Hey kids, do you like looking at other people's vacation photos? I know there's nothing in the world more thrilling than that! Despite my personal aversion to 30 degree humid weather and grueling 10 mile walks, I managed to have a real blast on this trip. It was a pleasant shock to my system to suddenly find myself in a country where everyone speaks English, is pushy and likes to eat good tasting food. I accomplished all my shopping goals, though I was somewhat disappointed in the quality/quantity of bootleg goods available. Either Hong Kong's rep as a haven of less than legal merchandise has always been over hyped, or they've been trying to clean up their act in the last few years. That being said, there were plenty of ivory goods and python skin musical instruments to be had for those who like that kind of thing. Surprisingly there were also still lots of shops selling new VCD movies for about 2 bucks each. Of course since broadband and P2P came along that's still 2 bucks more than I'm willing to spend on movies of questionable quality and legality. Anyway, I'll let the photos tell the rest of the tale. So here's part 1 of my vacation with the beautiful Kate to sexy Hong Kong...

Follow up:

After a Hellish overnight bus ride from Hirosaki to Tokyo we had a really nice flight on a beautiful new Dragon Air A330 airplane.



First stop upon reaching Hong Kong? McDonald's of course! I was surprised by how similar the quality of food and service at McDonald's in Hong Kong was to McDonald's back home in Canada, as opposed to here in Japan. I soon came to learn that just about everything in Hong Kong reminded me a lot more of Toronto or New York than Tokyo or Aomori. The most unique thing Hong Kong had to it was a somewhat unpleasant smell. It was a smell unlike anything I had ever previously encountered and it permeated every bus, hotel, store, restaurant, Big Mac and glass of water in the city.




One clear indication of the vast superiority of English speaking ability of Hong Kong residents over people in Tokyo is how many different versions of Scrabble you can buy. I have yet to see a single Scrabble game for sale in Japan, but Hong Kong had 8 different versions including Disney Scrabble and Pocket Scrabble.



As we waited for the ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong island a kindly English chap offered to take a picture of Kate and I. That's not a fur hat on my head by the way. That's my big afro blowing in the breeze.




The ferry. The bay between Kowloon and Hong Kong was incredibly busy, but I didn't see one single 'junk' boat despite their presence in all the marketing materials.



If you've ever seen a Hong Kong kung fu movie then you probably already know that builders here use bamboo as scaffolding rather than aluminum.




Weee!



In the middle of Hong Kong is a free zoo with lots of monkeys and tropical birds. This bird was a real jerk and kept attacking the other birds in its cage.




Hong Kong is home to many of the world's tallest skyscrapers. Here's two of the more interesting looking ones.



Kate strikes a pose in front of the Bank of China's cool criss-cross looking tower.




Taking in some fine Vietnamese cuisine next to the so-called world'd longest escalator.



I decided to pass on the seal penis and snake wine.




In addition to the many markets selling crappy T-shirts, sunglasses and useless junk, Hong Kong also has a cool pet fish market, a flower market and this tropical bird market.



Ever wonder where all those poached elephants you hear about on Discovery Channel wind up?




This warning sign didn't seem to do much to stop any of the activities it mentions.



Jackie Chan, king of Hong Kong.




Kate and I marvel at the beauty of it all.



Kate sips back some Starbucks on one of Hong Kong's high-tech subway trains.




Shot from atop a Londonesque double decker bus downtown somewhere while on our way to Ocean Park. More on Ocean Park tomorrow. Stay tuned!