Tyson and I split up at the airport in Bangkok for our seperate flights to Hong Kong. I took a 6:30am Air Asia flight and waited for Tyson in Hong Kong until he arrived at 5pm. It was a long wait but the airport was beautiful and offered free wifi and nice washrooms so I was ok. Tyson arrived safe and sound and his cousin Grant met us at the airport. We took an express train ride back to central Hong Kong where he lives at the Four Seasons Place. Yes he lives there, so as one could imagine our few days in China were quite comfortable. He kindly sarificed his bedroom for us so we slept in a bed again which was fancy. Not to mention the bed got made for us everyday, the dishes got washed in addition to the fresh towels and toilet paper. The room was up on the 30th floor so the view of the city was unreal. Overall the experience was a fabulous break from our humble backpacking.
Hong Kong is exactly as one may imagine and reminds me a lot of New York city. Everyone is dressed in black suits (male and female), there are very few children and many foreigners. The prices are expensive and high end retail stores rule the area. There are huge screens everywhere you turn and there's no such thing as personal space. Just like New York everyone takes cabs or trains, stares at their IPhone as they walk and walk as if they are already late. I read in the paper that one in every five people living in Hong Kong has over a million dollars cash in the bank. This is not hard to believe because the energy of the place seems to revolve around money, fashion and looks. I have to admit that my view may be a bit distorted because the place we stayed is not for the weak walleted. All of the cars parked in the hotel parking lot are worth more than an average Canadian's income for four years and money seems to be no object in that world.
Coming from Cambodia, where the average person makes less than $1000 per year. the injustice and imbalance of the world is all the more clear and harsh. From a world where $1 can feed a family and boney children beg for food, to a place where thousand dollar purses are bought in every color, it seems unfair.
The first day we came back to the hotel and relaxed before heading out for dinner to a Chinese place. Grant did all the ordering and we shared the food which seemed to work really well since he knew the menu. The food was great with noodles, prawns, fried rice, shrimp and veggies. The dessert was heavily buttered buns covered with condensed milk so I appologize to my heart. We walked around on the Monday night down narrow alleys that reminded me of Europe. The alleys were lined with shops and tons of bars and small clubs pumping loud music and serving what would be a Saturday night crowd anywhere else.
We enjoyed the hot water showers more than ever and washed our stinky laundry. Coming from sleeping on a tile balcony in Cambodia, the third class seats on the train and the airport floor in Bangkok, the fluffy cushioned six star bed seemed all the more heavenly. So we spent the next few days sleeping in, eating, relaxing in the outdoor hot tub on the 60th floor, and leisurely walking through the city. Most of the tourist "activities" in Hong Kong revolve around shopping. So we took a double decker ding ding accross town and a ferry accross the water but everywhere we went the main event was always high end shopping. The weather was hazy the whole time we were there and I was freezing cold in the 12 degree temperature. We pulled out all our pants and coats that were hidden deep at the bottom of our bags by now.
Even though I am not a shopper, I still got sucked in to trying on clothes and window shopping huge diamond rings. Other than food however, we did not buy much and even unloaded a bag of stuff with Grant who kindly offered to take it home to Vancouver for us next time he goes out there (he's a pilot).
The second night we went to a Southern style restaurant that was packed with English speaking foreigners (even the staff). We had deep fried BBQ wings, BBQ ribs, wedge salad with fried onions and blue cheese and sweet potato fries. I'm not sure if it was all fat free but I think it was. We finished off with hot fudge sundaes every single night and sometimes even a tube of pringles. No further comments.
On our last day we did some work online, threw in our last load of laundry and went out for Thai food where we had pork satay, spring rolls, tom yum soup with seafood and chicken wings. After this we ran to catch our flight and we were last on the place during the final boarding call. Good thing we skipped dessert. This was when I lost my last dreading tool and now I have none left so it will be downhill for my hair.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
Hong Kong is exactly as one may imagine and reminds me a lot of New York city. Everyone is dressed in black suits (male and female), there are very few children and many foreigners. The prices are expensive and high end retail stores rule the area. There are huge screens everywhere you turn and there's no such thing as personal space. Just like New York everyone takes cabs or trains, stares at their IPhone as they walk and walk as if they are already late. I read in the paper that one in every five people living in Hong Kong has over a million dollars cash in the bank. This is not hard to believe because the energy of the place seems to revolve around money, fashion and looks. I have to admit that my view may be a bit distorted because the place we stayed is not for the weak walleted. All of the cars parked in the hotel parking lot are worth more than an average Canadian's income for four years and money seems to be no object in that world.
Coming from Cambodia, where the average person makes less than $1000 per year. the injustice and imbalance of the world is all the more clear and harsh. From a world where $1 can feed a family and boney children beg for food, to a place where thousand dollar purses are bought in every color, it seems unfair.
The first day we came back to the hotel and relaxed before heading out for dinner to a Chinese place. Grant did all the ordering and we shared the food which seemed to work really well since he knew the menu. The food was great with noodles, prawns, fried rice, shrimp and veggies. The dessert was heavily buttered buns covered with condensed milk so I appologize to my heart. We walked around on the Monday night down narrow alleys that reminded me of Europe. The alleys were lined with shops and tons of bars and small clubs pumping loud music and serving what would be a Saturday night crowd anywhere else.
We enjoyed the hot water showers more than ever and washed our stinky laundry. Coming from sleeping on a tile balcony in Cambodia, the third class seats on the train and the airport floor in Bangkok, the fluffy cushioned six star bed seemed all the more heavenly. So we spent the next few days sleeping in, eating, relaxing in the outdoor hot tub on the 60th floor, and leisurely walking through the city. Most of the tourist "activities" in Hong Kong revolve around shopping. So we took a double decker ding ding accross town and a ferry accross the water but everywhere we went the main event was always high end shopping. The weather was hazy the whole time we were there and I was freezing cold in the 12 degree temperature. We pulled out all our pants and coats that were hidden deep at the bottom of our bags by now.
Even though I am not a shopper, I still got sucked in to trying on clothes and window shopping huge diamond rings. Other than food however, we did not buy much and even unloaded a bag of stuff with Grant who kindly offered to take it home to Vancouver for us next time he goes out there (he's a pilot).
The second night we went to a Southern style restaurant that was packed with English speaking foreigners (even the staff). We had deep fried BBQ wings, BBQ ribs, wedge salad with fried onions and blue cheese and sweet potato fries. I'm not sure if it was all fat free but I think it was. We finished off with hot fudge sundaes every single night and sometimes even a tube of pringles. No further comments.
On our last day we did some work online, threw in our last load of laundry and went out for Thai food where we had pork satay, spring rolls, tom yum soup with seafood and chicken wings. After this we ran to catch our flight and we were last on the place during the final boarding call. Good thing we skipped dessert. This was when I lost my last dreading tool and now I have none left so it will be downhill for my hair.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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