HONG KONG, CHINA
That's right; I've taken a little detour from our Southeast Asian tour in order to meet up with my mom and brother for four days in Hong Kong--they've just completed a two-week tour of mainland China.
So today I took a two-hour flight from Bangkok on China Airlines (their food sucks, BTW) and met mom and Mike at the supermodern Hong Kong airport. We then took the Airport Express Train to Kowloon (the part of the city just across the harbor from Hong Kong island) and caught a free shuttle bus to the Kowloon Hotel where we'll be staying. I have to say, after seven months of cheap backpacker hostels, it's quite a welcome change to be sharing a posh suite on the 18th floor, with an amazing bird's-eye view of the city, and all sorts of perks like a free breakfast buffet, big fluffy towels, and complimentary cocktails! Ah, the high life--I could definitely get used to this....
After dinner at the hotel and some catching up, mom stayed in while Mike and I walked the block or so to the harborfront to check out the Hong Kong skyline, which might very well be the most spectacular of any city I've seen so far. Hundreds of tall high-rise buildings stair-step from the harbor up into the high hills behind the city, and at night are all lit up in different colors, many of them flashing changing patterns which reflect in the harbor. It's quite impressive.
The waterfront promenade we walked along was the "Avenue of Stars," Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood Boulevard, which features the names of famous Chinese film stars in the pavement, along with their gold stars and in some cases, handprints. There were a lot of names I didn't know, of course, but I did recognize some big names like Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, and of course Bruce Lee. There's also a cool larger-than-life bronze statue of Bruce Lee there in full badass Kung-Fu stance, which of course we had to take pictures of.
That's right; I've taken a little detour from our Southeast Asian tour in order to meet up with my mom and brother for four days in Hong Kong--they've just completed a two-week tour of mainland China.
So today I took a two-hour flight from Bangkok on China Airlines (their food sucks, BTW) and met mom and Mike at the supermodern Hong Kong airport. We then took the Airport Express Train to Kowloon (the part of the city just across the harbor from Hong Kong island) and caught a free shuttle bus to the Kowloon Hotel where we'll be staying. I have to say, after seven months of cheap backpacker hostels, it's quite a welcome change to be sharing a posh suite on the 18th floor, with an amazing bird's-eye view of the city, and all sorts of perks like a free breakfast buffet, big fluffy towels, and complimentary cocktails! Ah, the high life--I could definitely get used to this....
After dinner at the hotel and some catching up, mom stayed in while Mike and I walked the block or so to the harborfront to check out the Hong Kong skyline, which might very well be the most spectacular of any city I've seen so far. Hundreds of tall high-rise buildings stair-step from the harbor up into the high hills behind the city, and at night are all lit up in different colors, many of them flashing changing patterns which reflect in the harbor. It's quite impressive.
The waterfront promenade we walked along was the "Avenue of Stars," Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood Boulevard, which features the names of famous Chinese film stars in the pavement, along with their gold stars and in some cases, handprints. There were a lot of names I didn't know, of course, but I did recognize some big names like Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, and of course Bruce Lee. There's also a cool larger-than-life bronze statue of Bruce Lee there in full badass Kung-Fu stance, which of course we had to take pictures of.
posted by John Kuge at 11:54 PM
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