drivers), it’s full of expats and travelers from around the world, and the Metro system (MTR) is amazingly easy. It‘s also pretty small so you can get to different places of the city pretty quickly.

Our hotel, Cosmo, was in the Wan Chai area. The hotel was fine for our needs but if you can, you’ll probably want to stay in Central or Soho. The first day we took it easy as we arrived late in the afternoon. We walked through Wan Chai Market in our search for a Wash and Fold service. I totally didn’t expect it, but Wan Chai Market was quite a scene in terms of live fish, chickens/ducks/other full birds hanging from storefronts. I had no idea live Shrimp can jump so high! I’ll have to remember to post the video clip. :)

Much of our time in Hong Kong, we just walked through different neighborhoods – Wan Chai, Central, Soho, Lan Kwai Fong, and Kowloon. I didn't know that Hong Kong is actually very green (I think something like 70% of the island is lush, tropical jungle-like) – it’s pretty cool to see buildings and condos in the hills. It’s like a mini New York in a tropical jungle!

We spent a whole afternoon in Kowloon (which is a separate island from Hong Kong Island but a ten minute ferry ride) walking through the main shopping areas, the Avenue of the Stars (took pics with the Bruce Lee statue!), and seeing the city’s skyscrapers. We saw the daily lightshow (projected from the skyscrapers across Hong Kong island) from Aqua, which had an amazing view of the Hong Kong skyline.

We totally lucked out on the weather – the forecast said thunderstorms but it hardly rained. This was perfect for our excursions to Lantau Island and Victoria Peak. On Lantau Island, we took a cable car to see the Tian Tan Buddha (or Big Buddha). This Buddha really is huge….it’s the world’s largest seated Buddha. You can also hike to it which I didn’t realize….or I for sure would have chose that option. It was pretty cool to see and thanks to Kevin we walked to the Wisdom Path which had some pretty cool views and words of wisdom written on tall beams (too bad none of us could read/understand the actual words). We also took the tram to the top of the Peak, which is a must-do in Hong Kong. The view really was incredible and somehow it wasn’t foggy when we got up there.

One of our favorite areas to walk around was Soho, which is lined with great restaurants, cafes, and bars. I think much of this area is catered to expats and tourists. We had dinner at Posto Pubblico....twice! Such good food! A short walk away from Soho is Lan Kwai Fong. This is the party district. I had no idea that it was such a scene! There are people partying everywhere – in the millions of tiny clubs, bars, etc, and in the streets. You’ll see anyone from locals, to tourists, to senior executives drinking the night away. We were so tired that I thought we’d stay out til 1am-ish. Let’s just say we stayed out way past that! :) Which made for a really tiring next day….especially as that was our “shopping” day. Somehow we powered through and ended up with some pretty nice new bags and watches!! Hong Kong is heaven when it comes to shopping - seriously they have everything.

Some of our other favs for food were City Hall Maxim’s Palace for Dim Sum and Snow Sushi in Mong Kok. You really can eat pretty much any cuisine here and it was so good to be able to eat a salad again! Oh and Ajisen Noodle was pretty good too even though it is a chain....it was always packed which is a good sign!

Our time in Hong Kong was so fun and felt too short. But I’m pretty sure we’ll be back!