yummy food. Although, the complimentary appetizer was called a "Century Egg" or "Thousand year old egg," which is supposed to be some delicacy, but I (April) nearly lost it when I took a bite. The guys said it tastes like a normal hard-boiled egg, and if you close your eyes you cannot even tell the difference. Well, I could tell, and it was not good. It is preserved some how for a couple weeks, and it turns a nasty green color, and pretty much is really gross. I'll leave it up to the boys to eat them! The rest of the dinner was yummy though. After dinner we walked around part of the Lang Kwai Fong and had a drink at a chic bar. Everyone stays out pretty late, so the town was still having fun!Navin took a couple days off work to show us around and our first adventure was heading to Lantau Island. We took a cab from his Mid-Level apartment (with an awesome view!) to the
ferry station and then the fast ferry to Lantau Island where we caught a bus and headed up to see the Tian Tan Buddha, or Big Buddha. It's the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze buddha. It was made in 1993 and is almost 112 feet tall, and weighs 250 tons. The buddha on the top of the hill also has a great view of the island. We cabbed it back down the hill (instead of taking the bus with a BUNCH of people squished on small seats) and ferried back to Hong Kong Island. We grabbed a dim sum lunch, got a reflexology foot massage at Happy Foot and then back to Navin's place to rest for a bit.
The weather has been spectacular while in Hong Kong (best in years, supposedly) and we headed out that evening to the Kowloon waterfront to grab and drink and watch the sunset from the InterContinental hotel. It was a beautiful night. Navin had made a dinner reservation at the Aqua restaurant, which has a stellar view of the Hong Kong Island skyline and a very stunning interior.
The skyscrapers along the waterfront give a little light show nightly at 8pm, and we were perched at a little table with an amazing view. Probably one of the best views of the city, and the food was great too! The cuisine is a Japanese and Italian combination, and it's definitely worth it! We walked around the area a bit after dinner and grabbed a night cap at the Felix bar, located in the Peninsula hotel.The next morning we headed out to Hollywood Road, where there are some antique and furniture shops. We also walked around SoHo (South of Hollywood Road) with lots of restaurants
and little shops. The area is very ExPat oriented, and also boasts what was the world's longest escalator system that takes you through the old streets. After walking around there we took the tramway to The Peak, or the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island. The tramway drives right past Navin's apartment, on this VERY steep uphill climb. It's well worth the trip up, as the views of the city are amazing. Again, this has been some of the best weather Hong Kong has seen in years, so it was very picturesque. We lunched at the top of the hill and then came back for a little rest and pool time before dinner out.
Mark has been looking forward to eating Peking Duck in Hong Kong, and we had some of the best at Peking Garden. We ordered a whole duck and they bring it to a carving station and cut up bit size pieces, displaying them beautifully on a duck platter. They also give you amazing little pancakes to wrap it in, along with the traditional hoisin sauce, cucumber and onions. Yummy!!! We thoroughly enjoyed the meal! Navin had to head out on a business trip, so we ended the night a bit early before our last day in Hong Kong and on vacation. (Insert tears.)
Mark and I wanted to do a little local shopping for our last day, so we cabbed it out to the other side of the Island in Ap Lei Chau to a large warehouse type shopping building that offered Chinese furniture and home items. It's about a 30 story building, so we started at the top and worked our way down. We found many things we would be willing to take home, but they will have to wait until the next trip when we actually have a home for them.
Late in the afternoon we went to Kowloon for some more local market shopping. Navin said that
many people don't go from one island to the next very often, as there is plenty to do in their own space. Hong Kong island offers the City life with chic upscale shopping and many more well known businesses are located there. Kowloon is somewhat more of of what you would expect for a Chinese city. It has local markets, more stalls with street food, and the like. Seeing as how we wanted to experience everything while we are in town, we headed to Kowloon via the subway or MTR and shopped at the Ladies Market and the Temple Night Market. We grabbed dinner on the street at a busy restaurant and enjoyed our last night in Hong Kong.Overall, we thought Hong Kong was an amazing city. It's bustling with people, activities, shopping, and business. It has a amazing skyline views, and is a hub of many things chic. It was definitely a great last stop before coming home.
We packed our bags for the final time Friday morning and headed to the airport to come back to reality.
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