Fish in Hong Kong Part. 4

As the sun rose and my Facebook wall was once again flooded with requests for gifts and other stuff from Hong Kong so I decided to spend my day walking around the markets looking for stuff to waste my money on.

To start off my day I got directions from the wonderful concierge staff at the Conrad Hotel and headed down to the subway to take it into Kowloon. After riding the trains down a few stops and getting off at the Mongkok station I made my way over to Nathan street and decided to walk south till I reached the ferry. The subway trains in Hong Kong are wonderful, they are easy to figure out and use and are much cheaper then taking a taxi. The whole ride cost me HK$6 which is less then $1 US, while the taxi will start you off at HK$18 and build from there.

As I walked down the street passing shops and stalls selling all sorts of goods, everything from jade stones to Rolex watches. I stopped in a few to look at some goods, but mainly to avoid the troublesome street peddlers trying to get you to go with them to get a tailor made suit or designer watch.  These people were so annoying they would continue to walk with you and pester you till another one would come up and try and sell you something. I did manage to pick up a nice gift for my girlfriend. Many of the smaller shops and stalls were hidden down a dark and dank ally which would open up to a catacomb of stalls selling mainly cell phones and food with a few clothing stores sprinkled here and there.

Eventually I made my way all the way down to the Star Ferry finishing my 2.2 mile long walk.  After riding the ferry back I hailed a cab and headed back to the mall beneath the hotel to grab some lunch from the Metropolitan Cafe before heading out to the bus terminal to catch a ride over to Stanley Market and continue my shopping day.

After taking a lovely and inexpensive (HK$8) bus ride I walked around the large outside  market and enjoyed the nice day out before heading back to the Bus and ending my day with dinner in the mall at an American restaurant. I fly half way around the world to eat...a blue cheese burger.

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 3

Today was convention day. Keep in mind this trip was not all fun there was some business in it as well.

During the morning I attended the Cosmoprof expo at the Convention Center. The show featured thousands of booths from retail companies to cosmetics and natural health suppliers.

After a few hours of walking around I headed back to the hotel and headed up to the Executive Lounge for Tea Time. Armed with an amazing book ("Hunger Games") and a fresh pot of tea I sat enjoying my book and the wonderful view of the Hong Kong skyline overlooking the Bay from 59 floors up.

Today was slightly uneventful but it was nice to get some relaxation because my next two days are going to be filled with travel and gift shopping.

Unfortunately my camera crapped out on me today and I was unable to take any photos :(

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 2

Full Day 1:

Wake in the amazing Hilton Conrad Hotel and go up to the Executive Business lounge for a warm breakfast or eggs, lox, fruit, and other interesting east/west foods. Oh yeah and lots of tea.

Met with representatives from OEC shipping firm for a short meeting in the morning and listen to proposals.

Headed off for Victoria Peak took a tram ride up at an almost 45 degree angle. The peak was amazing you could see right out to the bay and the mountains.

Went back to the hotel lounge for tea time, apparently during the British influence worked its was a lot farther into the culture then I realized. Almost all of the signs with English translations are written with the UK spelling/words (elevator=lifts and line=queue).

After enjoying a relaxing cup of tea and free Wi-Fi it was time for dinner at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. *Warning* This place is a massive tourist scam. They have a $10/per person cover charge plus will put town a small plate of something you did not order on the table and charge you $27 for it. They try to rope you into the expensive fancy level by not telling you that the food and style is more casual on the next deck up. The food was okay but it is defiantly a place to avoid.

That is it for today I will be posting tomorrows events sometime later on and will try to get these coming out at a regular daily time. If you would like to see photos of the places I have been feel free to check out my Picasa account which will have updated photos throughout the trip (as of right now there are no photos from the plane, still trying to get those up).

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 1

For those of you who don't know I am in Hong Kong for the rest of this week. Throughout my trip I will be taking a slight break from my usual topics to post whatever I feel like, hey its my blog and I can do that. One thing I have noticed while being here is that some of the sign translations are pretty funny. I will be posting up photos on my Picsa account.

First things first, getting here was long as hell but I have to give a lot of credit to the Delta/Northwest crew on the flight from Atlanta to Narita it was a lovely flight and they were very courteous. The plane was wonderful with the Egg Carton seats and a nice list of movies.

After arriving in Hong Kong and making it to the hotel it was nearly One in the morning and had been traveling for well over 24 hours, it was time to crash.