Upgraded in Hong Kong

I absolutely love Hong Kong. What an upgrade from Taipei, not that I hated Taipei, I just really like Hong Kong. Yesterday, (Jan. 21) Will and I headed out to take on this big city. We were a little disappointed with the weather. It was pretty foggy, which we had heard is not because of the weather but because of the pollution that comes from the factories in mainland China. Our first stop was to head over to the Kowloon side and check out some of the museums. The Hong Kong museum of art had a nice collection and also made sure to be kid friendly by having art stations for the kids. I really enjoyed this.

At the Museum of Art, The painting description below

From here we headed to try a Dim Sum Lunch. We wanted to do it pretty much to say we tried it and it was something that I probably wont try again. We were seated in the restaurant and then all of a sudden tons of different waitresses were walking around with all of these different little appetizers. We started taking what looked good to us and then we looked around to see how the other tables were ordering and realized that we were supposed to fill out this little menu, like a sushi menu, with the different dim sum options. We went for what looked safe and Will decided to be adventurous and try dim sum animals, and he picked the marshmallow rabbit. When our food was delivered we couldn't help and laugh at the little marshmallow bunnies that resembled something you'd get on Easter morning, like those little cheeps things. After lunch we went to the Museum of Space and again it was very kid friendly. If Will had been about a foot shorter and 75 pounds lighter he would have been in heaven.

The museums kind of wore us out so we headed to our hotel to take a nap and then head out about 30 minutes outside of Hong Kong to the Stanley Market. To get out to Stanley there are double decker buses that head out every 10 minutes. We hopped on and headed to the top, front row. What a cool experience. After a few minutes the hustle and bustle of people of the large city turned into mountains above beaches. It was amazing that you could just head a few minutes out of town and feel like you were in a completely new city. The Stanley market was unbelievable. It had everything you could imagine and some of the coolest art I've ever seen. I wanted to buy everything. I decided then and there that I will have to return to Hong Kong for a shopping trip... Any one wannna join??? The Stanley area also had a lot of great restaurants and bars right on the water. We hunkered into this pub Smuggler's Inn where we were surrounded by some Australians, Europeans, and very few Asians. It was just the kind of place that made us feel at home.

Smuggler's Inn, Stanley

Today was a pretty full day as well. We woke up and were again disappointed by the weather, but were optimistic that it would get sunny. We headed back over to Kowloon because Will had decided that he was going to get a custom suit made. We got off the subway and were immediately swarmed with Indian men trying to tailor suits for Will. Luckily he had heard from some people to go this place called Sam's. We found it and inside we saw why this place had been recommended. It's a tiny little shop and on all of the walls are pictures of Kings and Queens, Presidents, Celebrities, and athletes with this guy Sam. I guess he makes clothes for people all over the world. So Will picked out what he wanted and when he gets home to start work he will have some nice new custom clothes.

When we came out of Sam's we noticed that the weather was getting better so we decided to take the Star Ferry across Kowloon Bay. I have to tell all of you girls who are reading there is SO much shopping here. To get to the ferry station you have to go through an AMAZING mall which was so tempting. I was just itching to shop. And when we got off on the other side we were fed into another AMAZING mall. It was just cruel.

View of Hong Kong Island from the ferry

Tonight, after Will had his first suit fitting, we went to this really cool sushi place, Genki Sushi. It looks kind of like a diner with a big circular bar around 2 cooks in the middle. Around the the bar was a conveyor belt with food passing in front of you, and on this conveyor belt was all of these different kinds of sushi on certain colored plates to mark how much they cost. It was so cool. From there we headed to the harbour, on the Kowloon side to see the Symphony of Lights they do every night on their buildings. It's every night at 8 and actually really cool. Will videotaped most of it and I'm sure he will be posting it on the blog at some point. I couldn't believe that someone was clever enough to turn there already incredible skyline into a nightly show. Genius

And then it was back to the night markets. These are a huge deal here and Will absolutely loves them. We walked up and down ladies market and it was a little bit overwhelming. Think Canal Street times 100. We also walked down this street called sporting/athletic goods street and all we could think about was how Price would have been in heaven. I've never seen more Nikes in my life. I mean you could get any brand and style you could imagine. It was very cool.

After our long day we are back about to go to bed. I hope all of ya'll have as good of a Monday as we did.