Hong Kong - Day 1

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post – been a busy little bee since returning from Hong Kong.

OK, so firstly, OH MY GOD. What a city! It was amazing! Pretty fast-paced and a blend of west and east in terms of food and culture. Though after being in China 3 months, the western influences were SO welcome: driving on the left, normal toilets with loo roll, queuing etiquette, no spitting, public hygiene – absolute bliss. Good old British colonialism. 

Secondly, despite only being there for 5 nights and 4 days, I somehow managed to take over 700 photos. After a cutthroat (very lengthy) process of elimination, I have whittled it down to a collection of just 306 – still pretty excessive, I know. Anyway, because of this, I’ve decided to split my HK recap into a few posts (sorry to everyone involved) to properly detail how I spent my time in this crazay cool city.

(Just so you know, there will be a LOT of skyscraper and skyline photos and general pictures of the mean streets of HK)

Day 1:

So Friday morning, after a few visa-related issues, I was finally free to go mad in the big city. I was staying in a charming hostel on Hong Kong Island (in the Causeway Bay area – for those of you that are curious) so decided to spend the day there. I started looking around the Wan Chai market enjoying the general atmosphere. Pretty hectic; the stall holders also don’t take no for an answer and the ‘absolute final price’ appears to decrease once you try to refuse a purchase...

Post-Wan Chai market, I wanted to take the tram up to Victoria Peak (MAJOR tourist attraction with its incredible view of the city). I was pretty excited, to say the least – the only thing I really wanted to take away from this visit was a photo of the Hong Kong skyline. Alas, this wasn’t to be. As the weather was rainy and miserable it created a very thick wall of fog over the whole city and I couldn’t see ANYTHING (see photies below). Also because of this, the Peak observation decks were pretty deserted (again see below) and quite creepy actually. As I was up there already I had a gander at the shops in the Peak complex – some pretty cute and mad things around!

Eventually I gave up with the Peak and resigned myself to wandering the streets all forlorn and cold. I stumbled upon Statue Square (see below!) - now only containing one statue, Sir Thomas Jackson – an early HSBC banker (thanks Wiki). Being in China I had totally forgotten how close it was to Christmas, but in HK it was everywhere you turned. Quite refreshing actually! Anyway, in Statue Square there were lovely Christmas trees dotted around and the photo below is of the largest. Beautiful!

I finished the day with a trip to a bar that my Lonely Planet guidebook recommended. This guidebook was sort of like a Bible when I was there - I HIGHLY recommend Lonely Planet to anyone! I only went really as it was supposed to have a good view of the city. I just really wanted that photo OK!? Well I wasn’t disappointed, and the proof is in the pudding - or photo. It really was an incredible view. My photos don’t do it justice really! It was a pretty swanky bar and I was so caught in the moment that I had to get a cocktail. $150. That’s how much I paid for the Harbourside Cocktail which amounted to about a third of a wine glass (pictured below). Ah well, I was on holiday.

Photo time:

The first of many skyscraper photos

Standard Hong Kong streets - those mad, in-your-face signs were everywhere

Scenes from Wan Chai market

Sample of Wan Chai market! Top left to bottom right: similar to the Aquatic Centre at a supermarket, live crabs (they looked at me!), jade galore, cute Peter Pan/Robin Hood collars (taken for some labes I know)

Bank of China tower - top covered in fog. I should have taken that as a sign...

Scenes from the Victoria Peak - lonely at the top! Bottom right is a picture of the only other living thing up there

Top left to bottom right: Angry Birds earmuffs! (SO much Angry Birds merchandise over here it's crazy), cutest little jewellery stall, an AMAZING clutch, a hideous clutch

Statue Square

More from Statue Square. Left to right: pretty merry-go-round, Sir Thomas Jackson, amazing Christmas tree

View from Sevva bar

Harbourside Cocktail - $150 of fun

Moi

So that concludes Day 1 of my Hong Kong trip! Day 2 was more jam-packed so I’ve still got a lot more to say I’m afraid. One thing I will say is that people everywhere (shops to market stalls) weren’t keen at all on photos being taken of their wares, so once again I had to be a little slim shady about it. 

Keep watching for Day 2!

xoxo