Hong Kong... Central District and The Peak

Today was a busy and exhausting day!

We started the morning with our Starbucks... then walked to the Star Ferry to go to the Central District shopping. :)

It's amazingly different here with time... Nothing opens before 11 a.m. Let me rephrase... nothing worth shopping for opens before 11 a.m. As we were leaving the girls at our hotel told us that we were leaving way too early... but did we listen? NOPE! And, you know what? It worked out just great. Just wait...

Before I tell you what Jennifer wants me to tell you, I need to set it up. Everywhere we go in Hong Kong EVERYWHERE WE GO, we are accosted by people trying to sell us something. And, it seems to be Americans in particular. But, honestly, it gets very annoying. I mean, it's not like they just ask you a question and you say "No, thank you" that they leave you alone. They literally follow you and keep talking trying to sell you on their product or goods. Okay, so... on our way to the Star Ferry, there was an older man who was dressed in monk-like attire. And, being in Hong Kong and American, he proceeded to hand us something trying to tell us the worth of God or Buddha or whomever he believes in. So, Jennifer was behind me not saying a word and I just turned to him and said "No, thank you." He kept talking to me, touched my arm trying to give me his little card thing. I said, "NO!" And, we finally walked away. I turned, looked at Jenn and said, "well, I'm going to Hell." So we've been laughing about that all day long. I'm sure I will meet most of you there, anyway. :~)

Star Ferry:


When we got of the Star Ferry, we walked into the mall, which none of the shops were open, but we walked the IFC (International Finance Center), aka shopping mall. I felt like the senior citizens in the states that walk malls for exercise. But, it was a nice mall. Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, David Yurman, Jimmy Choo, Burberry, etc. All the stores we can't afford. But it was nice. We've been to three "malls" and they all have the EXACT SAME STORES. So, fashion is a big thing in Hong Kong.

We've noticed a lot of make-up, shoes, and jewelry stores. Clearly geared toward the female demographic.

We did eat lunch at this great little place in the IFC, but it wasn't chinese. It's amazing how westernized the food is here. Perhaps we're not going to all the local hot spots, but there has not been much option or Asian cuisine, unless it's high-end. Again, we haven't been to many of the truly local restaurants, so we could be missing a lot. Nanchang, we're sure, will be much different.

After lunch we took a bus to The Peak... or Victoria's Peak. WOW! That was probably the most amazing views I've ever seen. Check them out:









Besides the amazing views at the top of The Peak, there was ANOTHER SHOPPING MALL. But, this time there were some really unique stores. Not just the typical corporate retail. Individual, cool stores. We could've done a lot of damage, but ended up just buying a couple of things. Most notably a chop with ink that has Dong Fang Xia Qing's Chinese symbols. So, that's cool!

After spending about two hours at the Peak, we walked back to our hotel and voila...

It's been an amazing and quick two days in Hong Kong. A really good friend told me to not leave with any regrets and I don't. We've done everything I wanted to do here.

This city is so easy to get around in without a vehicle (and you wouldn't want to drive, trust me) it's just not funny. We started this adventure in a car, then a plane, a train, shuttle bus, ferry, a double-decker bus and, of course, our sore feet! But it's been well worth it.

I might have one regret... not doing the fish eating pedicure. Hey, I still have 13 days!