"i think we may have stumbled upon chinatown!"

Let me tell you—I was shocked, SHOCKED, that I liked Hong Kong as much as I did. Everyone said I'd like it, and they were right. I can't say that I've ever been really into Chinese culture (that sounds bad no matter how I word it), but Hong Kong! It's like China but with all the comforts of the western world. I kept my expectations incredibly low, and I was very pleasantly surprised. It's colorful, interesting, and CLEAN. To wit:

(This is the Occupy Hong Kong encampment. I know Occupy DC outlasted most (or all?) Occupy movements in the US but this one takes the cake.)

Our first day was spent exploring Hong Kong island. We stayed in a hotel on the Kowloon side of the city (across the harbor from HKI) so it was nice to get away from the excitement of the shopping in the TST (short for Tsim Sha Tsui, the swanky shopping district where our hotel was). Our trip started on the Star Ferry, which has been around for like a hundred years? A scenic (and cheap) way to enjoy the views on the way over. We took a bus up to The Peak, where we enjoyed a foggy view of the cityscape. There is a tram that goes up and down as well, but we didn't realize that our bus wasn't going to take us to the tram—it took us straight to the top. But it ended up being a good thing because it was 1) cheaper, 2) not as crowded, and 3) we got to see amazing views of the cities on the other side of The Peak. Fun fact: the world's most expensive house is nestled somewhere over on that side. So.

After The Peak, we wandered around Hollywood Road, which is supposed to be a great place to find antiques. We found that it was instead a great place to find Communist-era knick knacks and really cool vintage clothes (way out of our price range). Still, I totally recommend walking along the road, and being careful not to miss the side streets with all the small shops—there were some fun affordable shops and just really great things to look at, like the I Can Haz Cheezburger? cat in real life. It's also very hilly, so you might opt to take the outdoor escalator (yes) to get around if your feet get tired.

The end of the road brought us to a Man Mo Temple (apparently there is more than one), where we were still confused about what exactly was going on, but got a great whiff of incense and crowds of people. Actually, the incense was super cool—it is made in coils that burn for about a week after they are lit (you can see in the picture that some coils are huge while others are about to burn out). We finished our day on the island walking around Statue Square, where you can get a good view of the famous buildings in the area—like the Bank of China building, designed by I.M. Pei. Since all the banks are in that area, we weren't exactly surprised to find the Occupy encampment down there.

Other notable activities—lots of dim sum, shopping (needed to replace tennis shoes that were lost by baggage handlers [??]), and strolling around the Temple Street night market in Kowloon, where I was asked at least 500 times if I wanted a Rolex (and where Robbie made the Chinatown comment).

More HK soon!