Pictures of Hong Kong

Here is the link to some pictures from the first few weeks in Hong Kong. The majority of the 90 pictures in the slideshow are of Hong Kong's skyline, with a few others of local beaches, the zoo, and Tom's law school. Enjoy!


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Everything's Better in Hong Kong

Sorry to anyone still reading our blog about the delay since our last post. The last few weeks have been pretty busy as we attempt to set up a temporary life here in Hong Kong.

Things are going really well, on the whole. After a day or two of searching, we found a studio apartment through a serviced apartment agency called, "studio studio" I kid you not, our entire apartment is a spacious 280 square feet, but perfectly nice. Having one small sink serve as the bathroom sink and kitchen sink takes some getting used to, but we are pretty happy with the location.

We are located right in the center of a neighborhood called "Causeway Bay" which has the best shopping in Hong Kong. One block outside our apartment is the giant center called "Times Square" because it is so similar to the Times Square of New York. It can be a little loud at night to be in the center of downtown, but it's also pretty amazing to walk out the front door and immediately enter into the sea of Hong Kong life. Within two square blocks there are at least three Starbucks, two McDonalds, a California Pizza Kitchen, a Pizza Hut (more on that later), Krispy Kreme, and dozens and dozens of restaurants and stores. I wish I had the budget for shopping, it's too tempting to walk past Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood, MaxMara, and Louis Vuitton on the way to the subway every day!

Speaking of the subway, public transportation is one of the aspects of life in Hong Kong that most amazes us. Their underground system is called the MTR and it is the most efficient, clean, well-designed, futuristic mode of transportation I have ever seen. It makes Metro, the NY Subway, the Boston T, and the Chicago L look like old relics from the Industrial Revolution. The MTR trains run every two minutes on every line, there are entrances located everywhere to ensure there is no clogging of particular entrances and, for lack of a better word, everything just looks cool.

Your fare is paid with an "Octopus Card" you tap on your way through, much like a SmartTrip card in D.C. The only difference being that your Octopus card can also be used at almost any convenience store (7-11, Starbucks etc.) as well as all public buses, ferries, funiculars, cable cars, etc. One hardly needs cash because the Octopus card is the quick ticket to anything you need around the city.

In reference to the title of today's post, we have begun to realize that nearly everything is just a little better in Hong Kong. By "better" I mean more efficient, cleaner, safer, and more thoughtfully designed.

For example, there is virtually no crime. Despite the downtown feel of Manhattan, I would walk alone in the middle of the night anywhere, including dark alleys and parks.

Additionally, I can walk absolutely anywhere in the city, because there are underground walkways or above-ground overpasses to help pedestrians cross any major street in the city, including highways. Every street in the city has been carefully designed to leave a safe space for buses, trams, and foot traffic. As a result, 7 million people can all get around a massive city quickly and easily, no matter the time of day.

Tired of the hectic nature of the city? Head to the beach!! It stays warm enough to lay out until November and there are dozens of beaches within fifteen minutes of downtown. Hop in a cab from where we live and for about $10 you can go to a gorgeous beach that makes you feel like you're a hundred miles from civilization. Feel like hiking? Take a twenty minute ferry to any of the outlying islands and spend the day on trails through scenic hills. I've never known a place to have such a range of geography in such a concentrated area.

The place that truly amazed Tom and I most is Pizza Hut. Yes, we recognize that may make us sound pathetic, but it is truly a sight to behold. We went one night hoping to get cheap and familiar take-out. What we found was a twenty minute wait for a fine-dining experience. The interior of the Pizza Hut was nicer than Bertucci's and the service significantly better than one might find at Legal Sea Foods. In addition to the usual deep dish pizza, included on the menu were such items as Lobster rolls, fois gras, and cocktails. (Pictured right: Our friend Natasha from Tom's law school eating at Pizza Hut with us)

When even the Pizza Huts are nicer, I think we have something to worry about.

Adventures with Roy in Malaka

After a few days in Kuala Lumpur, a very average cosmopolitan city with lots of convenience and not much charm, we were excited to travel to the smaller historical town of Malaka (Malacca) further South on the Malaysian peninsula.

After a refreshingly easy bus ride from KL (departed on time, functioning a/c, arrived at the destination we were promised-- outstanding in our book!) We met an extraordinarily nice traveler from Shanghai, named Roy. Roy was amazingly patient with us upon arrival in the town as we wandered around the streets for over an hour lost and unable to decipher Lonely Planet's map. After politely allowing us to flounder, Roy quietly used his knowledge of Mandarin to ask directions from some local Chinese Malaysians. Sweaty, exhausted, and ready to collapse we finally spotted the 'Eastern Guest House' we booked online the day before on a side street in the Chinatown neighborhood. It was only when we reached our guest house that we realized that Roy knew where his own hotel was all along, he was only walking around with us to help us.

When the proprietor of the establishment walked us up to our room, I struggled not to cry. The room was nothing more than a mattress in the middle of a filthy floor. Dirty, chipped paint, various bacterial life-forms growing in the ceiling, no a/c, a shared bathroom down the hall (equally nauseating) and, I kid you not, the words "BEWARE BED BUGS" carved crudely into the wall, presumably by a former tenant.

It took all of two minutes to realize that this was $10 we would just have to eat. We decided to use the room as a storage facility for our backpacks as we set out on foot to find more hospitable conditions. When we walked out front we were disappointed to find that Roy was gone (after waiting five or ten minutes for us, according to the proprietor) and we had no contact information for him.

Thankfully, after inquiring at two hotels which were fully booked for the night, we found the Orkid hotel. Never have I been so relieved to see a Holiday Inn style hotel room. To us, it was paradise.



That night we walked around the crazy "Jonker Walk" in Malaka, filled with bars, restaurants, street vendors, and comically, five or six venues in which old Malaysian men had gathered to listen to one another sing karaoke.



The next morning we were delighted to run into Roy in the center of town. The rest of the afternoon with Roy was one of the nicest experiences Tom or I have ever had. Roy took us both out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant he had discovered the night before. The food was all new to me, but definitely a cool experience to try with our own Chinese culinary guide.










































I'll admit, I was excited when he ordered each of us one of these for dessert:
























But it turns out that when that melts, it looks like this:

















I try to be open-minded, but it's hard to get on board with a dessert containing vegetables and legumes. I certainly appreciated the sentiment, however, and I ate as much as I could manage with a smile.

After lunch, Roy suggested we go for tea. We were hopeful this would give us an opportunity to pay him back for his generous lunch, but again he insisted that we were his guests. In his words, "If we were in the United States, you could pay for coffee."

I am so thankful to him for showing us this tea house. Hidden on a side street we would never have found, unmentioned in the Lonely Planet, Roy took us to an elegant 400 year old authentic Chinese tea house. Over the next hour, the owner of the tea house provided samples of some of his best teas for us and talked to us about the tradition behind tea in China.



After tea we were scheduled to go on a river cruise and Roy needed to return to the bus station to head to Georgetown, Malaysia (yes, Gtown girls, there is a Georgetown in Malaysia). We are hopeful that this is not the end of our adventures with Roy and we will be able to meet up with him later this Fall when we make it to Shanghai.