Hong Kong Escapades

So we were docked in Hong Kong. It was my first and only full day in the crazy nation that’s made up of over 200 islands. We were actually docked at this very posh/expensive mall. That’s right…a mall. Hong Kongians are major consumers, maybe even more so than Americans. So once you walk off the ship, you’re inside the labyrinth of a Hong Kong mall. Very odd indeed. Expensive clothes done the racks of the stores. Immense televisions occupy the lobby with newscasts concerning Virginia Tech students. And signs written in Mandarin characters line the ceilings.

Me, Kate, and Kyle made our way out of the mall, and were waiting inside of a hotel lobby as Mark was trying to find information on obtaining a Japanese Rail Pass. We were flipping through brochures with hopes of finding the most perfect activities to do while in Hong Kong, since we were all leaving the next morning for Beijing, China. Kyle suddenly mentioned “Hong Kong Disney,” and I laughed as I saw the excited look on his face; I instantly shrugged off this preposterous idea. After thinking about that idea for about 10 seconds, I began second-guessing it, and when Kate enthusiastically agreed, and Mark mentioned that he’d never been to Disney World before, I was totally for it! Why not do something crazy and totally fun? I rode an elephant in Vietnam; went bowling in Malaysia; visited a movie theater in India, so this seemed completely natural. Plus I love randomness!

After a quick lunch, the four of us hit the very clean Hong Kong subway, and found the route that led straight to Hong Kong Disneyland. The subway was seriously the exact opposite of a New York subway; it looked brand new and didn’t smell like dried urine. We had to transfer twice, and when we made it to the third subway station and the train came in to pick us up, we were amazed and excited that all the windows were in the shape of Mickey Mouse heads...very rad. We danced onto the train and found the entire cars decked out with fancy Disney decorations and crazy blue seats. The train took us straight to the front gates of the park…very efficient travel indeed.

“Please exit the train, watch your step, and have a magical day at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.”

We were so happy and enthusiastic to be there. To their shock, Kyle even hugged a few of the ticket ladies while passing through the gates. Yea for enthusiasm! It was surprisingly not very expensive; the crowds were surprisingly absent; I was surprisingly excited as hell. Like the subway, the park was very clean and fresh. It only opened 2 years ago, so everything was still brand new. We took TONS of pictures, rode tons of rides (including Space Mountain 3 times, since there was no line), ate some excellent Chinese food, and saw this AWESOME Disney 3-D show in one of the theaters. To anyone reading this who was with me during our last Disney trip, yes, there were still briefing rooms at the start of every ride. And yes, “no raving on the rides.” All in all, it was an incredible afternoon of fun. All four of us were in need of a day without cares or worries, and we definitely got that while at Hong Kong Disneyland. We should star in our own Disney commercial


Afterwards, we made our way back to the main city. In case you’ve never been to Hong Kong, it’s seriously the NICEST and most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. It’s HUGE. After stopping for some coffee, we caught a 2-story bus and enjoyed sitting in the very front of the second floor with a full view of the city out the large window and saw everything, including the colorful buildings, the giant ferris wheel, and a soccer field WITH a game going on. I was ready to leap off the bus to catch the game, but figured that I’d hold out, because we were traveling straight up to the peak of the hill overlooking the city. In case you haven’t read my earlier entries, soccer (football) is the only sport I really give a crap about.
The drive up the hill kept getting higher, and HIGHER, and HIGHER, until we were so high that we saw nothing but fog and mist. We were traveling to the top of the peak in order to gaze over the city AND see the awesome laser/light show that happens every night at 8 pm. The bus left us at this mall/shopping center that had a viewing spot on top of the roof. We made it to the roof, but there was NOTHING but fog, and more fog. Seriously, it looked like a scene from a horror film.
In order to still make the trip worth it, we decided to shop around the mall for awhile. After buying some cheap t-shirts, we soon walked back to the front entrance and saw another separate mall across the lobby (Hong Kongians LOVE their shopping apparently). We made it inside the mall, made it to the second floor, looked out the giant window, and there, my friends, was the city. Of course we couldn’t see anything earlier…we were on the wrong building! After traveling up at least 5 or 6 more escalators, we finally made it to the very top, and had a few minutes to gaze at the spectacular view of Hong Kong. It’s seriously the most gorgeous city I’ve ever seen. Simply spectacular. We only had a few minutes because it suddenly began POURING rain.

The night was still young. Kate had read about a Men’s Market and a Women’s Market near each other with clothing and other stuff that would interest each gender. Not only that, but they were both open really late. Excellent! On our way down the giant hill, we met this guy from Chicago who would win in a Paul Giamatti look-alike contest. He’s apparently responsible for opening all of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurants/stores all around the world, and he had just opened one in Hong Kong a few months ago and was still in charge. Anyways, he was on his way home from work, and knew how to get to the market, so he offered us some other travel advice and kept us company until we made it back to the subway.
The subway train took us to the center of the madness…the center of the city. Lights everywhere. People everywhere. Crazy noises and sights bombarded us as we continued to search for the market. This wasn’t a nice neighborhood though. Very sketchy people and really sketchy streets indeed. This, of course, added to the enjoyment. It’s also worth noting that we spotted a 7-Eleven every 5 minutes while walking. Don’t fool yourself though; even though there were abundant amounts of 7-Elevans, don’t slurpees in sight.

Instead of finding the market, we found a restaurant (we hadn’t eaten since Disneyland). Actually we found many “restaurants,” but this one seemed like one of the classier places in the area, but that really wasn’t saying much. Most of the restaurants looked like they served cheap street food out of garbage cans, but at least this place looked decent and had carpeted floors and televisions. The food WAS decent, but it was still an experience. It’s really odd ordering food when there’s a language barrier between you and the waitress. You literally have no clue what they’re going to bring out for you…you simply hope that it’s somewhat close to what you actually ordered. I also thought it was funny that they served all Chinese food, yet they didn’t have chopsticks. Only forks…..booooo. As long as it was decent food though, who cares?
At this point it was around 11. We decided to just walk back to the ship…though we had NO clue how far away the ship was. Along the way we crossed some crazy parts of the town. At one point I saw a bunch of bootleg DVD stores just like we’d seen in Vietnam. “Hey guys, can we stop here and check out what they have?” Everyone agreed. We made it up to these five stores lined up in a row, but every single one had nothing but porn, and porn, and more porn. So of course, I totally loaded up on supplies.

Ummm…yea just kidding.
We walked away, and began walking faster as we noticed where we were. The term “men’s market” can be interpreted many different ways. The streets were filled with nothing but “saunas”, XXX clubs, and vendors selling sex toys. At least it was a well-lit area.
Soon we made it out of this district, but entered a new territory…the very dark streets. Our small map told us to keep following this one road in order to make it back to the ship, so that’s exactly what we did. After a half hour or so we saw the mall, walked through the empty hallways, and boarded our ship.
Our only full day in Hong Kong treated us to Disneyland, some traditional food, a spectacular view of the city, meeting some fascinating people, and some adventures inside the city as well. I feel like I saw everything I needed to see.