Hong Kong, Day 1 Part 1

I am in Hong Kong! I'm at a conference for the week, so there won't be a whole lot to post on this blog, but I do have a little bit of sight-seeing to share with you. I arrived Friday night and the conference didn't start until Saturday afternoon, so I explored a bit on Saturday morning. My hotel was in the Wan Chai area, which put me in a good location to explore Hong Kong Island (the southern part of the city, which is separated by Victoria Harbour). I woke up bright and early and started the day off right with some delicious pastries from a nearby bakery. I managed to check off two of the items on my must-eat list by finding an egg tart and pineapple bun:

They were both crazy delicious. The pineapple bun has a very sweet, crunchy layer on top with a nice soft interior. After stuffing my face with food, I hopped on my first form of transportation that day, the tram:

These trams run across the length of Hong Kong Island and are quite historic. They're also an insanely cheap (2.3 HKD or about 0.35 USD for any ride) and fun way to get around, since you can sit on the upper deck and get a great view of everything. They are quite slow and crowded, though. I took this tram a few stops down to where I was able to walk to the beginning of the Peak Tram. This is a very old funicular system that goes up to the top of Victoria Peak:

 

There was a decent wait to board, since this is a very popular tourist destination and there is only one car that goes up and down the hill. The tram goes up the hill at an impressive speed and angle considering how low-tech it is. The top of the peak gives some of the most incredible views I've ever seen:

The other side of the peak, which faces away from the city, also has some quite lovely views:

Once I was done gawking at the scenery, I took the tram back down and had a lovely walk around the Central district. This is the historic center of the city from the British colonial days and is an awesome place to wander around. There are lots of little pedestrian-only streets filled with shops and food vendors:

The whole area is very lovely (though hilly) and a good way to kill an hour or two. Since I was on a tight schedule, I had to find a place to eat lunch and then quickly get all the way across the city to the conference. I'll actually save all of that for the next post since I have many more pictures to share!

Observations:

• Hong Kong is way more tropical than I thought it would be. I knew it would be hot and humid, but didn't think the humidity would be quite this bad. The heat itself actually isn't horrible, though. And somehow it hasn't rained since I arrived, which I hear is quite rare.
• People are very, very friendly and helpful. Nearly everyone speaks English incredibly well and is happy to help me find my way. 
• This city is ridiculously easy to navigate. All public transit announcements and signs are in English and everything is very intuitive. Things are way more clearer than pretty much any US city.
• Everyone is dressed way more casually than in Japan. I was in slightly fancy clothing due to the conference and I felt a bit out of place since most people were in jeans and shorts.

Final Japan Post

This is seven months late, but I never really finished my posts on Japan and wanted to do that before I started posting about my newest adventure. I'm actually at the airport right now on the way to Hong Kong, followed by Taiwan.

But first, let's wrap up the Japan trip. On our last full day in the country, we explored some other areas of Tokyo. In the morning we went down to the Tsukiji Fish Market, which is famous for having insanely fresh fish (literally just caught) for sale. After walking around the market area (no pictures, it was quite crowded), we popped into a well-known sushi place to grab some fresh fish. It was conveyer belt style so we could just grab whatever looked good. The highlight of this meal was definitely the fatty tuna, which was honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten.

 

After filling our bellies with insanely delicious sushi, we walked up to the Ginza neighborhood, which is know for its high-end shopping. There was a big pedestrian-only street lined with hundreds of nice stores (some Western and some Japanese). I'm pretty sure I spent an hour in a 5-level stationary store. Poor Tommy and Bryan!

 

After this, we headed to the Imperial Palace in the Chiyoda neighborhood. The palace is located inside of a very lovely park and the views of the palace itself are quite lovely:

After enjoying the sunset in the park, we traveled to Shinjuku and went to the observation deck of the Metropolitan building. From here we got some great views of the city, and could also catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji in the distance (it's on the ride side of the picture, just above the clouds:

We spent the night wandering around the neighborhood of our hotel (Ikebukuro, which was very lively), visiting some good craft beer bars. We went to the airport fairly early on Sunday so that we could hang around the in the Narita mall before flying home (and fill our bags with amazing Japanese candy).

That about wraps up the Japan trip! I might do one more post that contains our final itinerary, for anyone who is traveling there and would like to do the stuff we did. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!