I Love Hong Kong!

Hong Kong is SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely LOVE Hong Kong. We landed in Macau and took an hour-long ferry ride to Hong Kong. As the ferry approached Hong Kong, I knew that this city was the place for me. Tall buildings covering every square inch of land on the shore of Victoria Bay, nestled among gentle mountains. Paradise. Absolutely stunning.

I traveled to Hong Kong with Hannah, Caroline, Kristi, Jen, Sara, and Gabby- a girls weekend in the most beautiful city on the planet. When we got off the ferry, we hopped on the city's subway to get to the hotel. It is safe to say that I am OBSESSED with Hong Kong's train system (MTR). It is the most perfect system I have experienced. Locals travel using an Octopus Card, similar to MARTA's Breeze Card and Singapore's EZLink card that you load money onto and swipe in and out of the stations. Visitors, like me, buy one-way passes from machines at the station. Each ticket machine has a map of all the different lines and stations. All you do is touch your desired destination and the machine calculates the fare for you. You insert money, and the machine dispenses your paper ticket and change. So easy.

Then, you put your ticket in the machine, walk through the turn stiles, pick up your ticket on the other side, and head to the train. HAHA the machine literally eats your ticket and spits it out the other side. So funny! The coolest thing about the train is that inside there is a map overhead that lights up! There are arrows on the map that light up to show the trains progress along the line, and the station you are approaching has a blinking light. If you are approaching a transfer point, then all of the stations along the new transfer line also blink. There is also a light that turns on telling you which side of the train to exit. Brilliant.

Another interesting thing about Hong Kong, is that while walking along the street, you can here these different clicking noises. It took us a while to figure it out, but then we realized that the clicking is for blind people! So neat! 

Another thing I liked is that every train station had multiple exits. There were clearly labeled signs that listed which streets, shops, restaurants, and tourist destinations were around each exits. Some stations spanned a good 5 or 6 blocks underground, so it was pretty important that you picked the right exit. But it was so easy! What a smart city! I think that every civil engineer at GT needs to take a trip to Hong Kong and experience their transportation system. It is interesting to compare this MTR system to Atlanta's MARTA system. The MTR is a lot cheaper than MARTA, but it is because more people use the MTR than MARTA. More people use the MTR because Hong Kong was built around the subway system. In Atlanta, the city was built, and then the transportation system was put in place. People in Atlanta already have cars and do not seem willing to give up that freedom.

Also, for pedestrians in Hong Kong, at every intersection, there is clicking to signal to a blind person whether or not they can cross. Slow steady beeps means to wait (beep pause beep pause beep pause), fast beeps mean proceed across the intersection (beebeebeebeebeep), and fast beeps with pauses mean that you need to hurry across because the light is about to change (beebeebeep pause beebeebeep pause). There is also fast beeping at the beginning and end of EVERY escalator or moving sidewalk in the city. To me, it was fascinating, but I'm sure to a local, the beeps can get quite annoying.

In the end, our travel day on Saturday was defined by public transportation. I took the Singapore campus bus to the library, boarded the Singapore city bus to the train station, took the train to a transfer station, boarded another train for the airport, took an airport shuttle to my terminal, took a plane to Macau, took a taxi from the Macau airport to the ferry terminal, took a ferry to Hong Kong, took the Hong Kong MTR train to the hotel, and then walked a few blocks to the hotel. WOW. I've never utilized that much public transportation in my life. I think I used every possible mode of transportation except a helicopter. There was an option to take a helicopter from Macau to Hong Kong instead of a ferry, but I didn't want to be THAT much of a baller. HAHA!

Once we got to the hotel (our room had a beautiful view of the harbor!), we found an awesome restaurant nearby for some food. We were starving! We flew on a budget airline that served NO FOOD and NO DRINKS the entire flight. Luckily I had a power bar and a bottle of water that I bought before I left, but other members of my group were pretty famished after the 4 hour flight. I ordered pineapple fried rice, and the rice actually came inside a real hollowed out pineapple! So fun! We also shared some satay and spring rolls. After dinner, we took the MTR to Lan Kwai Fong, the notorious bar district in Hong Kong. The place was packed!! We did some bar hopping- a margarita at one bar, a shot from another, good times. After having a little fun, we went back to the hotel and prepared for Sunday, our only full day in Hong Kong.

