Hong Kong, day 2

Had a late start because I let myself sleep in to get over this cold. Luckily I think I'm on the mend! 

Lunch: Hong Kong style wonton noodle soup. Yummy, but nothing too unique. 

Went to Times Square, which is just an area of tons of shopping. Big mall shopping seems to be the theme of HK, shopping is EVERYWHERE!! 

Saw a Sexual Well-being Store with an Asian version of Sue Johansson! 

Then headed to Victoria Park. This was nothing like an American park. No big green areas! Soccer pitches were concrete. Everything is always damp from the humid, rainy weather so it's not very conducive for sitting on a bench with a book. Even the children's playgrounds aren't grassy. Sad face :-( 

Saw some cool views of Causeway Bay from the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. 

I do love the subway system here. Everything is very intuitive and easy to understand. All the escalator rails have an anti-bacterial coating and announces "Please hold the hand rail. Don't keep your eyes only on your mobile phone" haha. You simply walk up to a single-journey kiosk, tap the station you want to go to, and the screen indicates how much the trip will cost. Easy peasy! A card is dispensed, you tap it to go to the trains, and there are maps on each subway car that light up to show the upcoming stop, which direction it's going, and on which side the doors will open. When you get to your destination, the card is used to get out of the station and is also kept by the machine, so no trash or wasted cards. Wonderful! It's the little things :-) 

Went over to Kowloon for the rest of the day and my first stop was Kowloon Park to compare. Kowloon Park has a lot of features, including but not limited to swimming pools, a viewing cone, an aviary, a Chinese garden, a maze garden, a bird lake, and even free wifi. I love coming across older people doing Tai Chi in public areas. It's very soothing, but I always feel intrusive if I sit and watch. Like Victoria Park, Kowloon had lots of trees and greenery, but again, not much grass. There's definitely not the kind of community feel that Hanoi had around the lake. 

More shopping malls. It amazes me that enough people buy from all these stores! Every brand name you can think of is here. And they're not just in one area. My limited exploration of HK has presented me with at least 3 of each of the following stores: Armani, Coach, Tiffany and Co., Rolex, Burberry, Prada, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, etc. I was especially shocked to come across a sign saying "No cash accepted. Only Visa, Mastercard, and Octopus" (subway card). Who doesn't accept cold hard cash?!

Went down to the south end of Kowloon to walk along the pier and Avenue of Stars for some terrific views of Hong Kong Island.

As I walked north to check out some markets, I got a yummy bubble waffle! It's deceiving, it looks like there is a filling, but it's just made with a sweet batter and each bubble is half hollow. Still delicious but it would be crazy awesome filled with Nutella!! 

Went to the famous Ladies' Market and Temple Street Night Market, which were just like all other markets with pretty much the same merchandise hah. I guess I would enjoy perusing more if I was actually looking for things to buy, but I'm keeping my stuff to a minimum and will save my shopping for the end of my trip, if I have any money left :-P 

Headed back south to the Avenue of Stars to catch the Symphony of Lights show at 8pm. It was cool to see the city at night, but it was a bit anticlimactic because there are already so many lights that it was a little hard to distinguish what was part of the show and what wasn't hah. Singapore has Hong Kong totally beat with their light show every Friday night in July in preparation for their Independence Day show! The skyline there is also much more dramatic, with more unique buildings and landmarks. 

Went to eat a late dinner just around the corner from my hostel at a restaurant I saw from a fellow food blogger, shout out to thatfoodcray.com! Ate pickled bitter melon and lotus root chips mmm. This was definitely the priciest meal I've had my entire trip (2 beers and 2 small plates came to a total of $256HKD, or $33!), but I decided I deserved a "night on the town" and just enjoyed myself.