I got home late last night from a crazy 36 hours in Hong Kong. the short story: I had to go to apply for a new visa, and tried to make the most of it.
the long story: I woke up at 4am to hop a plane, didn't have the right documents to get a full residency visa and will have to apply from within Taiwan, used up 90% of my sim card data in the first 4 hours of my trip, and realized that it's nearly impossible for google maps to pinpoint your location anywhere in Hong Kong. but I managed to see a lot and eat a lot [and sweat a lot] during my brief stay in this crazy city.
my brain has been turned to mush, so here are some iPhone photos [most that you didn't see on instagram] and a few random thoughts about my travels...
Hong Kong is definitely Asia, but it has a very European feel to me... cobblestones and stairway alleys. [I ended up in a discussion about this with a random guy who approached me in a coffee shop where I was trying to utilize my free 30 minutes of wifi.] Taiwan is a westernized country, but it feels like more of an American-influenced culture. Hong Kong is obviously more British.
one thing I was looking forward to on this trip was to eat some decent Mexican food. I was very nearly foiled by google maps, and spent a half hour wandering around near this place but not quite finding it. thankfully I remembered reading reviews for Brickhouse on TripAdvisor that mentioned going into a dark alley behind a stall where an old guy sold fake bags. I though they were exaggerating. NOPE. but the pork belly taco was worth all the trouble.
the subway system in Hong Kong is phenomenal. I was able to use my octopus card to get everywhere on the MTR. no cabs needed. [though due to the specific time frames for applying for/picking up my visa, I did a lot of backtracking] I visited a few places I had seen on my first visit to Hong Kong, but also got out and explored some new areas.
and of course I took a ton of photos, and you can expect a series of Hong Kong posts in the coming weeks...
somehow, this photo is my favorite of those off my iPhone. I think it really just sums up Hong Kong. it's a crosswalk on a one way road, and they're telling you, in English and Chinese, to look left for traffic. because in Hong Kong you typically would look right before crossing, since cars drive on the left side of the road [there's that British influence again!]
I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I'll be back on monday. xo
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