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Hong Kong Trip, Part 2
On with more photos and updates. These are sort of in chronological order, but it doesn't really matter since we had loose plans for our trip and just did whatever we pleased each day.

I'll start off with a photo I can't show just now. There's a religious group in China--we'll call them FG for short--that I assume is not wise to talk about for fear of legal punishment. While we were in Hong Kong, I was surprised to see some large signs about the persecution of FG. The torture pictures that came with these signs were pretty grim in content, though quite a lot of them were "photoshopped" to appear more grim. It just goes to show how much freedom HK still has from the mainland, at least in terms of expression.


We turned at a random side street to check out the stall vendors. It reminded me of Nanjing a little, and I realized that I hadn't seen many makeshift stall vendors in Beijing. I mean, they have stall vendors there, but they sold their wares inside a mall-type of area. I probably just haven't been to those outdoor vendors in Beijing. Anyway, here's Dan buying a magnet as a souvenir, even though it really looks like he's buying jewelry.


This was the inside of their subway system. But it wasn't just a subway; it was public space with public art. I hadn't taken any photos of the artwork inside the station (and I regret that very much). And it's not just art, but shops as well: 7-11's, Giordano (a brand name I was unfamiliar with until I came here, similar to Gap), Mrs. Field's Cookies (which had western prices listed for their goods), and other clothing, book, and souvenir shops.


The outside of this subway station revealed the busy colors and lights of an advertisement central. It was exciting to walk into, day or night.


Through the tram, we made our way up to The Peak (Victoria Peak?) on the Island. The top of the Peak had a whole 'nother shopping center and slew of restaurants. Views from the Peak were nothing short of amazing.


And we had arrived at the top just shortly before sunset.


HK's got two major theme parks, one of which is Disneyland. Even though we were a bit curious, we weren't that interested in Disneyland mostly because it was HK$300 to go in (about US$40, which is still cheaper than Disneyland in Anaheim), and besides, as LA natives, Dan and I have already been to Disneyland. We went to Ocean Park instead, which was half the price. I'm sad to report that it didn't live up to its hype. It might have been a lot more enjoyable if it wasn't so crowded, and it elicited a brief discussion on theme park sales caps. The dolphin show was great, but not worth the HK$180 we paid for it.



McD's is not cheap in Asia, but in HK, it was cheaper than a lot of places to eat. I decided to try a Hong Kong McD's specialty: the Chicken Fantastic. For those of you who haven't learned Chinese, "fan" is "rice." Instead of bread buns, the Chicken Fantastic's got cooked rice cakes. I bought it thinking that the rice "bun" would be crunchy, but it was just... cooked rice. It was a little strange.


Shortly after our McD's dinner, we came across some street food stalls. It was way too expensive for us to try, but I regret not having tried any seafood while I was there. Everything was fresh, and some of the dishes you see in this photo were still writhing furiously at the time I took the picture.


The next day, we headed to the beach on a double-decker bus. HK had been controlled by the British for some time, so there was plenty of evidence from it: the cars drive on the left side of the road, the wording of certain signs ("Mind the doors" instead of "Watch the doors"), and of course, the double-decker buses. Aesthetically, the green bar in this picture is annoying, but I wanted to remind myself that I took this atop the bus.


We arrived at the beach. I forgot my bikini at the hostel, so I was pretty bummed about that and ended up tanning in all the wrong places, the parts of me that were already dark. The day was perfect for the beach: hot and humid, but with warm breezes and water that was at the perfect temperature. And you just don't get many island views from a beach in Los Angeles. :)

That's it for today! We're almost done! :) If you'd like to see more photos, you can check out my Kodak gallery, which includes HK and Huangshan photos I didn't care to upload to my LJ gallery.