Hong Kong Holiday

My son had a week off for spring break this week, so we decided to take a trip to Hong Kong.  We  took the high speed train and were able to get there in 5 hours.  Then we took the subway from Shen Zhen to the border, and went through immigration.  Then we walked across the bridge to the Hong Kong side and went through immigration there.  Then we took the subway to our hotel.  To say the least, we were exhausted when we arrived.

Here are a couple of pictures of the countryside that I took from the train window with my ipad:

We stayed at a nice hotel, but I was surprised when we got there to have the lady at the desk say that it only had two single beds in it!  My husband said, "I think we can make it work."  I said, "Are you kidding?  There is no way we three can sleep in 2 single beds."  He didn't believe me until we got to the room and he looked at them.  Then he laughed and asked the front desk to send up a third bed.  I slept on the extra bed, and I have to say that it was WAY more comfortable than any bed I have slept on in mainland China!  

You might get a kick out of the views from our room:

The view may not have been the best, but the hotel was nice, and it was close to lots of great restaurants.  Ramana will be interested to know that we ate Indian food three times!  :)  The first time was quite humorous.  I wish I had my camera ready when we went to find a restaurant.  We went down the street to a famous place called Chung King Mansion.  It's actually a little seedy, but that's where you can find a lot of Indian cuisine.  We walked in the lobby and someone asked if we were there for dinner.  When my husband said yes, about 6 different guys (touts) surrounded him and started yelling for him to eat at their restaurant!  They were handing him and my son brochures and name cards of their restaurants, and yelling out which floor to go to.  Finally we decided on a restaurant, and had to take the one flimsy elevator up.  The elevator is so old that it can't handle very much weight, so they have to send small groups at a time.  The actual restaurant was very small, but the food was WONDERFUL!  They put in that little bit of extra to make the food a little more special.  Little things like chopped onions, tomatoes and cilantro on top of the crispy papadam.  Two different kinds of chutney instead of one.  It was just good!  

Another day we went across the street to a small Vietnamese restaurant for Pho noodles.  It was okay, but not the best Vietnamese food I've ever had.  It was kind of an early dinner, so later that night my husband went out "foraging".  He came back with some falafel, somosas, and chana masaala.  Hmm...there might have been something else, I can't remember.  We gorged ourselves.  lol

Another morning I went out foraging for breakfast.  Then night before I had seen some stores that sold steamed buns and things that we usually eat for breakfast.  So I walked to that neighborhood, but all of those places were closed down.  I guess they only open at night.  I wandered around and found a vegetable and fruit market.  I walked in a ways and found a place that was making breakfast items, so I bought some steamed buns and shao mai and took them back for breakfast.  Wow, I must be hungry right now because my last three paragraphs have been about food.....  Another morning we went out for Dim Sum for breakfast.  It was great!

The first night we arrived, we took the Star Ferry and went to take the tram up to Victoria Peak.  Here are a couple of photos of the ferry ride:

The tram ride is kind of frightening to me.  At one point, the tram goes at such a sharp angle up the side of the mountain that if you look at the buildings next to the track, it appears as if Hong Kong slid sideways.  I didn't get to sit next to the window to get a good picture.  When we got to the top, we found that if you want to go to the top of the building to take a picture of the landscape, you have to pay extra.  We were quite disappointed until we found a sign on another building that said we could go on top of that building for free.  It was an amazing view as you can see below:

Hong Kong is a beautiful city with huge high rises.  It is especially beautiful at night.  

We visited several different night/day markets.  Although we didn't buy a lot, we still had fun.  Here are a few pics from the rest of our trip:

My husband and I were able to spend some time at our church temple in Hong Kong.  That is always a great opportunity for us.  

Ahhhh Hong Kong!  I would love to live there some day, but I don't know if I will ever have the chance.  But I do so love to visit!