Hong Kong: The city that never sleeps.

    So, a lot of the people we talk to tell us that Hong Kong is the city that never sleeps-- the city that's constantly moving, constantly going.  Well, it's totally true, and when Darren and I got here we hit the ground running... at least until nine or ten at night, and then we were wiped.  So, sorry for the delay, but in true Hong Kong style we have been keeping ourselves busy; not to mention, that our inner clocks are still a little confused and so there isn't much time or energy for me to write in the evenings (Darren is actually passed out face first on the couch right now despite the fact that he says he's already adjusted... it's only noon).
   
DAY 1

    Courtesy of our wonderful hosts, Tom and Rosemary, the night we got into Hong Kong we already had a full itinerary for the following morning.  Bright and early (since we were both up at the crack of dawn), we headed out on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) for Diamond Hill, to visit the Chi Lin nunnery, and the Nan Lian Gardens.  The Chi Lin nunnery was absolutely beautiful.  The architecture is based on the old Tang dynasty style apparently, and it's the largest wooden building in the world built without the use of nails.

Despite being in such a busy city, the nunnery was quite peaceful.  In each direction (North, East, West, South) there is a different shrine with a different god/goddess of Buddhist belief.  You're not allowed to take pictures of the shrines so I'm sorry I have none to show you.  I do have some photos of some of the amazing detailing though:

      

The nunnery is also home to a "Lotus Rock Garden" which was pretty cool:

    From the nunnery we went one station over to Wong Tai Sin, and went to the Wong Tai Sin temple to have our fortunes read.  Basically, this consists of shaking a can of sticks while praying for something (money, work, family, love etc) and then purchasing the fortune that corressponds with your number; then, if you're a foreigner like us, paying someoe to translate the fortune for you.  The extent of the fortune was basically, you're going to have a good year, or a bad year.  Yes, very detailed.

This temple was a short visit-- a tick of the tourist checklist.  From here we went to Mong Kok to the "Ladies Market" which was terrific, but I'm afraid I wasn't able to take any picture of it.  It was pissing rain and we soaked.  I discovered that I'm terrible at bargaining.  Although I'm aware it's the custom, I just feel like I'm taking advantage of them, or lowballing them... I know they're inflating the cost by at least 200% but I can't help but feel guilty.  I tried my hand and ended up paying way more than I should've.  Especially since a few days later I saw the same shirt priced for only $5 HK more than what I bargained the other for.  Oh well...

    From the Ladies Market we headed to Kowloon, walked through the area to the Star Ferry and then over to Central.  (btw- for those who aren't aware, Hong Kong is split up into several "districts".)  We meant to do somemore sightseeing around Central, but we were pretty exhausted.  Not to mention, we got stuck in some sort of torrential downpour and were absolutely drenched.  We just wanted to go back to Tom and Rosemary's, have a warm cup of tea and relax.  So we did... but just so we could do it all the next morning.

DAY 2

    So before we left Vancouver, we checked the Hong Kong weather report, and we were expecting an entire week of rain and thunderstorms.  Even the night we got there, Tom had checked his iPhone and the forecast was not pretty.  Saturday however, was beautiful.

   

    We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and headed out to Lantau Island to go see the "Giant Buddha".  The MTR took us just over an hour to get to the island from HK island, but it was well worth it.  We basically stepped out of the MTR station into bright sunlight, and walked three minutes or so to the cable car which would take us through the mountains and to Ngong Ping to see the Giant Buddha.  The views were breath-taking and we really lucked out with the weather.  Normally it's hard to see anything through the smog, but it s quite a clear day.

We walked through the village to the Buddha, and needless to say, I have about a million pictures of it; but, it's so cool... and massive.  The entire thing is made out of bronze... oh, and if you can't tell from this picture, I'll show you in the next... but you have to climb over 200 steps to get to this thing.

This lady, started at the bottom, and prayed her way up.  She would crawl up a few steps, pray, crawl up a few more, pray some more... We went up to the top, went inside, walked around, took tons of pictures, and she was barely on the second flight when we came down.  It was so hot that day too... that's dedication and faith for ya.

    Our next stop was the monastery for lunch.  Ruth told us that if we got the chance we had to try one of the vegetarian meals cooked at the monastery, and it was delicious.... and also way more food than either of us could handle, despite the appetite we worked up climbing up and down all the steps.

