A few days in Hong Kong

Since I had an early flight from Hamilton Island I had to get up really early when I left Lindeman Island. I had to leave before the first boat came into the island, so I walked up to the little airstrip on the island and took a 15 minute flight on a little airplane to Hamilton Island. From there I flew to Cairn. Our flight out of Cairn was delayed about two hours due to a mechanical problem, but we were only an hour late when I arrived in Hong Kong that evening. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do the next day, but a whole day traveling was very tiring, so I ended up going right to bed after I unpacked.


A view of Hong Kong harbor from my hotel room


Another view of Hong Kong harbor from my hotel room

After waking up the next day I decided to spend the day shopping, so after breakfast I logged onto the internet to get some info about shopping in Hong Kong and found this handy little article called A complete guide to Hong Kong shopping! Hong Kong has a really nice subway system and after checking out the guide and a map I decided to head over to Tsim Sha Tsui, which was only one subway stop from the hotel. I spent pretty much all day shopping in this area. I bought some nice sweaters and some black designer jeans. I was also looking for shoes, a new watch, and some sunglasses; but couldn't decide which I wanted. I even stopped by a few tailor shops, but decided I had enough suits already.


Queensway Street

While wondering around looking for sunglasses I visited a little shop off of a side street and they didn't have the glasses I was looking for either, but the guy there said if I could wait a day he would make them for me. Cool! We sat down and I picked the lenses and frames I wanted. The lenses are a dark grey, and the frames were black wire flex frames with a slight tint of blue. The shape of the lens are perfectly round, and the guy working at the store said sunglasses like them had not been in style in ages but that's what I wanted. The reading glasses in this style are popular, and he said they use to call them John Lennon glasses, but now they're called Harry Potter glasses.


Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui


The Pacific Club near Harbour City


A huge German cruise ship filled with shoppers


Star Ferry dock at dusk

After shopping all day I found myself a nice little restaurant called Dan Ryan's of Chicago and decided to have a steak. I had the striploin, which is a sirloin strip steak (I think). It was great, especially with a big glass of merlot. After getting back to the hotel I went to visit the wine bar they had there and tried a few different wines. They had a band from the Philippines playing some rather laid back music, so it was a nice relaxing evening.


Q88 wine bar in JW Marriot hotel (the guy isn't sleeping... Just reading his phone)

So I was sitting there with Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang and we were talking about Hong Kong and mainland China, and then... then... I woke up. Drats... Just a dream, but I was ready to head back out shopping and find as many beautiful rich stylish Chinese women, err... find as many good shopping deals as I could! This is so much fun!

Second day of shopping in Hong Kong and I decided to go to Pacific Plaza, which has an entrance right under my hotel. I ended up buying some real nice gloves and a suede shirt/jacket. I then went back to the glasses store and picked up my new sunglasses that I had ordered the day before. It took me awhile to find the place. They were perfect!

I still couldn't decide on a watch or shoes. I found a really nice Armani jacket that I liked, but they did not have it in my size. I found one place that had great deals on leather jackets, but I have too many leather jackets as it is, so I didn't get any. I did end up picking up some books in English for some friends back in ChengDu.


Hong Kong in the evening

I really like Hong Kong. I would love to live there, but I would have to learn Cantonese which is probably harder to learn than Mandarin. At first it even felt a little strange being in a Chinese city that I didn't feel so foreign in. No people gawking at us foreigners, civilized driving, clean streets, people not spitting or urinating in public, quality service and quality products, well mannered citizens, beautiful rich stylish Chinese women, etc... Everything that I hope that mainland China will one day evolve into. They even have a Morton's of Chicago!

My last day in Hong Kong and there were a few things that I wanted to buy that I couldn't find, but luckily the airport in Hong Kong is like a big shopping center too! I found a nice watch, some good Japanese cigarettes, some Armani cologne, as well as some perfume as a gift for someone back in ChengDu. I didn't get to check out the shoes since my plane was boarding. A nice short three and half hour flight, and I was back in ChengDu.

After I got home I chatted with some friends to let them know I was back, and also started on the huge pile of laundry I had brought back with me. I was very much in need of some Sichuan food, and I was lucky enough to have Reese join me for dinner that night and we went to a hotpot place near my apartment. I had just spent two weeks without spicy food, so it was wonderful!

So I ate too much (especially sweets), had too much wine, got too much sun, spent too much money, but it was a wonderful vacation and now I'm glad that I am home in ChengDu. Just another month until Spring Festival!