TALES OF THE HONG KONG SIX

 May 29, 2013

Hong Kong.

Two words:  Hong Kong. Two more words: Kick ass.

I spent 3 1/2 days and Hong Kong. It's an amazing city. So full of energy and people and passion and rain and business and harbors and mountains and skyscrapers. It's like New York, Asian style. The people are great. The location is amazing. Top notch.

DAY 1:

I took the train in from the airport, past more skyscrapers than I've maybe seen anywhere but New York. Given that land is VERY expensive, they build up here. Way up. The 4th or 5th tallest building in the world is here. 118 floors tall. And there's a bar at the top (it is the Ritz Carlton after all) and the it felt like stepping out of an airplane to go out there. It's amazing. And it's located across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong proper so you get the view of the city and mountains. It's also conveniently Feng Shui from the building across the Harbor (which Batman jumped off of in The Dark Knight) and makes a door across the harbor (or a window, I was confused which one).

When I got to my Hostel, the Yesinn Causeway Bay (which I highly recommend of you're going to HK), I met the first of the Hong Kong 6. Anne and Toby. Dutch and English. And both kick ass cool. We clicked right away, and as we all were planning on going to see the Light / Laser / Sound show that night, we headed out together. We gathered Anton (from Slovakia), AJ (England) and Kevin (Venice, California... yep). We headed out, grabbed some food (which is super cheap in HK. Go figure. I thought it would be really expensive, but it was easy to eat for US $5-7 and have a lot of tasty food.).

On our way across the harbor we stopped at 7-11 (everywhere in HK) and got beers. HK$12 for 2 big cans. That's a buck fifty US. And you can drink on the street. Hell, you can drink anywhere (almost). So in a festive mood we took the Star Ferry across the harbor. It's been running for over 100 years and gives you some amazing views of the city. People were gathered on the waterfront for the Light show. It's the largest permanent one on earth. 40 buildings have dancing lights to music. People say it's cool. But what's that? Is that lightning flashing over the city?

And is that rain starting to fall? Lots of it?

Yep. People scattered and ran below the covered promenade, but not us crazy travelers. We danced in the rain and watched the real light show. Mother Nature blasted lightning all over. Thunder rolled and boomed. The city vanished in sheets of rain. It. Was. Epic.

Me being me, I was the last one out in the rain and it was a blast to just dance and cheer every time a lightning bolt crashed. Bring it!

I got a kick ass photo which you will see below, and Anton actually got a pic of a lightning bolt!!!!!

From here we explored, hit the night market, ate, played music on my new mini-speaker, sang and laughed. It was a great combo of people who all got along. The energy was high. Fast friends were made. It was really great.

Four of us continued to the party area and danced in bars in Lan Kwai Fong and on the street to 50's and 60's music. A good night. Fun people all around. And it's a Monday.

The Hong Kong Six!

DAY 2: Big Buddha Baby.

 Anton and I headed to the Big Buddha today despite the torrential rains in the morning. They cleared up and we were able to climb the 200+ steps to the largest outdoor sitting buddha in the world. (There are a lot of specific records when it comes to Buddhas :). 

We ate at the monestary on the hilltop. It is on Lantau Island which is also home of the airport, fishing villages and Hong Kong Disneyland. Booyah! The best part is the cable car which runs to and from the mountain top. The weather was no good going, so we had to take a bus, but on the way out we were able to do the 25 minute ride. We chose the "Crystal Coach" and rode in a cable car with a clear floor! Talk about vertigo. It was super cool and really bizarre.

 

After a nap I was going to meet Anton to hit Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum. Though we didn't see any other of the Hong Kong 6, we gathered a new member, Valentina (German). Super cool gal doing her first solo backpacking trip through Thailand, HK, Shanghai and Bejing. I remember my first solo trip, also in Southeast Asia. It's where it begins for many I think.

We found the Dim Sum place. Just in time too. Order up. HOLY CRAP IT'S GOOD.

I mean. WOW. WOW. Yummy wow. It's Michelin star rated... and cost us less than US$10 for 4-5 items each.

Best bargain meal on the planet!

Valentina and the heavenly Dim Sum

We grabbed some 7-11 beers and hit Victoria park at 10pm. Sat on the playground. Danced in yet another rain storm. And talked about travel, life, meaning, destiny and more sitting under a small gazebo as the rain fell, and stopped. Fell and stopped. Over and over.

