FRIENDS of FRIENDS

Day 7- Hong Kong

October 6^th, 2011

Another great day here in Hong Kong.  Woke up at 3am (thanks, jetlag!) and got lots of picture posting, blogging, and hotel-room workouts in.  Spent the day with friends of friends (thanks, Moody girls and Hatches!) and had a blast. 

First, I met up with Americans Julia and Brandon.  He’s a pilot for Cathay Pacific and they’ve been here for 4 years.  They could not have been better tour guides for the day.  They took me to lunch in their neighborhood (Central area-charming and cute, lots of good eats) which was an authentic Vietnamese place.  You know it’s good when you have to line up outside the door and get a ticket just to get in.  It reminded me of the soup nazi from Seinfeld—and it was worth it! Got a grilled shrimp vermicelli (rice noodle) and lime drink that was like a virgin mojito.

After lunch, we took the world’s longest escalator (I think it was .5 miles) up to their apartment (VERY nice) and then hiked up to see Victoria’s Peak to see views of the city.  Julia is 5 months pregnant and a real trooper as it was not an easy hike!  I was shocked to find 2 shopping malls on top of the peak…the Chinese love their shopping malls!

At the bottom, we parted ways and I walked around Hong Kong Park (accessed through a mall, of course—as with everything in HK), a beautiful park right downtown. I saw the museum of teaware (learned some cool tea traditions), a mini Olympic stadium, lots of brides and groom photo sessions, used free wifi, and saw a bird aviary with birds endangered from Malaysian rain forest deforestation.

On my way back home, I stumbled upon a street market and got some nice $1.50 earring souvenir for myself.  For dinner, I met up with another set of friends of friends (a Brit and American) who just moved here to teach at an international school with their 3 teenage children. They, as well, could not have been sweeter and treated me to an Indonesian dinner.  Then, we walked over to the harbor to view the night light show and I treated to a green swirl ice cream treat (I think it was green tea. It was good whatever it was).  We parted with plans to visit their waterfront village and take them up on their offer to use their kayaks/bikes/hiking trails next time I’m in town.

Another great day in HK and VERY grateful for all the friend loving!

: ) Dani