We are officially back traveling after ending our European vacation 13 months ago.
Our first stop in Asia was Hong Kong. We had a great 16 hour flight from Calgary (via Vancouver) to Hong Kong with Air Canada and enjoyed several movies and a few TV shows courtesy of their high tech TV programming. We were so tired when we arrived in Hong Kong that we immediately went to our hotel and went to bed. Surprisingly our accommodations were not that small and we had more than enough room. The only thing we did notice was that doorways and ceilings are way smaller than back home, instead of the average ceiling height of 9 feet back home, in Hong Kong it appears to be 7 feet. It makes me feel like I have to duck under things… even though I am quite a bit shorter than 7 feet tall.
After an 11 hour sleep, we woke up on December 12 and went for a walk down by the water to see a view of Kowloon.
There were potted plants everywhere and a lot of poinsettias (or at least that is what I think they were). Hong Kong was interesting because there was such a juxtaposition of new and old.
Next we went to the 43rd floor in the Bank of China Building to get a view of the city.
After, we went to Hong Kong City Park. As with most city parks we have been to, this one did not disappoint. It had waterfalls, viewpoints of the city and benches galore.
Then we took a tram to the peak for another view of Hong Kong.
Surprisingly we did all this before noon. We took a much needed break for lunch at the peak and had some vegetables and noodles. At lunch we both ordered water, and were surprised when it was served hot. It was kind of weird but I was glad because it was a little chilly outside. We took the tram back down and went back to Hong Kong City Park.
Then we went walking around to look at different buildings, because buildings here are quite strange to us “country folk” (at least this is how we feel when the biggest building in Red Deer has at most 7 stories).
This is a government building.
From all the walking we were so tired so we went back to the hotel for a “nap” or a sleep as Andrew likes calling it, because it lasted 4 hours.
At 8 pm we went for a pint of Guinness at an Irish pub we found earlier (Delaney’s) and then supper at a vegetarian Indian restaurant (a throw back from our trip to NYC). After dinner we went to Kowloon to get a view of the Hong Kong skyline at night. Many of the buildings were elaborately lit up with Christmas decorations.
When we checked in to our hotel, the front desk staff informed us that we were staying 2 nights, so on December 13, 2011 we got all packed up and went to check out. The front desk staff were having problems checking us out and then he asked us if there was a reason why we wanted to check out early. Immediately we realized that: 1) we had no idea what day it was;
2) we had 1 more night in Hong Kong; and
3) our flight to Thailand was not until Dec 14.
We felt like complete idiots, even though we still (almost) feel like it isn’t 100% our fault for trying to check out early. I’m actually surprised this has never happened before. Since we suddenly had an extra day in Hong Kong, we decided to go to Disneyland.
Disneyland was a lot of fun, but it really tuckered us out… I think we must be getting old, or we are REALLY young because everywhere I looked there were little kids either sleeping or throwing tantrums because they were so tired.
We are learning to cope with people not giving us any personal space when we are standing in lines of walking, and pretty much in every situation. It was especially bad at Disneyland. Andrew and I typically stand, at the closest, 1 foot behind somebody, and we expect the same from the people standing behind us. But, the Asians do not give us any room. It is so bad, they are ALWAYS touching us. It makes me so uncomfortable! This picture doesn’t do it justice, but it kind of gives you an idea. Note how much room is in front of me, yet I am being swarmed from behind. This was typical.
Thank goodness for Andrew, because he would stand further back than me so that he was a buffer between them and me. At some point during the day I developed a strategy where I widened by stance and have one of my legs lingering behind me as far back as possible to try and create as much distance between me and the person behind me. The Asians would be tripping all over my leg and foot trying to get as close as possible, but surprisingly this strategy has been quite effective so far, even though I’m sure I look really stupid.
December 14, we went to a bunch of different markets in Kowloon. We went to the jade market (sold jewellery), ladies market (sold clothing), goldfish market (sold animals) and flower market (sold flowers). This part of Hong Kong is what Andrew and I were expecting all of Hong Kong to look like.
Then we went to a Temple. It was neat to see a Temple in the midst of all the skyscrapers.
To kill some time before our flight to Thailand we went back to Kowloon to look at the Hong Kong skyline where we discovered that we were tourist attractions for some people. A man (who did not speak English) wanted to get his picture taken with us. It was so strange that when he left I made Andrew make sure he still had all our money, passports, credit cards, etc. Since nothing was missing, I guess all he really did want was a picture.
Next a quick stop in Phuket, Thailand before going to Ko Phi Phi.
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