Emergency Vacation Pt. 2 - Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong late in the evening, and missed our bus stop to our Chungking Mansion hotel. The city is so crazy, hectic and flashy that it's easy to be overwhelmed. When I was moving to Tokyo I wanted the Blade Runner Experience; turns out it's Hong Kong that really has that vibe.

Giant neon signs loom over every street.

The city has a completely different atmosphere during the day. The signs look totally different, and every street is also crowded with semi-dilapidated buildings.

On day one we explored some of the city's markets, including a bird market in a small park. The man behind me is out with his caged bird, and there were many people around relaxing with their pet parrots.
You could also buy many different types of birds and bird supplies, but I felt sorry for them as many were in cages that were way too small.
Next to the bird market was the flower market...

And eventually we ended up at the fish and turtle market - which also had some other pets. We spent some time rescuing turtles who had flipped over. All in all we rescued 3 turtles and a hamster.

This one is hoping for a pet fishy of his own.

Hong Kong is a city-state, so it has very little land mass. It's one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with the world's highest percentage of people relying on a metro system for transportation, and working or living on the 40th + floor. Because they have so little land, they are constantly building up, and buildings are frequently demolished and replaced with taller ones - even when they're not that old. It's one of the tallest cities in the world.
We eventually made it to the Ladies Market, which really had everything. I bought an awesome denim jacket for $35, because everything is made in China, and Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China (it's part of China and independent from it at the same time).
And more signs hanging over every alley!
Our beautiful Chungking Mansion, a massive building with cheap (and shady) accommodation consisting mainly of hostels.

The lobby is full of Indians trying to sell you something with every step you take. I'm sure it's all fake.

Our room was tiny but clean, and very institutional (I think it was the tiled walls and steel bed frames that did it).

Hong Kong's skyscrapers have some amazing illuminatons, and we took a tram up to Victoria Peak to get a view from the top. Remember this zig-zag building.

And the view from Victoria Peak. Find the zig-zag.

This is the funky look-out station from where we saw that beautiful view.

The day after Victoria Peak was a total write off for me since I got way sick and had to be delivered to a doctor. Luckily Rick was there to deal with that, and the doctor even prescribed antibiotics, so I recovered quickly and was able to get back to sightseeing the next day.

The Nan Lian Garden was great, and we had lunch in a teahouse overlooking the ponds with Chinese music playing in the background. It felt like a themed restaurant but it was the real deal.

Looking at these pictures you can't tell I was a mess of a human being the day before.

The garden also had a beautiful temple complex.

We couldn't take pictures of the shrines because they are places of worship, but they had beautiful gold statues of gods and offerings of very colorful fruit arranged in neat piles. It was very pleasant to look at, unlike the scary/morbid corpse we see hanging on a cross in so many churches.

In the background you can see the main gate to the complex...
And the reverse shot is the main shrine. You can use the lantern in the middle as a reference point.

Hong Kong is huge on shopping, with many American-style shopping malls and foodcourts filled with delicious Chinese food. It was a welcome break from Japanese food, which all eventually becomes the same. I guess this would happen with Chinese food if we stayed in Hong Kong long enough, but for the time being I was ecstatic. In these malls it was easy to feel as if I were back in Canada, but as soon as you stepped outside you were in a strange Asian world. It was an interesting contrast.

The Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple was one such place, as it was way busier and more colorful than the temple we visited earlier. It's like an American Chinatown, but bigger and authentic. It is said that every wish made in this temple comes true.

The main gate...
All the smoke is coming from incense that people are constantly burning.

There were also many intricate carvings and statues all over the temple. This guy is riding a chicken...

And this is a musician.
Our next stop was the nearby Kowloon City Garden. It is on the site of the old Kowloon Walled City, which was originally part of China (like the rest of Hong Kong) and famous for pearl production. When the British entered the picture, through a legal oversight, Kowloon slipped through the cracks and remained outside British jurisdiction. It became a densely populated, walled ghetto where the black market thrived (butchers selling dog mean, opium dens and drug manufacturing was rampant). Eventually, in the 90s, to deal with the increasing problem of crime and poverty, Kowloon was made part of Hong Kong. Residents were relocated, the city was torn down, and this park was created. Visiting the park today you would never guess its interesting and sordid history.
We had dinner at the Mido Cafe, which in the 1950s used soy sauce in some international dishes- thus creating fusion cooking (the chinese food we have all come to know and love abroad).
We sat in the restaurant overlooking the Temple Night Market.

Hong Kong has many random and intersting pieces of art. This one promotes an exclusive shopping mall we wandered through on our way to the ferry.

Hong Kong is so small, that after a short ferry and metro ride, we were in a cable car on our way to see the giant Tian Tan Buddha. It was completed in 1993 and is a major spiritual and tourist destination.

The Buddha sits on a hill overlooking a cheesy tourist town...

That includes a fake tree the Buddha supposedy prayed under.

To get to the Buddha you climb the steep flight of stairs you see in the background.

The Buddha was surrounded by statues of goddesses and stunning scenery.

Where's Anna?
The Buddha overlooked a colorful shrine, with beautifully arranged cabages in the middle.

The stone dragon carvings on the walls and pillars were extremely intricate.

A good example of the neatly arranged fruit offerings...

And giant incense...

Back in downtown Hong Kong, we walked down the Walk of Fame (many famous actors such as Bruce Lee are from Hong Kong), and took in the night cityscape one last time.

The funny thing was that our shady mansion was in the same enighborhood as some of the most exclusive shops and malls, which made for an intersting experience.

All in all Hong Kong was amazing, and despite the rushed nature of the trip, we had a blast. But after a few days we decided to go back to Japan. Things were still shaky so we didn't want to return to Tokyo just yet, but things were slowly becoming more stable so we figured we could wait out the last days in Japan. We flew to Hiroshima for Part 3 of our Emergency Vacation.