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A very good morning, Hong Kong. (photos to come soon)
We landed in Hong Kong at the totally unreasonable hour of 5am, 25 minutes early. Being from Sydney we expected that all the formalities would take up to 2 hours. Alas, we were out in 20 minutes. Drat.
Did you know that Hong Kong airport has 2 arrival halls, full of immigration counters? So if one fills up with passengers from two 747s and an A380 (you could learn from this Sydney Airport) they open the other one.
Anyway, Nuwan and I dragged our baggage to the MTR station (like the subway) and bought ourselves an Octopus card. It allows us unlimited access to the MTR for three days for a little under 50 bucks each – including the trips two and from the airport.
There’s no food or drink allowed on these trains, so they are pristine. There’s entertainment on board and it smells…..clean!
The train took us to Hong Kong station and from there it was a short bus ride to our hotel.
We were eager to get going and were not daunted by the early hour (7:30) we showered got dressed and stepped out into the heat (29 degrees). We braved the trams




Yes, it is made of tin and yes it does look like it’s about to topple. Problem one as soon as we got on we realized that we had to pay on our way out and of course it had to be exactly change. Though we’d stopped off to buy some skittles we only had 10 HK dollars and we need $4.60, so we overpaid the tram and ran. I think we both felt that in HK it is just as bad to pay more as it is to pay less.
We wandered the streets for a couple of hours before we realized that nothing in HK opened before 11. So though we were surrounded by Gucci, Prada, Burberry and Chanel all we (I use the term loosely) could do was window shop.
We gave up our quest to find dim sum (what we know as yum cha) and settled on a restaurant that was open, a rarity at 10:30. We settled on Japanese, and so it was that our first meal in Hong Kong was a Japanese one.
Hong Kong is a shopping mecca, everywhere you go all you see are shops. Not just any shops mind you, brand names are the way to go.
We caught the MTR to a place called Causeway Bay which has about 5 shopping malls in a 1km radius, the biggest being the huge department store SOGO. Kind of like Myer, it has brand-name mini stores inside the major department store. So we walked past Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Marc, Prada and even Tiffany’s.
I get why HK is such a shopping mecca, but at the end of the day it’s not for me. As someone who barely walks into a shop labeled Chanel or Prada, finding them time after time made me want to see more fashion that I might just be able to afford.
We then headed out back into the heat and searched for Times Square a beautiful shopping mall with high-end shopping stores.
The last thing we expected to find here was the Hogwarts Express….but it must have made an unexpected stop.




We also took walk down Diagon Alley… and rode a broomstick or two. All in a days work.
Poor Nuwan was exhausted after Zara so we found some Yum Cha for lunch and headed back to the hotel. The restaurant had two options, yum-cha or hot pot. We decided to go for yum-cha and had some amazing prawn wantons, BBQ pork rice noodle rolls and even mango pudding. You could actually taste the mango this time.




We took a power nap at the hotel and headed up to the 28th floor where they offer free cocktail and canapés at 7:30. We had a couple of beers and took in the beautiful view of HK Harbour. They had tempura fish, prawn spring rolls and these spicy potato balls. We pigged out a little bit before we headed out again. After all we needed energy for the journey.
Nuwan’s research told him about all the places to be wary of in HK. There are so many camera shops around that its hard to know which are good and which are dodgy. The first sign is neon lights – neon lights are bad. Another bad sign is owners willing to knock the price down by more than 30% - if it’s too good to be true it probably is. We took the famed MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui and entered the HK I’d always imagined. Now that night had fallen there were neon lights everywhere. It was street after street of glittering mayhem. There was also street after street of watch shops. In a county where owning a car is a ridiculous expense and real estate is hidden away in 100 storey towers watches are a sign of class and wealth. So it is that every time I turn a corner I meet George Clooney advertising Cartier, Rolex and Piaget….or whatever it is.
We found a place called Echo camera house and Mr Firehouse got his latest lens….you couldn’t wipe the smile off his face!

We then headed to Mong Kok which has the ladies market, and we were hoping some yummy food. The markets are a tiny narrow strip with stalls on each side and street running on either side. It’s hot and stuffy and runs for an eternity. I loved it.
Markets are my special love, I love a good bargain and have learned to never get emotionally invested in anything a market has to offer. You have to be able to walk away.
I walked out with 2 pairs of shoes, for about 30 dollars and a gaudy, blingy headband for about 5. You’ll also be happy to know that I walked away from the third pair of shoes because she refused to sell them to me for under 50 dollars.
Normally in these situations Nuwan is not very helpful. He looks scared and says to be quietly in Sinhala, “it’s okay….just get it”.
The man has learned because this time he played the perfect foil. Every time I turned to the store-woman and told her how my husband was cross because I spent all our money he looked suitably displeased and shook his head. Go team!
By the end of the day I’d lost track of how many hours I’d been up, my legs ached, my cankles were out in force but gee I love Asia!