Around Hong Kong

There are a few spots around Hong Kong that are worth visiting. Or it seemed to me. One of them is Lantau Island, going up to see Tian Tan Buddha. You can go up there with buses or a fancy cable car. Some of these cars have a crystal clear ground so you can have a nice view during the trip. It’s actually not that impressive as once the novelty wears off you no longer look down, to be honest.

One of the nice views you get from using this method is Hong Kong International Airport, which is impressive. It was a shame that on the day I was going up, the weather was not so good (an indication of what was coming next) so the fog prevented me from even taking a single good picture. After half an hour approximately you arrive to the top of the mountain where you can go and visit the giant Buddha. The whole place was a bit disappointed for me as it was way too touristy and the buddha itself was not that shiny. Probably if the day had been nicer and with blue skies, it would have been better.

The other interesting (to a point) thing that I found was Ocean Park. It is like a Disney land but with aquariums and other animals from China. I passed on all the attractions as I was more interested in seeing the pandas and jellyfish than anything else. After a bus ride I arrived to Ocean Park and was able to see these animals :)

Cute, isn’t it? :)

There were two Giant Pandas and two other pandas, if I remember correctly. They were far away chewing happily away from curious eyes.

But what really impressed me was the jellyfish section. You had to take a nice ride on a cable car up the mountain where there is another section that you can visit. There they have the jellyfish and other stuff like a rollercoaster, etc.

The jellyfish was dramatic, with fantastic colours thanks to the lighting they had there, mesmerizing. Beautiful.

and the star was a sea dragon:

Which was absolutely beautiful to watch, as its moves were very graceful :)

I don’t know whether I would go again to this park, maybe if it were a bit hotter and had time for it. I was definitely more interested in watching the animals than all the other stuff, as they were more children oriented.

Now, to finish, let me go a bit back to Hong Kong island and Kowloon. This is something I found late during my trip and I think it’s worth the advise. There is a train that takes you from Kowloon to Central Station (on Hong Kong Island) that costs like $⁶⁄₈. Very convenient. But there’s a ferry that you can take that costs only $3 and takes 10 minutes. From it you can have an amazing view of both Kowloon and Hong Kong island. I forgot to talk about this on my last post.

Totally worth it.

Things that I learned here.

• I seem to need a suit.

• I also seem to need a fake rolex watch.

• Feet massage too.

• Not a lot of people speak English, or well, not as much as I was expecting given that this was a British colony.

• Dim Sum are amazing and cheap.

• Not so sure the electronic shops are that worth it.

• Hong Kong is expensive.

• Did I say I need a suit and a watch?

• Chungking Mansions is not as bad as it looks.

• I’m definitely getting a new suit. I have a watch that I like. When I get back.

Summary:

It was good fun coming here and being exposed to a mix of western and chinese culture. I would probably come again in a few years, maybe, with hotter weather so that I can really see things that I didn’t see when I was there. And more relaxed. So, in summary, yeah, I would probably come back, but no rush to come back.