Hong Kong’ing or bust

I’ve made it to HongKong. First impressions … it feels like Manhattan with a twist of California with the windy cliff roads that make me nauseous, yet its picturesque like Hawaii with lush greens and mountains. So I’ve decided to be bold and venture out on the bus into Downtown and its CRAZY!! Busy with ppl and extremely humid. Parts of me could live here but then again not so much. Funny thing was seeing a Bank of America building. Who knew? Now here’s to seeing if I can navigate this bus ride back to hotel after I eat.

So I took a stab at a local joint. Its fried rice and roasted pork. I just prayed “LORD please let this be pork I’m eating. If it isn’t don’t let it kill me or make me sick.”

Home of electronics, knock-offs and Peking Duck, cheap massages and custom clothing Asia never disappoints.  What I like about Hong Kong from an ease of travel perspective is that there’s no visa required for U.S. citizens.  The food in my opinion is vastly different, meaning tastes so much better to me than the Mainland food.  It felt very “Americana” with all the shops and food options.  I felt very safe to roam the streets, vendor markets and down town shops.  I can’t help but mention the overwhelming number of foot massage places that seemed to be every 10 feet away.  Given you do so much walking I treated myself daily to a 1 hour foot massage for 4 times less than what it would cost in the states.   With it’s proximity to nearby Macau for the gamblers or “lucky” folk a quick ferry ride will land you in the Vegas of Asia.   Not quite savvy enough with the  Visa process I decided not to go as I didn’t want any immigration issues.   Surely the next visit to HongKong or near I’m definitely going.

Most people come to Asia for Tailor made clothing and of course to snag a really good inexpensive “knock-off”.   I tried my hand at both.  I enjoyed the process and timeliness of having custom clothing tailor made to my measurements.  On the other hand.. navigating this “fake market” as they call it was a different animal all together.  After a few failed attempts I learned to “up” my negotiating skills.  Despite what they say every thing is negotiable.  If you don’t like the product quality or the price simply walk away and move on the next shop who almost 100% of the time has the same product offering as the next shops.  I could write a whole post about the “fake market” world.  It’s more than what you see on T.V. or hear others explain. You just have to experience this for yourself.