Chinese New Year Parade

The big event for Chinese New Year was the PARADE. Notice the crowd of people all making their way to the parade route. The parade is noted as being international, having floats and performances from around the world.

Since this is truly a once in a lifetime experience, we signed up for a tour (and I use the word tour lightly) that would ensure we had a spot along the parade route. It ended up being well worth it b/c we had seats in the stands (and it didn't break the bank either!).
Here we are gearing up for the big event.


Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the video to upload. I'll keep trying. Check back just in case it eventually works. The video is quite entertaining...Michael Jackson, Santa Claus, and a stop at the YMCA!

Star Ferry

We were told that taking the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor is one of the "Must Do's" in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it was rainy and cloudy. So the ride across wasn't as spectacular as we've heard it could be. But in spite of the weather, we were determined to do it anyway.

All Aboard! We're ready to cross the harbor.
We road the ferry over to the convention center. This is us along the harbor. Notice the hazy buildings in the background.

In front of the convention center is the statue of the Forever Blooming Budhha.

In case someone comes along and isn't sure of the rules for this area... you're not allowed to do any hawking (spitting) and you cannot hang your laundry out to dry on the walkway along the harbor. I guess you need to be very specific.

Another shot of the harbor

And Kung Hei Fat Choi, or Happy New Year!

A Peak Into Everyday Hong Kong

After we returned from Lantau Island, we decided to check out the escalators to Mid-Levels. Our tour guide on day 2 told us that this was the perfect peak into Hong Kong Life for just the right price (free!).

The first glimpse into the Mid-Levels.
The Mid-Levels is an apartment area located above the financial district of the city. The government built this escalator system to convince people living in the Mid-Levels to "walk" to work rather than driving to work. Although we saw many people on the escalators, our tour guide told us that the system did not provide the results the government had hoped for.

We passed by many interesting places...including a local market.

Here you can see several typical apartment buildings.

And just as the tour guide explained...you see directly into typical Hong Kong life.

bikes, plants, laundry and all

This escalator system is considered the longest escalator system in the world by The Guinness Book of World Records.

Wonder how many tourists pose on the escalator system....and how many locals want to throw them off the escalators???

Chinese Tea

When in Rome, do as the Romans right? So when in China....

After our cold hike up to the Budha, we thought we would thaw out with a nice cup of authentic Chinese tea.

Both of us are all smiles as we get ready to sip away. (Of course if I'm honest we're smiling mostly because the tea is WARM!)

Just as we get ready to take that swig of authentic Chinese tea, we see this....

So much for being in China and doing as the Chinese!

Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island

On our first free day in Hong Kong, we headed to one of the outlying islands named Lantau. It's known for the Ngon Ping 360 cable car that takes you up to the Tian Tan Buddha.

I'm not crazy about heights. I almost couldn't get off the elevator at the top of the Eiffel Tower because there was a crack that I could see through. But because I love Jason SO much....I let him talk me into riding in one of the crystal cars...."crystal" as in everything is translucent.

So, as you can see...here are out feet. Looks like the bottom of the cable car is a weird grayish green color, huh? NOPE...that's water below us (not sure if it's part of the harbor or the Pacific).

This picture makes it a little more clear....see those trees below Jason's feet? Honestly, I was ok with the ride as long as I was sitting. Standing up to take this picture, not so good though.

This spot was our first view of the "Big Buddha."

As if I didn't already know just how far from home I am!!!

At this point, we had finally made it to the bottom of the steps to the Big Buddha. Only 268 stairs to go.

About 1/2 way up, everyone stops to take a picture and catch a breath.

We made it to the top. Here is a picture of the Big Buddha up close and personal (with a zoom lens of course).

We made it to the Big Buddha (that's what most people refer to it as) just in time. We had a little bit of blue sky to start off with. Not long after we made it to the top, the clouds rolled in nice and thick. The wind picked up too. Notice my crazy hair-do.

By the time we hiked back down the trail, the Big Buddha was almost completely covered over.

Here's our ride back down to Hong Kong.

As you can see, our trip back was uneventful. The clouds were so thick that it seemed as though we were in a gray walled car. What a difference a few hours can make!

Hong Kong overview

On our second day in Hong Kong, we headed out for a short tour of the city. First stop, Victoria's Peak.

Here Jason gets ready to board our tram for a ride to the top of the city.

The ride was straight UP. As you can see, we didn't have perfect weather (extremely hazy). But the rain held off for us to get a good look over Hong Kong.
The view across Victoria Harbor Here we are standing on Hong Kong Island with Kowloon Island behind us (We stayed on Kowloon Island.).
We headed from our tram to a nearby boat to check out a local fishing village. On the way out, we sailed by the World's largest floating restaurant (above in the picuture). We wanted to eat there one night, but it turns out that the food isn't the reason to go there. Here you can see the boats of the fishing village, one way of life in Hong Kong, flanked by tall apartment buildings, the typical lifestyle of Hong Kong. How big would your apartment be if you lived in Hong Kong??? A family gets 50 square feet for each member of their family. And here I was thinking our little 1600 square foot apartment was small! The fishing village has everything you'd expect of any other village. They hang their clothes out to dry, sit on chairs on their deck, and keep an umbrella handy. And who can live without man's best friend? Of course their is no grass. Most boats have a spot set up on the back of the boat for Fido to do his/her business.

Our last stop was Stanley Market. Time to find some good deals! They sold almost anything you could imagine....fake Louis Vuitton handbags, "Pashmina" scarves, Ug (one g, not two) boots, etc... Also, notice the McDonalds sign on the awning. They're everywhere!

Here's a preview of the posts soon-to-come:

- Lantau Island (where the World's largest outdoor Budha resides)

- Chinese Tea?

- A trip on the Star Ferry

-And drum roll please.......the Chinese New Year Parade (with my first video clip!)

STAY TUNED!

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

So, we have to admit that we got REALLY spoiled when we lived in Europe. We were used to traveling somewhere to celebrate our anniversary AND traveling to celebrate my birthday (no presents...just memories). Well this year, we had to combine it all into one trip. So, for our 7 year anniversary and my 25th birthday (haha) we headed to Hong Kong.We arrived in Hong Kong mid-day Thursday, February 11th and, as usual, we hit the ground running. We were determined to take it all in while the weather held off.
Victoria Harbor right before sunset
Of course we found someone to take our picture in Victoria Harbor! Here's the way we determine just who to ask to take our pic: Find someone close by with with either a DSLR comparable to ours or a video camera. The idea being that if they have a comparable camera, they aren't going to feel the need to run off with ours. :)
Decorations for the Chinese New Year were already evident throughout Hong Kong.

As the sun started to go down, the lights on the buildings started to come on. You can't read it in this picture, but one of the buildings behind us says, "Welcome to Hong Kong."

It's fun to stay at the YMCA...even in Hong Kong. (Although we didn't stay there.)

After my great nighttime shots in Australia, I was pumped to get some more practice in Hong Kong. Somewhere along the line, my tripod broke...making it almost impossible to get good shots without blurry photos. I did manage to get a couple that are ok though.

Above and below you can see the nighly laser show at Victoria Harbor. It would have been much more magnificent if it wasn't so cloudy.

Poor Jason...he spends half his time waiting on my to set up "just the right picture"...gotta get the tripod manipulated to use even though it's broken, set the aperture and shutter, turn on the timer....

But in the end we get this....definitely worth it!

Our introduction to the city was perfect, a little humid, but it got us excited for everything else that was to come. Keep posted...