Hong Kong

Arriving in Hong Kong immediately made us feel like we were back in the western world. Organization, decent transportation systems, cleanness and of course all the international food and shop chains.

We arrived early in the day and kind of woke up Adler, a former member of the Stockholm portuguese community. It was great meeting him again, specially because I am also going to miss his wedding later this year. We had to leave most of conversation for dinner since he had to go to work and we had to get some sleep.
Later in the day we went out for dinner in fantastic roof top Thai restaurant. The food was fantastic, not only for the food itself, but also because of the trays in which it was served: carved pieces of food like pumpkin, coconut and pineapple. Beautiful and tasty! After that we went to the bar district. Apparently there is also something to do in this city, 24h a day 7 days per week. We decided to go to some quieter places this time and leave the crowded places for another opportunity. So the perfect conditions were set for talking a lot and the night ended a bit later than we had planned!

Our plan for this part the trip was quite simple: first day rest and relax, second day visit Macau, third day shopping and resting and fourth day, sightseing, relaxing and partying!

Hong Kong is made up of a continental part and the islands (the original Hong Kong is an island with the same name). We stayed in the continental part in Hung Hom. Very close by we had the train/subway, ferry and bus that could take us to any part of the city. The skyscrapers are everywhere. It is a beautiful image and mysterious image to watch the skyscrapers covered in fog with the mountains on their background and in front of the waterfront.

The shopping day was spent in the shopping district of Chong Hom. Literally a whole neighborhood, where some streets are specialised in electronics, others in clothing... and there's also the womens market, where one can buy all sorts of imitations imaginable, from the latest models of Pumas, to the most expensive watches.

In our last day in Hong Kong we finally decided to do some sightseeing. But a small crisis of laziness made us take the tram up to Pick Hill, get a glimpse of the city from the highest point in the city and come back home to prepare for dinner. It is really beautiful the view from the Hill Top. Walking around the area is also supposed to be a good activity and relaxing but we weren't able to do it...
At night we had dinner in a small traditional chinese restaurant in the city center with Adler and Antje (his future wife). It was really nice, the food was great and we tried something new: donkey meat. After that we went out for some drinks. Me and Tiago stayed a bit longer than them and ended up the evening partying with two really nice and funny portuguese girls from Macau and their group of friends. What a coincidence meeting portuguese people in the only bar we decided to enter after we left Adler and Antje!

We didn't see much of the traditional Hong Kong. After a month and a half of sightseeing and rushing from one place to another I guess it was time to stop and relax and prepare for the first week in Thailand. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Hong Kong and will consider a future visit, maybe in a stop over to another country in the region.