On route to Malaysia I stopped in Hong Kong for the weekend. I?ve had connections through Hong Kong and always thought the landscape looked cool, so I took 3 days to explore. I stayed in the Kowloon district which pretty much had every store I couldn?t shop at; unless I felt like spending my whole travel budget for the season on a purse for my girlfriend. My sponsors will be happy to know I didn?t do that. Right by one of the harbours, there were plenty of places to walk to and cool museums and cultural places to check out. The first day we went through the Hong Kong History Museum. It was amazing to the history Hong Kong has. There were bronze bowls and artifacts from the Ancient Dynasties that date back to 6000 BC. That’s pretty crazy considering Canada has only been a country since 1867.
Later that day I took a tram up to the highest city lookout. It had a 360 view of Hong Kong and the surrounding areas. Tried out some panorama photos, turned out pretty cool. Great views of Hong Kong?s 10 or so harbours. The water ways are crazy with tons of fishing boats and massive cruise ships all sharing the same small passages. The shipyards are the biggest I’ve ever seen, with rows of cranes and tankers lined up to haul your Nike’s and Tee’s over to North America. Hong Kong has a very mountainous landscape which makes for a very unique city layout. Massive towers are staggered up the hillsides with lush forest in the background.
After taking some photos from the look out we made our way to a district known for its pubs and nightlife. Built on a fairly steep hill it was great for watching people fall on wet pavement. Dan and I had some beers and took it all in. I did see some other whities in there which was interesting. I think they were as weirded out as we were.
The next day we took a gondola up into the hills outside of HK. It was too bad it didn?t lead to snow, but it did lead to a very big buddha and some cool temples. The tram leads to the largest outdoor Buddha in the world. At 112 ft. tall and 280 tonnes it was a pretty serious site. It is the largest outdoor Buddha in the world. There were some amazing views of the surrounding valleys and ocean inlets.
At the bottom of the stairs leading to the Buddha there were miniature brahmas bulls and they were hilarious. They were friendly until I started petting the bigger one and it tried to stab me with his horns. But it was all good after he realized I was the bigger man, then I rode it around the monastery and was made an honorary monk.
Hong Kong has some very good deals on motel rooms. Scattered around the city there are rooms for rent by the hour. I took advantage of this and stayed in a few places around the city. Why would I pay for the whole day when I only use a few hours sleeping in the hotel room at night. The vintage shag carpet was very comfy on my bare feet and the dark yellow mood lights gave the rooms an “authentic” feel. The needles and used condoms were also a nice touch.
After my great sleep in the affordable motels it was time to get some food. Hong Kong has fresh seafood everywhere. I didn?t eat at any fancy restaurants. I?ve found travelling it is best to look down some the side streets and if there?s a line up or busy restaurant, that?s guaranteed to be good food. The Dim Sum is by far the best I?ve ever had even with spending plenty of time in Richmond, BC, which has a higher percentage of Chinese than Hong Kong does…
After a couple days of enjoying and exploring it was time to catch the flight to Kuala Lumpur and start the week of work I had scheduled there.
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