Ding dong... Well hello Hong Kong!! This vibrant city embraced us with wide open arms and filled us with finger licking food, oodles of fun and a chance to recoup our energy before continuing our journey.
Our most important task in Hong Kong was to organise our visa into China. The process was much simpler than anticipated so we had more time for other cool adventures.
For the first time all year we connected with the real world and took some time out to watch the NRL finals. It sounds pretty lame but sometimes nothing is better than sitting in front of the TV with a beer, and of course with the Hong Kong neon lights brightening as the sunsets behind the mountains. We are going to get a terrible shock when we get back home!
Hong Kong by night
A visit to the History Museum gave us a little background to how Hong Kong developed into the unique place that it is. Our lodgings in Hong Kong were 'interesting' at the infamous Chungking Mansions, which was abuzz with activity 24 hours a day and many questionable personalties. However, after a trip on the famous Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island to see how the other half lived, we found it nice to be back in Kowloon and in the action.
The culinary delights of Hong Kong are far to extensive for us to sample in a few days, so we picked some of the big ones. First on the menu was Peking Duck. It was the juiciest, most flavorsome and succulent duck we have ever eaten. We are not sure if you agree, but we thought we should treat ourselves to another mischlein star restaurant, Tim Ho Wans. After a two hour wait we were shoved into a tiny room packed with plastic stools and tables; there was not a white cloth napkin in sight! Gasp! Only joking, this is the real deal dim sum, attracting locals and foreigners alike. We ordered big and as basket after basket was stacked to create the Great Wall between the two of us, our very close neighbours laughed and wondered if we would turn into pork buns by the end of the meal. A-mazing food!! The best part, we walked out with a $20 bill. Of course it didn't stop there. There was more dumplings at Ding Tang Fung, noodles at the night market and sago pudding at Honeymoon Desserts. Yum!!
Scotty trying to chow down a hot dim sim
Chilling in the night market
Peking duck! Yummy
We took the opportunity to become kidults for the day and went to Ocean Park. Trying to beat the crowds we were eager beavers and lined up outside the park. It became quite apparent that this was completely unnecessary as the crowds never really arrvied, but we will always be scared by Tokyo Disneyland (waiting in lines for 2-3hours on a previous trip). The park is renowned for its panda exhibit, so our first stop was to see Ling Ling. They are incredibly adorable creatures. We also jumped on a few rides, of which Sara was not impressed by the rollercoaster and is still confused how Scott convinced her on it in the first place. The definite highlight of the day was being specially selected to be in the big dolphin and seal show of the day - with hours of training Sara saluted with the seals and Scotty shook hands with the dolphins!
The biggest kidult of them all
Hello Mr Dolphin
Getting up close and personal
We salute you...
Very cute panda
On our last night we went to the famous Happy Valley Racecourse for the Wednesday night event. It was a very unusual feeling standing with the crowd under the shining stars and neon lights of the city scape. The night was just a regular race night, nothing special so we were amazed when on the last race alone $50 million was bet. Incredible. The locals love to have a punt. We tried to blend in with the locals studying the form guide and watching the pre-race parade but really we had no idea what we were looking for. Confused if we wanted a lean horse or muscular beast we pick favourites and horses with cool names, like Schnit Kid; putting a few dollars on ridiculous trifectas that could win us millions. We didn't win a race but still managed to walk out with big smiles as we knew someone lost a lot more than us.
Checking out the form
If only one of these was a winner...
With the birth of our newest and gorgeous niece, Asali, we are thinking more and more that this Radventure is coming closer to the end and we will be home soon! Until then, we say goodbye to Hong Kong and we will return after the rest of our China journey.
Ciao,
Scott and Sara