    After Ngong Ping, we went home and meant to take a half hour nap... but somehow ended up taking a two hour nap.  I have no idea how that happened.  Nonetheless, we woke up, and went to the Temple Street night market.  It was pretty crazy.  You can seriously find anything there... and I mean ANYTHING!  Seriously... fortune tellers-sure, clothes- plenty, purses- of course, "antiques"- yup, sex toys- why not!  Ya... that was strange to stumble upon.  There's also a ton of street food places on Temple Street as well.  We kinda missed the boat on that one... We were randomly looking around for a place to eat, and some old man starts gesturing us to the curb of his restaurant where there are a few plactic tables and chair set up, and the entire menu basically plastered in picture form on the side of the building.  We were tired and hungry, and the old man was persistent so we gave in.  Oh, and for napkins, there was a role of toilet paper on the table (apparently this is normal).  We just pointed to the large picture of beer and sat and watched, ate some noodles, and were on our way.  Two blocks later, maybe less, we come across this gap between all the tents and nock-offs to a block of street food.  Both sides of the street, the entire middle of the street, is one large street food market with tons of plastic tables and chairs, and locals and tourists alike slurrping noodles and drinking beer.  When we're back, we're going there.

DAY 3

   Day 3 was a Hong Kong public holiday, another gorgeous day, and Rosemary and Tom's weekend, so we all went to Stanley together.  Once there, Tom and Rosemary took Ryan to go play, and Darren and I wondered through the market.  Stanley is where all the rich people live, and there are a lot of foreigners in the area... consequently, the vendors at the market aren't as concerned about your purchase, because they know someone with money who doesn't care about bargaining will walk by shortly... so although I tried my hand, I once again failed.  It was an experience though, and the markets are always exciting.

    From Stanley, we headed to Repulse Bay (where my mom used to work).  It was beautiful.  The only beach I've really seen so far in HK (since most of it is paved conrete and sky scrapers).

   After relaxing at Repulse Bay, we took a taxi to the Victoria Peak, which is basically just the peak of a mountain that gives you a really cool view of HK.  Otherwise, all that's really up there is a mall.... like everywhere else in HK.  There are malls everywhere (including underneath Tom and Rosemary's apartment complex).

    After the Peak, we went down to Wan Chai to meet Tom and Rosemary for dinner; except, that we had about an hour or so to kill, so we wandered.  We wandered right into a basketball court.  We sat and watched, and soon, Darren was standing.  You could just see him getting anxious to play, literally.  He started taking off his pack, his money belt, his watch and walking from the bleachers, onto the court in his sandals.  Apparently the guys he was watching weren't fantastic so he thought he could match their level, even in his sandals.  It was a rough start for sure.  But he warmed up, stopped hitting the ball off the corner of the backboard and started making lay-ups.  It wasn't that long that he played, but we were late to meet Tom and Rosemary, and he was sweating like a dog.  He had fun though and he figured out what he was going to do during the day while I was at school with Laura.

    We met Tom and Rosemary (and Ryan), and headed to a place called "Restaurant Under the Bridge"-- the bridge being more of an overpass.  It was so good!  Delicious!  We had fired squid, some tofu called yellow bricks or something (they tasted like toasted marshmallows-- crispy on the outside and so soft inside), some bok choy, and the beat part... fried crab with chili.  It was so good... and on everything, especially the crab, they put fried garlic, which we spooned into bowls of congee (I think the congee was actually my favourite... so assorted meat Tanya).  It was all so delicious... but all that food makes you very sleepy!  Tom and Rosemary kept encouraging us to go out and experience the Hong Kong nightlife, and Darren and I were always in bed by ten thirty!  So old, and so pathetic isn't it!?

DAYS 4 & 5  (I know this is so long.  I guess I shouldn't have waited 5 days!)

    On Sunday, we basically did nothing.  We went to dim sum with Rosemary, then Darren went and laid by the pool while I went and got my nails done.  We watched a movie, and then had a bbq downstairs.  That was fun, and interesting.  It's always a little confusing trying to execute a western style bbq in China.

    On Monday, I spent the day with Laura at her school, and Darren went and played basketball.  It was a good, and busy day.  Chinese students are very similar to Canadian students.  All the same personalities and attitudes really... but Chinese students seem to be slightly more disciplined and they start going to school at the age of 3!  They learn two to three languages at a time... and well, they're more disciplined!  It was a fairly uneventful day.  We spend last night here at Laura's house, had dinner with her and walked around her neighborhood.  Next stop... Hangzhou.  I will try to update you more frequently to avoid these massive posts.  Sorry and hope everyone is well!