Day 1: Hong Kong

Finally getting around to starting this blog. Dad and I are in the Hong Kong airport, waiting for our flight to Delhi. We just finished our 1 night / 2 day time in HK. It was definitely worth the stopover, despite the foggy and cloudy weather throughout.

Here are a few choice memories and moments from the first day:

We arrived early Saturday morning, and took the airport express train into Kowloon. The train drops you off at what we'd soon learn would be one of the hallmarks of Hong Kong -- and enormous mall. The mall appeared to be about a half mile from our hotel, the Marco Polo Gateway, so I decided we could walk, if we could just find an exit to the street. After wandering around for 15 minutes, finding no exit, we finally found our way to a footbridge that took us outside. You couldn't see much from the footbridge, but I got a glimpse of a pretty impressive driving range facility -- which explained why two guys we had seen earlier in the mall were carrying

From Hong Kong

Once we got off the footbridge and onto the street, we discsvered that half mile to the is not the most pedestrian friendly stretch of roads, and we found ourselves mired on busy streets full of speeding buses and cars. We spent at least 30 minutes making our way, tired and carrying baggage after the 15 hour flight, through crowded streets. If only I had read that there was a free shuttle bus that takes you straight to the hotel. Not the most relaxing introduction to the city, but definitely a way to get our feet wet.

After arriving at the hotel and freshening up, we made our way out into the surrounding area which, predictably, was dominated by an enormous mall -- Harbour City. Dad and I wandered around in the mall, looking for a good place to grab a late breakfast/early lunch. Opting not to start the day with octopus, or other local delights, we had wraps at a chain sandwich/smoothie place called Mix.

When we finished lunch, Dad went back to the hotel room to take a nap, and I wandered around the Tsim Sha Tsui neighborhood of Kowloon. It's probably the most touristy part of Hong Kong. The streets are packed with stores selling electronics, Louis Vuitton handbags, and Indian guys trying to sell you tailored shirts and suits. The streets were packed with pedestrians, and you almost had to push to get through.



The buildings in the area ranged from ultra-modern, glass skyscrapers to dilapidated apartment buildings, 20 stories high with rusty air conditioners hanging out of every window. There was also a lot of construction and renovation going on in the area. One odd thing I noticed was that all of the scafolding for the buildings under repair was built from long bamboo shoots, tied together with plastic string. When I first saw it on one building, I thought it was a makeshift (and dangerous) work-around for that one building, but then I began to see it everywhere. That, combined with the construction going on right out on sidewalks, welders welding with sparks flying towards pedestrians, made me realize that the city ordinances here around construction safety probably aren't like those in American cities. That said, no one around seemed phased.



Once I had gotten enough of the TST neighborhood, and Dad and I headed out on a walk down to the harbour front. Kowloon is a peninsula that juts out from the Chinese mainland and sits right north of Hong Kong island. The harbour that lies between the peninsula and island makes for a spectacular vista of the Hong Kong skyline from Kowloon. The city has taken advantage of this by building a promennade along the waterfront. Along the walkway are a series of cultural centers and hotels, as well as a Hong Kong cinema walk of fame, with cement handprints of famous actors.



After walking along the waterfront, we wandered back to the hotel up Nathan Street, also known as Kowloon's Golden Strip -- where we were offered yet more tailored suits and Rolexes. We then went back to the hotel, and I took a nap.

Around 7pm, we decided to go grab dinner at one of the nicer looking dim sum places we had passed in Harbour City, called Crystal Jade. It was packed, crowded with locals, and we had to wait 30 minutes to get a table. We ordered a variety of dim sum, a La Mein dish (which must be where SF gets lo mein), and a fish dish the waitress insisted we try. The fish was deep fried to the point of being almost unrecognizable as fish, except for the head and the tail on the plate that were obviously from a fish. It was smothered in an orange sauce. It was okay, but my favorite dish were the steamed dumplings, which were filled with both pork and a broth, which was held inside the dumpling until you bite into it. Really delicious.

Our objective for Hong Kong was largely to relax and adjust before heading to India, so we headed to bed early.