My Travels: Dubai Cruise - After the Cruise (Feb 3rd

Classic Hong Kong skyline

After the middle east, I flew over to Hong Kong for a few days. The original plan was to allow some time in my trip in case I had to go up to Guangzhou to present a project my company was working on. It didn't turn out that way so I guess I had a chance to experience Chinese New Year in Hong Kong for the first time.

Care bear celebrating Chinese New Year

The Big Buddha at the top of Lantau

Karen, Kirsten, and me at Lantau Island

I spent a lot of time with my dear friend Karen who I've actually known since high school. It was great catching up with her and she showed us around to some "tourists" sights of Hong Kong like Lantau Island and Stanley. This actually made my Hong Kong visit more enjoyable. To be honest, I usually find that Hong Kong doesn't have much for me, probably because I prefer more cultural attractions. Hong Kong, the way I know it, is pretty much shopping, walking, and eating. But this time, I had a lot of fun seeing other aspects of Hong Kong.

Heading up to the Big Buddha

Getting closer...

... just 300 more steps.

On our way down. What does the red sign say again?

Celebratory ice cream for surviving the big trek.

Apparently her own ice cream was not enough.

Picture with the gambler

The view we got riding the cable car down.

Since it was Chinese New Year, we attended the traditional chinese "flower" market. This is when vendors sets up stalls selling products, usually specific for the new year like flowers and traditional foods. We went there but had to migrate with the sea of people that it was next to impossible to get to the edge where the merchant stalls were. It felt like the we were in the middle of a massive cattle herd and we had no choice but to go where the herd was going. It wasn't long before we gave up and left, but not before we took some pictures to show the classic Hong Kong bamboo scaffolding canopy.

We're in this cattle herd somewhere.

Kirsten doesn't take long to tire out

So dad and mom had to pitch in to help

In comparison to the many other times I've been here, Hong Kong is a lot busier. Every time I've been on their subway system, it has been packed with people. I remember my first night here, I was going home at about 11:00pm on a Monday night and the subway was still packed like sardines cans. I just didn't understand it. Talking to some friends, they suspect its the chinese new year traffic. Also, in the recent years since China have taken back Hong Kong, there have been a lot more mainland chinese going to Hong Kong because it's so much easier to get the visa now. Because of the many cases of imitation products causing harm in the mainland chinese market, people are regularly going to Hong Kong to buy goods because they know that they are real. I've heard that the Hong Kong stores are always running out of baby milk powder because the chinese come over the border to buy them up by the cases. While I was in Kowloon, I also noticed that people were lining up in front of the luxury brand name stores to buy products. I guess the mainland chinese impact did not just affect Vancouver alone.