So, as promised here is a post about my most recent trip across to the other side of the world; Hong Kong. (With a little bit of China squeezed in, but I’ll go into detail about that in another post…) It’s taken me a little longer than I wanted to post this, but work caught up with me. Better late than never I guess.
So myself and my friend Craig survived a 3 week trip to America 2 years ago, so thought we could jet off again to see our friend Alex who is currently residing in Hong Kong. The trip was my 3rd big one where I went ‘backpacking’, and lasted 10 days, with us cramming in as much as we could and on a tight budget. However, in between booking our flights and the weeks commencing towards the holiday, we had been so busy that we actually hadn’t had time or given much thought to researching as much as we could of. Chinese New Year was fantastic to see, but led to missing out on a few things such as Cat Cafes, (because I’ve never seen a cat before,) but it did make us laugh at the situations we found ourselves in trying to get into one. Good thing we had Alex with us. I’m going to try and gram as much in this post as possible, without waffling on too much.
Flying / The A380
As already stated, I’m not a big fan of flying, and I was about to go on the longest flight of my life. 13 Hours. That being said, it was the A380 and we were lucky enough to be able to sit upstairs thanks to my mum. Being on a plane where you can walk down the stairs and go for a wander is pretty cool – until they tell you you’ve walked too far and you’re not to go any further. God forbid First Class might see my face at 3am. On the way back we were lucky enough to be given an upgrade which would have originally cost me an additional £224. They moved us to premium economy to give me some more space as I was freaking out on the plane, and it really made me realise how much of a difference being more comfortable on a flight made me feel. I managed to actually get some sleep (thanks to the extra space and sleeping tablet Alex gave me.) Apart from the guy who had changed a kids nappy in the cabin and the two salads that were thrown on me by accident, the flights were both ok and now I can say I’ve been on the biggest plane there is.
(Not only did we get a seat upgrade, but we got a headphone upgrade.)
The Mini Hotel (Literally…)
The title didn’t lie; it was mini, but cute and in a good location. If Craig and I hadn’t been close before, we definitely were now… I quite enjoyed having my head by the window, to look out on the roads below every morning and see everybody go about their day. As you can see the below, it was cosy – the bathroom door couldn’t close if you were on the toilet, unless you sat sideways. The beds were the most comfortable thing I have slept in for a while, regardless of whether it was single. I had no qualms about falling asleep peacefully there, especially when the days started catching up with me. The hotel itself was quite quiet, we barely heard any external noise and they always cleaned our room. (When we remembered to put the sign on the door…)
(Our room in the Mini Hotel, Causeway Bay.)
Eating All of the Food
I love food, especially different food, but you’ve got to remember to throw a McDonalds in there somewhere, which I did do. Some of the most richest flavours I have ever tasted have been in Asia, (Cambodia springing to mind) and Hong Kong was no different. A favourite of ours was eating local food Dim Sum from a recommendation from a friend of Craig’s who lived there. Pork buns, sticky rice, fish burgers, spring rolls… if you ever get the chance to try local food in a different country, just do it. There’s a reason why everyone raves about it.
Hong Kong also provides a lot of food western food, so if fish or anything local wasn’t your thing, you would be able to find something to suit you. Add that and 7-11’s which provided plenty of fun and interesting candy, I’m surprised I didn’t come back fat.
The only thing that didn’t sit with me was a Fizzy Bean Drink I ordered with my meal at a Japanese fast food chain. Having experienced Bubble Tea in Thailand before, I assumed (what a fool) that it would be the same taste and concept. However, this was not the case and it tasted what I can only describe as something between a Coke float and tasting like Chilli con carne at the same time. I’ll leave that one for you to think about how that would taste…
(Pocky and Dim Sum; the two food highlights of the trip.)
Selfie Cafe
This was a lucky find, and a good laugh for £6. Taking a selfie and having it printed on a coffee – it was as simple as that. My face never tasted so good.
