China Chronicles: Hong Kong part 1

Fear not weary readers.  The few of you who have followed this blog like the Twilight Series will be happy to know that yes, there are about 3 more installments to the China Chronicles (including this one).  Those who have stumbled into this blog expecting nothing but a quick refresher will find themselves more than overwhelmed with the daunting task of getting caught up. 

On Tuesday July 27th, we left the Astor House Hotel early to catch a glimpse of some old people dancing on The Bund.  To our disadvantage it was raining, so we were unable to catch a glimpse of elderly Chinamen and women dancing to the sweet sound of jazz in the morning.  We were then faced with the decision to loiter in the rainy streets with our luggage or to just go to the airport.  We quickly decided the latter.  We arrived at the Shanghai airport for an 11:30 am departure.  We were happy about this becuase it is only a 2hr flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and we would essentially have almost a full day in Hong Kong.  We played it safe and got to the airport about an hour and a half before departure.  Check in went smoothly and we even had enough time for some woman to try to sell me a rip off version of Rosetta Stone.  After I expressed no interest in learning Chinese, we proceeded to our gate.  To our luck, wouldn't you know it, our plane was broken.  We were overjoyed to stay in the Shanghai airport for about 7 hours.  We both figured "Screw Hong Kong, this airport is way better."  So instead of taking off at 11:30am we were able to leave at 5pm.  To me, it was a great use of a precious day of vacation that was long in the waiting.  Thanks Dragon Airlines!  We'll be sure to use you again.

So now we arrived in Hong Kong at 9pm instead of 1:30pm.  Some would say it was a setback but others would count it a blessing.  Why would it be a blessing?  Because at 9pm, on Tuesday July 27th, there was a typhoon!  For those who are not aware of monsoon season, a typhoon is a rain storm of biblical proprotions.  Our raining woes that evening and the proceeding day could be comparable to Forrest Gump.

We arrived at our hostel in Causeway Bay around 10pm.  It was not as nice as Astor House, but it was doable and certainly cheaper.  After all, it was a hostel.

The next day we met up with Holly Schoephoerster who was in Hong Kong the same time as us AND stayed in the same hostel (hostel was not coincidence, but Hong Kong was).  We decided to poke around Hong Kong a bit.  We first started with the our immediate area of Causeway Bay and we expanded outwards.  While I've never been to San Francisco, Hong Kong had a feel of San Fransico because of the tram/trolley systems.

While these were not the fastest nor most efficient means of getting around Hong Kong, they were fun to ride on once or twice.  Subway always prevails. 

Most, if not all buses in Hong Kong are double decker.  This was taken on the second level on with a slow shutter speed.

After an hour or so of poking around, we took a bus to Stanley Bay (per request of cousin Leigh) Leigh, we did not take the 2 bus, we took 6X.  There we were, able to see a market, see some of the ocean and have lunch.  Kelly and I bought a painting of downtown Hong Kong, and I found my flag patches (an explanation for another time).  The typhoon also decided to stop raining for our portion of Stanley Bay, but quickly resumed once we got back downtown.

Stanley Bay

More of Stanley Bay.  Note the break in clouds.  That didn't last long.

Holly and Kelly behind a sweet backdrop.  Also seeking shelter from the rain.

Posing.

This was hanging in front of the restaurant where we ate lunch.  Nothing gets my appetite going faster than a roasted duck hanging by its neck.

A more suitable lunch.

Deliciousness.

Bits-o-pieces of the market.

Kelly at the bay.

This is a good/misrepresentation of how hard it was raining day one.  They were standing under a gutter, but it still was raining stinkin hard!

Hong Kong is uber cool.  Part 2 coming soon.