1.16.2007

Hong Kong

Over break, C and I went on Asia tour #2, to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo. Our flight left LAX on Dec 27, and took a god awful long time to reach Hong Kong. In the process we made an unplanned stop at Incheon (Seoul airport) to refuel, at which point all the passengers raided the galley for snacks.

We did eventually make it to Hong Kong, where it was a balmy 70 degrees. Our first stop: food. We wandered into a workman's type of restaurant, oily, fast, cheap, and specializing in....ox penises. No, we did not eat ox penises or testicles, although you could have added those items to any dish.



We saw scarier live sea animals at the night market, where we did eat. We also wandered into an open air meat market street, where you could buy all sorts of animals. They also sold live chickens (despite bird flu warnings), but my bird flu picture didn't come out.



No visit to an Asian country is complete with a visit to a temple of some sort, and this is exactly that...it's a temple of some sort. But it's unique among temples in other Asian countries because the paint is so bright and fresh!



Below is the arc shaped building found on the back of a number of bank notes. It's the observation deck on top of Victoria Peak. We went up there, and you can see all of Hong Kong in its blue blurriness. Let me assure you, it's a lot of city and a lot of ocean.



We took an aerial tram up to see the largest sitting Bronze Buddha, tucked away in the hills. They built this Buddha in 1997. Despite its youth, it's quite a popular tourist attraction. There's even a fake tourist town built to entice foreigners to spend their money. Of course, I'm not sure how many people want to eat swallow's nest and turtle jelly.



Here C prayed for Muffy and me!



Hong Kong has all these awesome shopping malls, and I mean awesome in the old literary sense. It's a completely duty free port, so everything is actually really cheap. I usually don't like walking into designer stores, but here it felt totally normal and even welcomed. But no, I didn't buy anything, only Kenzo and Burberry perfume.



A shot of HK's business side, it's a bit like a video game isn't it? Metallic and shiny.