Finally we head back to the hostel and Valentina and I went to the roof. We sat under the tarp as the skies opened up with rain. The lightning blasted everywhere. I don't think I've seen that much lightning since being a kid in Texas. We were surrounded by much taller buildings my friends, so we weren't lightning rods. But man, that was a hell of a lightning storm. Some bolts must've hit the buildings next door because the blast was instant and deafening. Mother nature is giving quite the show!

DAY 3: Museums, Horse Races and more dancing

I was solo most of the day. The Hong Kong 6 is leaving in pieces. In truth we only all hung out one night, but it was epic fun. Anne is off to Nepal to trek with her mom. (That's right parents, you don't have to pass up on traveling just cause you're getting older! ;). Anton is taking off for Thailand, I think. Toby's going to Tokyo. I'm heading to the walk of fame and museums.

Yep, Hong Kong has a walk of fame just like Hollywood. It should, being the "Hollywood of the east". Stars and handprints along a promenade. A statue of Bruce Lee. The difference is, It's right on the fricking harbor with views of the city! Take that LA! :)

Me Directing in Hong Kong! Sweet!

That's Jackie Chan!

The history museum had a fantastic and exhaustive exhibit about the history of HK. Which is exactly what I wanted.

Then I hit that 118th floor bar at Sunset. Nice.

Happy Valley Race Course is next. Apparently horse racing is BIG TIME in HK. It's the only legal gambling. It was fun to go to, but the fact that we have horse racing in LA made it not exactly unique. Still, I was able to find AJ of the Hong Kong 6 and hang out with him and his friends for the night. We started here...

... and headed to Wan Chai for more bars, more dancing, more drinking and more fun. Going out in HK is way fun because people are friendly. It's not as isolated as going to clubs in LA where everyone's trying so hard to be cool that no one actually is. People were friendly, open to dancing and super nice. Some travelers, some students, some locals, some prostitutes. Wait, what? Some, you mean MANY. More so here than Lan Kwai Fong. One bar I walked into and thought... "hmmm, I think 90% of the women in here are looking for some business". To answer some folks questions: No, not for me. Guess it is for someone, and it's always amusing to navigate the streets as a solo guy in those areas. It's straight out of Full Metal Jacket: Me love you long time.

DAY 4: The last day of my trip and I'm going to Disneyland!

I was going to go to Victoria Peak. You have to do it. The views are amazing. Or so I heard. I never made it up there.

It was often in clouds and I was going to go, then thought: Nope. Disney bitches.

A 25 minute train ride to the Happiest (sort of ) place on earth.

I had a blast. I was skipping with excitement when I got there. It's the Mickey Tram! It's Main Street USA! It's Space Mountain!

From this angle you can't see the jungle mountains behind the castle

The whole place is about 2/3rds the size of the Annaheim Disneyland, and has about that percentage of rides. But it was a blast. It's cheaper too. It was fun to see the differences: All signs are in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Any tours, like the Jungle Cruise, with a tour guide, you had to choose your language. Space Mountain was cool, as always, though not as good as LA. The Haunted Mansion here is completely different, it's called Mystic Point and has a story to it with a Balinese music box. I wish I'd done that one twice. The lines were short. And I think many of the folks there had never been to an amusement park before. It was funny how complicated it was to get in line and wait for your seats. People had to be told multiple times how it all worked. And in all honestly, I bet a lot of folks haven't been to them. I grew up with Six Flags, but I bet a mainland Chinese person wouldn't have access to amusement parks like I did. Hopefully they loved it.

To end the trip... Pub Crawl.

Yep, socializing again! Lots of travelers. Lots of cool people. Gangnam style: yep. Pitbull: yep. And Kevin! Of the HK6. Ran into him and got to hang out again. It was great!

The best part was coming out of one of the bars and people were dancing on the street to Party Rock Anthem. Just bumping. And this 75 year old Chinese guy was grooving. We were all cheering and dancing and celebrating a fantastic 38 days in Southeast Asia. Okay, maybe not everyone, but I was. What a trip! What a way to end it!

Everyday I'm shuffelin'!

CraigO

PS: One more email to come...

Street dance party!