The next morning, we enjoyed some omelets for breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, Kristi and Sara went to DisneyLand in Hong Kong, and the remainder of us (me, Caroline, Hannah, Jen, and Gabby) took the MTR to Times Square to do some shopping! I found an awesome pair of gold and white (GT colors!) shoes for $6 US. They were too small for me, but I went ahead and bought them to give to someone at home. I also bought two wallets with this awesome Asian pattern on them, and I picked up a pair of earrings too. 

After walking around Times Square about three times, we got on the MTR and went to the neighboring island of Kowloon to shop at the Ladies Market. The train went underneath the bay!!! We went UNDERWATER in the MTR. Crazy! I'm craving to know how they built that! In Kowloon, we got lunch (I had roasted duck with rice) and then walked a few blocks to the Ladies Market. It was so CROWDED!!! People EVERYWHERE! Sidewalks packed, shops and restaurants bursting at the seams... I absolutely LOVED it!

I definitely had my most successful shopping so far at the Ladies Market. I bought a pair of jade earrings, an awesome little pocket mirror, a pair of funky glasses, and a leather purse. All of these items added up to less that $20 US. Thank you, bargaining! So fun!

After the Ladies Market, we hopped back on the love of my life, the MTR, and went back to Hong Kong to visit Victoria's Peak. Victoria's Peak is a mountain that overlooks the entire city of Hong Kong, Victoria's Bay, and Kowloon. I was just so excited to get up there!  We got off at Central Station and headed toward the Peak Tram. On the way to the tram station, we passed by a concert in Central Square. It was a cover for Mandy Moore, and it was a guy! haha yes, and there were tons of people out there watching! This concert is the number one place that I've seen the most Asians so far. I took a picture from above, and it was just a sea of black hair and umbrellas. 

We took the tram up to the top of Victoria's Peak. We got a small snack, and then hiked around the top, stopping at lots of overlooks with some SPECTACULAR views of the city. It was so breathtakingly beautiful that we stayed for the rest of the afternoon, saw the most glorious sunset, and then enjoyed seeing the city come alive at night! What an incredible experience! I took so many pictures! Hong Kong is my new love. Forget Singapore, I am going to work in Hong Kong for AT LEAST a year after I graduate. I feel like I only scratched the surface of what Hong Kong has to offer. There is so much opportunity there- so much to see, so many people to meet. I am definitely going back and staying for quite a while.

We reluctantly took the tram down the mountain at 9:30 that night, and we went back to Lan Kwai Fong for some pizza! It was the first pizza I'd had since I left Atlanta! Actually, pizza was the last meal I had in the US, at Johnny's with my daddy, Taylor, and Uncle Mike. On the way to Lan Kwai Fong, we saw a couple taking their wedding pictures! She was in her wedding gown, and he was in his tux, and they had their photography entourage taking pictures of them posing in and around the streets of Hong Kong. It was so beautiful! In fact, we saw FOUR couples getting their wedding pictures made that night!

At the end of the day, I was completely exhausted from all of the walking, that I fell asleep as soon as I got back to the hotel room at around midnight. We woke up Monday morning, had more omelets, and then got back on the ferry to Macau. We had two hours to kill before we had to be at the airport for our flight back to Singapore, so we went to Sands Casino, and I gambled for the first time! I played some of the slots, and I was so confused. Not only had I never played slots before, but  it wasn't in English. So I just hit a bunch of random buttons and ended up losing all my money. So sad, but it was only $5 US. Everything in Asia is so inexpensive, even gambling. I wasn't brave enough to play any of the tables, so I watched some of the other girls win some money on the slots, and then we went to the airport. I hope my next casino experience is less confusing than this one.

And then I sadly left Hong Kong, but I have sincere hope that I will return again. I've finished packing up my dorm room in Singapore, and now I am going to get less than four hours of sleep before I have to wake back up and go to the airport to leave for Beijing. I will be celebrating my 20th birthday on the airplane! Yay.

...but no worries. I'll make up for it in Beijing, easily :)