From Hong Kong With Love, Part 1

I almost don't know what to say about my trip to Hong Kong. Sad, right? I think of myself as a writer, first and foremost, but what I enjoyed most about being there wasn't the specific stuff that we saw or did, but the feeling of being in a place so different from home. 

It's a great city - a hot, humid, rainy city, but one with amazing food, kind people, and a fascinating culture. We spent over a week there, and I wish we could have spent even more time exploring (and eating)!

We landed in Hong Kong at about midnight on Saturday. I'd booked us into a hostel in in Chungking Mansions, which are... not mansions. You can read a little bit about them here, if you're interested. Our room was a tiny tiled square with a combo toilet/shower, so hardly luxurious, although we did come to love our little cell. 

Sunday was our first real day to get out into the city, so we stuck to Kowloon, an area directly across the bay from Hong Kong Island. Kowloon Park was not far from where we were staying, and they had a really cool display of anime icons.

My long lost twin.

We also got to try some of the amazing (and, uh, less amazing) food, including matcha soft serve and pig intestine.

Yummy!

Yeah...

Hong Kong is definitely a good city for eating, as I might have already mentioned. Honestly, I don't think we had a bad meal the entire time we were there. I even tried chicken feet, something that I never thought that I'd eat - and what do you know, they're delicious!

Diner food.

A Sichuan style century egg.

Congee! Breakfast of champions.

Taiwanese style dim sum. The pork and truffle dumplings were aaaaaaamazing.

One of the famous Mid-Autumn Fest mooncakes. We got this one in Tai O.

One of my favorite eats of the entire trip - curried fish balls.

Brian and I didn't do a ton of touristy stuff, but we did check out a few of the tourist spots - the Hong Kong History Museum, the Po Lin Monastery and Tai O on Lantau Island, as well as a cool little Buddhist temple on Hong Kong Island.

Tian Tan - the Big Buddha at Po Lin Monastery.

Transcendent. 

The view from the Buddha was just as amazing as the view of it.

Po Lin.

The detail on the building was incredible.

In Tai O, a small fishing village on the coast of Lantau Island. It felt so sleepy compared to Hong Kong.

A small Buddhist temple on Hong Kong Island, the name of which I can't remember.

Replicas of the bun towers that they make on Cheng Chau Island for the Bun Festival.

There's much more cool stuff to talk about, but I think I need to cut myself off before this gets too overwhelming. I just want to share everything, which makes it really hard to edit. 

Part 2 to come on Monday!