City of Tyrese’s Giant Underwear Ad

I have a confession to make. I slept through entering Hong Kong. So when I came out to breakfast, after already docking, I was greeted with the city in its entirety. There weren’t any lights in a distance or sun setting behind the full skyline. It was cloudly, and bleak. Amidst the impressive backdrop was Tyrese. Tyrese at 60 floors tall donning nothing but tighty whitey’s. And that is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think Hong Kong skyline. Haha

No really, Hong Kong. One day. One mission: to finish my to do list. Stephanie, Ashly, Ali, and I set out to conquer the list in our one day. First up? Victoria Peak. We took a double decker with some Aussie’s who chatted up with us until getting to the tram. Tram to the peak, which was overcast and cloudy. Luckily for us, there was a mall in the clouds. Ah, heaven. Literally. So after lunch and some shopping, we headed down and took off for mission 2. Shopping. Excessive, I know. This time we took bus to subway, subway to Ladies Market. Very fancy subway system I might add. Now, the Ladies Market area was overwhelming. Once you exited the subway, you were greeted with sign after sign of Chinese symbols. The street was packed with locals. Definitely not in Kansas anymore. After completing the 3 block long market, and managing only to buy one item, we went to Starbucks. On our way back to the subway, I decide now is the time to get a camera. See South Africa blog for whereabouts of dear sweet dead Canon Powershot. The birth of my new Olympus 1200, complete with 20 settings, camera case, 2 batterys, 2 memory cards, tripod, battery charger with both HK charger and US, and for fun let’s throw in a free Hello Kitty bag with matching Hello Kitty camera case. Only in Asia would you camera come with a free Hello Kitty bag. Anyways, I am in love. This could be the start of something wonderfully new. We headed back to the ship, ate dinner, and got ready to go out. We took the subway to Lon Kwai Fong, where the bars are. Basically, it’s a whole circle of bars, restaurants, and the like. We went in one underground, where we met a bunch of US sailors who were in port for 4 days. We had drinks with them and danced, and eventually made our way back up to the surface. By now, the street was flooded with SAS kids. We went to a hole in the wall and walked through the mess of US kids with our drinks and met up with some friends. After another hour or so we eventually made our way back, but not before a quick stop at Mickey D’s. And that, my friend, was my one day in Hong Kong. And let me tell you- I could come back in a heartbeat. I loved it. LOVED IT. It was like New York City, but better. The skyline is unbelievable- building after building. At night, they are all lit up multi colored, with ships going back and forth in the water. It was the perfect blend of the familiar with the traditional. Every turn you were surprised to see CPK, but at the same token were 18983463235 different signs in a language you couldn’t even pretend to understand. Unbelievable. Top three on the list for sure. It’s getting harder to gauge the countries. Each one steals a little piece of my heart.