Hong Kong

It’s officially a new year- the Year of the Dragon! With a ticket booked for Korea at the end of January, and a flight home for three weeks this spring, 2012 should be another well-travelled, adventurous run for yours truly. The travels began with a trip to Hong Kong.

My visa needed “changed over” to working status, which is made easier by a trip to this Special Administrative Region of China.

This city is noticeably different from everywhere I have been in China. Everyone—well almost everyone—can speak English! I asked several taxi drivers for directions and they provided English answers. Besides the language, the city has a strong British influence throughout. The way people dress, their patient mannerisms in the public realm, the whole place felt a little more comfortable than the “hurry up” style of mainland China.

Here are the highlights of my short trip:

Most of my time was spent on a “hop on, hop off” tour of the city, historical sites, markets, and the nearby beaches.

Best part: taking the tram to the top of the mountain (ok, hill) for a view of the surrounding buildings nestled along the shoreline.

For dinner, I took a ferry to a different island where I met a friend (this was previously arranged) and fellow alumni from the Independence Institute intern program I completed while in college. Steve has been working in Hong Kong as an educational director for a large international schools network. We enjoyed some German food along the beach and talked politics.

That night: took time to update my blog! I’m just sorry I could not do more, but I was tired from a long day.

Best food: Hong Kong French Toast, which is cited as one of  the top 50 food of the world, according to CNN at this website I love to share: http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/eat/worlds-50-most-delicious-foods-067535?page=0,0

Strangest food or drink: Field Mouse Wine. Saw this in a traditional medicine shop. No joke, there are small, hairless field mice floating in the bottle of wine. Looks like a science experiment! I don’t know if they drink this stuff or just have it for display…

Foreign Food: Miss Field’s Cookies, Morton Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse. I had the cookies, but didn’t make it to the steak houses.

Interesting to See: Advertisements for Hong Kong Disney Land were all over the place!