Animal Cafes
As mentioned above, we tried various times to get into a cat cafe. The city was loitered with them everywhere, and all you had to do was look up at the building windows and see a cat staring out to know where they were. However, with Chinese New Year taking place, a lot of them where closed. After wandering the streets of Causeway Bay in our first attempt to get into one, we had a man who we did not understand try and tell us that it was re-opening on 1st February, and that we were 3 days early. However, all he kept writing was ‘2-1’ and it didn’t click at all that he was trying to write the date for us.
(On a mission to find cats and coffee.)
Our second attempt was a bit more sketchy. After tracking down another cafe in Mong Kok, we buzzed into the cafe but to no reply. A local happened to open up the gate to the building as we were standing their aimlessly, so we took the initiative to head on up to the floor where the cafe was meant to be. Well. I found the cats, and a door that said, ‘Please slide to open.’ So I did, to only come face to face with an Edna Mode lookalike. I remember asking, “Are you open?” To which she replied, “NO!” before sliding the door back. And that was that. The cats stared at me through the window, their eyes begging for help but alas, it was not meant to be. However, we DID go to a Rabbit Cafe which was run buy a sweet man, who allowed us to sit and have a drink whilst we pet the cute rabbits surrounded by their poop. (Hey, you win, some you lose some.) But overall, an enjoyable experience, even with the lack of cats.
Theme Parks
Clearly, working in a theme park like myself is not enough and we had to visit not 1, but 3 whilst on our travels. As well as visiting the Disney parks in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, we also went to Ocean Park which is situated in the southern district of Hong Kong. This was my first theme park visit that was not owned by Merlin or Disney. Excited to go, especially with the sun shining we set off. Then halfway through the day, whilst riding the log flume, it pissed it down with rain and when I say pissed, I mean like you do after 3 ciders. We got soaked, there was nowhere to stand to dry off and the one place we did manage to run into was the penguin enclosure so we went from drenched to being blasted with freezing cold air. It was a rollercoaster of emotions but nonetheless we marched onto the rides that now had no queues and managed to get on everything we wanted to. Lovely to see another theme park that was literally built onto the side of a mountain.
(Left to right: Ocean Park Hong Kong, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort.)
Viewing the cities
Do I need to say anything? The pictures below speak for themselves. One thing that always takes my breath away on trips around the world is the skylines and city life. Living near London, I’ve became incredibly grateful to live near such a famous and impressive skyline that people travel all over the world to see. It never gets old; so the views I saw on this short trip away I did not take for granted and tried to take in; the colours, the sounds, the lights, the buildings. I wish I had more time at each place just to marvel.
(Left to right: The Bund Shanghai, Victoria Peak Hong Kong, Victoria Park Hong Kong)
Drinks, drinks, drinks
We went to a few bars throughout the Holiday, most of them were great but I found them incognito most of the time – or maybe that’s just Hong Kong in general. Most of their establishments are high up into buildings, and if you didn’t know where to look, you would never know they existed. The one I was most excited about was the Ozone Bar, which was the tallest bar in Hong Kong with stunning views. This was the only night where we only really dressed up, and good thing I did because it was in the Ritz. Up we shot in an elevator, to be taken into another one to the bar directly. This place was insane. And so were the prices. But we were only here once so I ordered the cheapest drink on the menu, which was roughly £11 for a cider. (Later on I found out I could have purchased this at the 7-11 for £1.) After sipping on our drinks, it was time to check out the view. I braved myself for the cold, headed outside equipped with camera and guess what. It was so cloudy I couldn’t see A SINGLE THING. Therefore, I realistically paid £11 to travel all the way to the top of one of the highest building’s in Hong Kong, to see a f***ing cloud. Seriously, you can’t write this stuff. But it was a beautiful cloud and we got some cracking selfies.
(The highly swanky O-Zone bar that showed me the most expensive cloud.)
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Hong Kong; the food was lush, the weather was warm and the company was great. It doesn’t feel like I got back 4 weeks ago, more like 4 months. Time to book another? My bank card says no. But it wont stop me from thinking of the next.
Just the rest of the world to go…
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