Hong Kong

I am sorry that I have not posted anything on my blog in over two months! I have taken a while to settle back into life in Wales after a year in China! I will tell you about that soon but first... I want to fill you in on my time in Hong Kong...

I went towards the end of September. I left literally just before the protests began!
The weather was simply amazing!! It was 30 degrees every day!

I LOVED Hong Kong! I was fortunate to stay with a friend for a long weekend in Wan Chai. Wan Chai is very close to everything so it was ideal for me. My friend Jasmin worked during the days as an English teacher so by day I did my own sightseeing and by night Jasmin showed me around. I also had another friend, Lauren who showed me around too. I knew them both from when I worked the previous summer in Italy.

I am always getting lost, even when I am at home in Wales. Even taking the tube when I am in London is a concern for me as it is like a rabbit warren! So when Jasmin told me that the easiest way to get around on my own would be by the underground system, I became a little nervous. However, after a year of moving around Zhengzhou, a city with absolutely no English translations and finding my way Ok, Hong Kong's bilingual underground system was very easy to use! With everything in Cantonese and English, it is very easy to understand. The system is also quite small, so if you do go to the wrong place, it's not hard to find your way back.

I was surprised at the amount of greenery in Hong Kong. It was so refreshing to see so many parks and trees and wildlife after spending so much time in the pollution, dust and dirt of Zhengzhou. We strolled through Kowloon park, one of the many beautiful parks in Hong Kong.

During the evening we walked along the Avenue of Stars. The view was wonderful and it is very impressive to see. Of course, we saw the statue of Bruce Lee and looked at the hand prints left by other stars from HK.

I didn't go to any restaurants or eat any special food specifically from Hong Kong during my trip. Instead, I let my friends take me to where they knew. They were newbies themselves so they were still getting used to the place. They are both vegetarian so I ate a few surprisingly nice vegetarian meals. We also went to a restaurant known as 'Mr Wang's.' Now I was intrigued by this Mr Wang because Jasmin had said that he doesn't have a license to sell alcohol. So if you want a beer, you must go to a little fridge in the alley outside of the restaurant to get one! Despite this sounding dodgy, the food was very good, Mr Wang was very nice and friendly and there was even a Welsh word on the wall inside. 'Cyfeillgarwch' meaning 'friendship'. This restaurant is very popular with foreigners.

I loved the double decker tram buses that run throughout Hong Kong. They are a very cute and another practical way to travel around.

A lot of the shopping streets look like this...

I visited the Chi Lin Monastery and the Nan Lian Garden. They were beautiful. Once again, I was surprised by how near busy city life was to the peaceful and beautiful gardens and monasteries. 

I went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. It was very interesting and it had a lot of nice traditional things to see...

Taking a ferry is a must!! It's so cheap and it's surprisingly relaxing when you have an alcoholic beverage in your hand...

The night markets are amazing and they seem to go on forever! There's even a women's market! There are so many random things on sale but there are some really nice things too. After a year in mainland China I've realised that I've become good at bargaining!! Trying to lower the price of things is good fun! 

The iphone 6 was brought out while I was in HK. The queues were SO big!...

I went to the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. The nature and scenery was just phenomenal!!...

Even in HK with the number of different cultures...people still wanted pictures with me. I originally asked a German tourist to take a picture of me but a group of Chinese people came and asked me to be in their pictures. Whenever I looked at the German tourist holding my camera, he looked very confused as to what exactly was happening but took some pictures anyway!

                                                                The Monastery...

                                                             The Tian Tan Buddha.

Also, I went to Victoria Peak. The tram ride there alone is memorable. The tram almost feels like it's going vertical up the mountainside as you fall back into your seat.

I went to witness the views of Hong Kong by day and by night. This is something everyone should do!...

                                                      By day....

                                                                           Sunset....

                                                         
                                                            By night....

Lastly, I went to experience some night life in HK. I was not prepared for what I was about to experience. We went to Lan Kwai Fong, which from what I could gather, is the main clubbing area for foreigners. Lan Kwai Fong reminded me of a mixture of Swansea and Magaluf.
The streets were packed with people drinking. It was almost as though no one was bothering to go into the bars themselves and were simply buying alcohol from the shops and drinking them in the streets. Later I wanted to go to an actual nightclub to dance. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that the bouncers would be as strict as they are in the UK and so we didn't even attempt to enter one without our I.D. Never mind, it was a good and interesting night and it was nice to hear some normal Western music for a change! (It was also really nice to have my first night out Indian take away in a year!!!)

Thank you Jasmin, Lauren and Christian for showing me around Hong Kong!
:)