Fire dragon dance

If Hong Kong ranks as the world’s fourth most densely populated territory, I can’t imagine what the first is like. This place is overwhelming. Your neck quickly starts to hurt as you gaze up on the massive apartments.

dsc_5462
How many people do you think live here?

Victoria Peak is the famous viewing area of the city. There are 2 ways to get there. The first is by train.

dsc_5497
Cheaters on their way to Victoria Peak

But, the real American tourists hike up! It’s about an hour up in the blazing humid heat and because we just aren’t any American tourists, we did it with our packs on in preparation for our trek to Everest Base Camp.

dsc_5509
The hike to Victoria Peak is very beautiful…and empty
dsc_5537
The reward is the view from Victoria Peak

On the way down we thought we’d catch a ride on the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. Though, when we got there we realized the escalator only goes one way and it was going the wrong way for us…yay, more hiking!

dsc_5561
The Central–Mid-Levels escalator

We timed Hong Kong just right and were able to participate in the Hong Kong Mid-Autumn festival. This is a main Chinese holiday equivalent to the American Thanksgiving. The pinnacle of the celebration is a late night fire dragon dance!

No trip to Hong Kong is complete without watching A Symphony of Lights. This is the world’s largest permanent light and sound show. It’s 15-minutes long and the buildings across the bay light up with lasers while orchestrated to music.

a_symphony_of_lights
A Symphony of Lights

The highlight of HK, according to Isabelle, were the egg waffles. Imagine a sweet waffle cone flavor combined with the soft yet toasty crunch of a waffle. Sweet dreams are made of egg waffles…

egg_waffles
Isabelle can’t stop dreaming about the egg waffles

Chungking Mansions –

Oh, did we mention the guest house! We picked a seemingly nice guest house on Booking.com. The reviews were good and the pictures nice. What we didn’t realize is that this person has a guest house in the biggest ghetto in Hong Kong, Chungking Mansions. It was a “colorful” experience. Booking.com eventually provided a refund after some unnecessary debate.

One Comment Add yours

  1. Chunking Mansions seems to be the new Kowloon Walled City? Glad you escaped…without dentistry!

    Like

Leave a comment