Hong Kong

(this is literally only for my own Alzheimer's-y memory so that I can remember my Hong Kong trip in the future....but I figured since I wrote it, I should at least post it for the like half a person that would be at all interested! Hehe. So sorry, it is long! But you can skip it :)

A few Fridays ago, Cindy, Ann, Calvin and I took a long weekend and went to Hong Kong! However, the trip sort-of started on Thursday night, as Narita is the WORST airport in the world and is TOO far away. Our flight was at ten, meaning we had to check in at 8. However, the first train from the Ota area wouldn’t get us to Narita in time, so we had to stay at Calvin’s in Tatebayashi and take the freaking 5 AM train (not amusing) to get there in time. Ugh. However, it was fun, as Calvin made us a YUMMY Filipino dinner, and then Mami and Tatebayashi JETs came over, so it was nice to see everyone.

For some reason I couldn’t sleep, so what already should have been a crappy night’s sleep turned into a REALLY crappy night’s sleep of about 2-3 hours. FUN! Anyway, all went fine getting to Narita and everything, and fortunately we got to skip the HUUUUUUUGE check-in line for JAL, since we didn’t have check-in baggage.

The plane ride to Hong Kong is way longer than it should be, yo! Almost five hours?! Hello, it is Hong Kong, it is not exciting enough to have a five-hour flight! Hehe. I watched a Korean movie, but it wasn’t any good, sadly. Plus they are all the same…one of two lovers gets sick, and everyone cries. Usually it is good in a formulaic (whoa, big word!) way, but this one wasn’t, hrm.

Anyway, we got to Hong Kong and our tour company picked us up to drive us to our hotel (it was a “free” tour, so it isn’t what Americans think of as an actual tour). Our “guide” on the bus has the easiest job ever, as he didn’t tell us anything about Hong Kong! Haha. Unfortunately Friday was HELLA cloudy or smoggy or both, as you could barely see anything in the city! So our view of the city (country? Hehe) was limited on the drive. We got to the hotel, which was nice, then decided to wander around the city. The good thing about having to get up hella early to fly out is that it felt like we had a whole day in Hong Kong! That was awesome, as I hate travel days where you cant do anything.

Our hotel was right next to Nathan Road, which is a major road in Hong Kong with lots of eating and shopping (which is good, since that is all there is to do in Hong Kong! Hehe). So we wandered around Nathan Road for a while. This was kind of the story of our entire trip, as I swear we walked around the same area about 300 times! Hehe. Anyway, we kinda wandered around the shops and food vendors and of course had to snack on Chinese beef jerky, waffles with butter, peanut butter and condensed milk (mmm!), fresh fruit juice, etc. This was also the story of our trip, as we spent ALL of our time either eating, or waiting to be hungry so we could eat again! I am not joking!

Oh, for those who don’t know, Hong Kong is split into a few different areas/islands. The two main ones are Kowloon and Hong Kong. Kowloon is where our hotel was, and is where most of the shopping and stuff is. Hong Kong is mostly financial, but also has Victoria Peak and stuff. Hong Kong has the Manhattan-ish skyline, which you can see from Kowloon. Anyway, we went to the bay to look at the Hong Kong skyline, but it was SO cloudy that we could barely see ANYTHING! It was sad! Since that was a bust, we decided to take the ferry to Hong Kong to visit a flower market.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was Chinese New Year! We scheduled it that way on purpose, as we figured it would be cool to be there for CNY. Anyway, flower markets are a big part of CNY, as EVERYONE goes there to buy flowers and stuff for the new year. However, they not only buy flowers, they also buy the MOST POINTLESS things in the ENTIRE world. Like, I have no idea why they would ever need any of it! There were obviously necessary items such as blow-up “slippery when wet” signs, blow-up hammers, blow-up pig hats (and ANYTHING pig-related, as it is the year of the pig), blow-up “no smoking” signs, toys of all varieties, etc. Pretty much anything that is inflatable was there! It was seriously weird, but not THAT surprising, considering the crap people would buy in China for Christmas Eve and New Year’s. So really the flower market was about 30% flowers and 70% pointless crap! People apparently love it, though, as it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo packed. Holy crap, there were so many people! And it isn’t like it is the only flower market in Hong Kong, either! It was crazy. It was interesting to experience it, but very overwhelming! The flower part was pretty, though, and smelled really good!

After walking through it and being exhausted by people all over, we left (well, not before eating a snack!) and went out for dinner. We ended up at a place on the street that was YUMMY! It was an izakaya-type place (drinking and eating place), and was kinda like places we ate in both Korea and China. All Asian countries have cool street places except for stupid Japan that thinks they are better than everyone! Sad. Anyway, it was really good, and I got to try pigeon for the first time. I don’t even remember what all we ate, but fortunately Ann greatly enjoyed her new digital camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING! So I am excited to see the pics :)

After that we wandered around a market, where I got some illegal DVDs (woot!) and Ann got her palm read. Then we decided we had burned off enough calories to go for dessert! Hong Kong has awesome desserts, as they are all fruity and yummy! Most of them include mango, which is VERY good in my book! I got a mango dessert with black glutinous rice and it was goooood. Mmm.

After that we walked back to the hotel and slept like mofos, as we were TIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be continued!