We had a spectacular first day in Hong Kong. Breakfast began at a dim sum restaurant called Lin Heung Tea House. The novel thing about this restaurant is how the food is served. People roll around on carts topped with food. You either flag them down or walk over in order to grab some of what they have, then they stamp your ticket. Every few minutes a new cart is coming out of the kitchen and people go over to see what food is on it. Chaotic, intimidating (we were the only Americans there), but we ended up having loads of fun.
Next we headed to Hong Kong's famous Victoria Peak, known for the best views of the city, over 1,400 feet above sea level. For less than $10 you can ride a tram up to the top and check it out. It's gorgeous, photos don't to it justice.
Next we did a lot of walking around in Hong Kong's Central neighborhood, known for shopping and such. The IFC mall has over 200 stores and is spread out among 2 buildings ... pretty stunning place with every store you can imagine. Since we couldn't afford any of them, we headed for more dim sum.
This wasn't your average dim sum, but what's commonly referred to as the world's best. Tim Ho Wan lives up to the hype. People say it's the world least expensive Michelin star restraunt. We over-ate like kings for $20. Their pork barbecue buns are one of the best things I've ever tasted.
Next up was a ferry to nearby Lantau Island, home to the Big Buddha (officially the Tian Tan Buddha). This 250-ton bronze buddha sits atop a mountain that can be seen from miles away. It was a fun site and we also enjoyed visiting the nearby monastery.
Day 2 in Hong Kong
Our second day of wandering around Hong Kong lead us to a neighborhood called Causeway Bay. They've got a Times Square and everything, it's like a taste of Manhattan in Asia. Priority one was bubble tea, which took a while but we finally found.
That evening, we headed to Kowloon (just across the river) and started with the skyline light show that they put on every night around 8pm. There's no way to capture the amazing skyline, but I did my best with the panoramic photo below.
We also got to spend a couple hours in Hong Kong's famous night market, full of stall after stall of anything from headphones to silk. We enjoyed ourselves and got a couple of knick knacks.
One last note I wanted to make is how beautiful Hong Kong's currency is. It not only looks amazing, but is incredibly practical, what I'd call user-friendly. All the bills have slightly different shapes. The coins have different sizes, outer textures and thicknesses so that even a blind person would have no trouble at all grabbing the money they need. I really appreciate the thought that went into their currency and think the US could learn a lot from how they do it.
