One Girl, Two Coasts: Day Five: Hellooo, Hong Kong!

Day Five

The next day, we were off for another adventure: we were going to Hong Kong! The group traveling there was going to visit my other aunt and cousin, as well as sightsee. I'd gone to Hong Kong once when I was four, and Jason hadn't been at all. Thus, this would essentially be our first experience there. The group consisted of me, Jason, my dad, and my aunt. We woke up early to catch our bus to HK and drove back to the Golden Hotel where the bus was departing.

It took about two or three hours to get to the China customs area, where we got off the bus and went through the craziness that was customs...there were so many people there, so it took absolutely forever. It was a Wednesday, so I'm not sure why it was so busy. All I know is that it was NOT fun filling in various paperwork since we were Americans, waiting in line for hours, and watching the Hong Kong nationals go through a virtually nonexistent line.

On top of that, my dad has had a continuous hate-hate relationship with immigration forms throughout the trip so far (he'd already switched the signatures on our forms when we were flying into china) and that problem just continued when he tried to fill out Jason's and his forms this time...we made a deal that I would handle everything next time. Joy.

Once we had all finally gone through, it was time to get on another bus to get into Hong Kong. We got off in the middle of the city and found our aunts apartment (which was currently covered in sheets because it was undergoing construction) in the many, many apartment buildings there. Her apartment, like all of them, was small; it had two bedrooms, a minuscule kitchen and family room, and a bathroom. That was basically it.

Since we clearly wouldn't all fit, my brother and my dad would be staying at a hotel about ten minutes away walking, while the two aunts and I would live here (my cousin would be staying at a friend of his). We first rested for a beat in her home and had some fruit and water. Next, we headed over to check out the hotel. Upon arriving, I immediately became jealous. They were staying in the Panda Hotel, and their room was actually really nice. Small as well, but clean, cozy, and most importantly, panda-themed! Yeah, I shot my brother some nasty looks while he smirked back at me.

It was already two, and we were starving. Apparently in Hong Kong, their entire lifestyle differs in that the regular schedule is pushed back by a few hours. Breakfast is usually eaten at 9 or 10, lunch is at 2, and dinner is between 7 and 10. It took some getting used to....I'm a morning person, so I don't really like having everything pushed back like that.

My aunt here (the oldest one in comparison to my dad and Guangzhou aunt) took us to a TINY restaurant for lunch. It was no different than any of the other microscopic eateries in Hong Kong....land was incredibly expensive here, so only small plots of land were bought, and turned into businesses. In fact, a large majority of food places were mere stands, where no places to sit and eat were provided. At this particular place, there were all of two booths and two tables. Our large group and hungry expressions basically strong armed a man at a booth seat into moving, so that we could all fit in one area...if we squeezed.

Since everything here was written with traditional Chinese characters (I was raised learning simplified Chinese), I had a hard time getting things in Hong Kong. We had to rely on my aunt, who told us a few choices and then choosing one of them. I ordered a cold milk tea with a plate of chow he fun (apparently it was really good here). It also came with steamed veggies, two slices of toast, and a fried egg with ham inside.

Our bellies stuffed, we then decided to take the subway to some popular destinations here. The subway took us from Tsuen Wan Station to the Victoria Harbor area in around half an hour. First, we went to the Hong Kong Space Museum and went through the exhibits. Then, we visited the Hong Kong Art Museum, where there were some great galleries of antique ceramics, contemporary art, and older paintings. Yeah, my dad loves museums, which is why we were spending so much time in them. Jason and I enjoy them too, but we have our limits. Like any normal person!

There were some incredible views of the harbor from the museum, and when it finally stopped raining and the sun came out, we went outside to walk on the Avenue of Stars. It was a path along the water where various Asian stars had left their handprints on the pavement. Among the names we saw, the most popular ones (not surprisingly) were Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

It was a really amazing view from the harbor. Boats were going back and forth, and the never ending stretch of glittering, colorful buildings on the other side of the water was mesmerizing. I took so many pictures of the intriguing shapes and structures of the buildings and towers. Walking around and taking it all in was probably my fave part of the Hong Kong trip. It was beautiful...a really romantic place (if you were taken 😣, of course).

Later, we returned to the Tsuen Wan area, where we wandered around a mall and shopping center. What I think is really cool about Hong Kong is the transportation system they've set up there. All over the place are these elevated walkways, covered with roofs. They're above roads, sidewalks, plazas, etc. and connect many of the buildings to each other. Thus, you can easily get from Point A to Point B without having to call a cab or get on a bus...walking can get you many places!

In the shopping center, I found a bunch of cute earrings for extremely low prices. Score! I bought 6 pairs for myself and friends before leaving. Hong Kong money is interesting...their dollar is worth more than a Chinese yuan. Some of the bills also have a strange, plastic-y texture with a clear part in the bill. For me, it was another enlightening experience using a foreign currency.

After shopping a bit, we went to dinner at another TINY restaurant that my aunt recommended. We had to wait around 45 minutes with many other hungry locals to be seated inside, and finally squeezed around a little table, sitting on plastic stools. While we were milling around outside the restaurant, I also realized that people here drive on the right side and have the steering wheels on the right side, like they do in the UK and other countries. Interesting...Hong Kong differs much more from mainland China than I thought!

Our dinner consisted of either noodles with soup or rice with soup (I got the rice), with additives that we individually chose (meat, mainly). We also ordered little side dishes of fish, chicken wigs, and bok choy. Our cousin, Li Hao, also joined us for dinner after he arrived from work. He's in his twenties, and is currently working as a manager at one of the tiny little food stands. He graciously paid for our meal when we finished.

We walked back to the hotel after dinner to drop off my dad and Jason, then went back to the apartment. Li Hao headed to his friends house, since I'd be staying in his room (I felt awful that I was kicking him out of his own home for two nights!).

After a quick shower in one of the most cramped showers I've ever seen, I enjoyed the access to Facebook that Hong Kong permitted and quickly fell asleep looking at the construction materials outside the window. An interesting introduction to a very interesting city!