Hong Kong

First off, the reason Dave and I went to Hong Kong is this: the company that I am a graphic designer for (Little i) got a major account with a big company in the United States. Isaac had mentioned that he would like to have someone at the factory to QC the tins and make sure everything runs smoothly. That's where we come in. He was going to have me and Dave move to Hong Kong for a month to check the tins as well as work on some new projects. That would have been nice to be right by the factory to get the samples right off the line instead of waiting weeks for it to be FedExed over to wherever. Our week trip in March was to get us familiar with the city and get things set up for the month we would be living there. However, us living in Hong Kong now depends on how our large shipments go, as well as when the cash flow from the buyer kicks in. Once that goes well and we start to see the green, Hong Kong may be a go. So it's all up in the air right now. We're hoping to know a final answer by May.

Before I get into the details of our Hong Kong trip, I felt it was time for Dave to have a haircut. I pretty much forced him to. He was way overdue.

Before. (Umm...wow!)

Mid. (That's hot.)

After. (Ah yes, thats what my husband looks like).

This was the plane we took from Tauranga to Auckland. I think it held around 24 people. You can see all the way into the cockpit.

The flight from Auckland to Hong Kong was much better. We were in a 747 which has two aisles with rows of 3-4-3 seats. Dave and I were in a row of 3, with no one else next to us. Very nice. Once the plane was set on cruise, we clicked on our personal tv's for an inflight movie. I made Dave watch Alvin and the Chipmunks with me. I think he secretly loved it. I heard him laughing quite a bit. We had dinner, which was some kind of lamb thing; complete with veggies, a roll, dessert and wine. I started watching Atonement and Dave watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Interesting choice for him if I do say so myself. I must have messed up his brain when making his watch the Chipmunks. We started dozing off and turned off our screens for the night.

Our arrival into Hong Kong was greeted with many strange and unusual symbols. We had been given instructions from my boss of what to do once we arrived at the airport. Our first task was to find the airport express train that would take us from the airport to Hong Kong Island. After finding the kiosk we bought a three day pass that would give us unlimited access to the MTR subway trains in HK as well as one more ride from HK to the airport for our return flight.

The first of many skyscrapers we saw in Hong Kong while riding the airport express.


Welcome to Hong Kong. From the airport express we took a taxi to our hotel to drop off our luggage and maybe check in. We arrived in HK around 6:30am, so the latter was probably unlikely. Our taxi ride took about 5 to 10 minutes and cost around $5 US, that's including the fee for us having luggage.


My favorite building over there.

We dropped off our bags with the concierge and started walking to Isaac's (my boss) hotel, which was the Island Shangri-La, one of the 5 star hotels in HK.

We took this mode of transportation to his hotel - the world's longest covered outdoor escalator also called a travelator which covers 2,625ft. As you can see, it's isn't a continuous escalator. There are times where you actually have to move your feet and legs and phycially walk.


We also walked through Hong Kong Park on the way.


This is a picture of an incredibly huge painting inside the Shangri-La.

When we arrived, Isaac had us meet him on the 8th floor where the spa was. He told the workers we were with him, so we were allowed full access to the spa and pool. It was so nice to relax and soak in a warm spa after a long flight. We were in there for about an hour and a half and then Isaac came back down to see how we were doing. Dave had changed by then, but I was still in one of the large white towels provided by my enormous bathroom. The bathroom itself had lockers for your belongings, a separate room to do your makeup and hair (blowdryer, hairspray, etc provided), a jet tub, a sauna, a shower that sprayed from both the top and sides of the shower, and two massage rooms. I was very tempted to get a massage in the Vanilla Room.

I asked Isaac if we could see his room. It was amazing with its high, but not vaulted ceilings, mahogany wood, and probably crystal chandelier. This was the fanciest, most expensive hotel we've ever been in. Isaac said Eddie (our main factory worker in China) would be coming soon, so we could just stick around and meet him. Now remember, I'm still in my robe. It was really embarrassing.

Eddie arrived with his daughter, bowing away after every greeting we gave her. He had brought a few tins samples for Isaac to see from our large account. After chit-chatting for a while, Dave and I headed out for the day. Our only plans were to meet Isaac tomorrow some time. He would let us know through my email.

Under the Shangri-La was a large shopping mall called Pacific Place. It's just your average, everyday shopping center with your typical stores including Gucci, Versace, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dior and so forth. I was so excited. I had never seen so many designer stores in one area. We did a little looking around in Louis Vuitton and Prada. I found an awesome Versace purse that I really wanted to get. It was only $2000. Quite the bargain. We went to the eating area, definitely not called a "Food Court" and ate at a restaurant called Thai Basil. We had some spring rolls with peanut sauce that were oh so tasty. That was Dave's second favorite restaurant. His first is yet to come.

We walked back through HK park...

...which dropped us off right by the tram to "The Peak". We bought tickets and got in line. The tram ride takes you up a steep hill to the top of Victoria Peak, overlooking the HK harbor. The ride is so steep that the floor is angled to help standing passengers stay upright. At some times it seemed as if we were at a 45 degree angle to the buildings beside us.

This is the first time I've captured Dave really smiling. Although I think he is on the verge of laughing.

My new little friend.

At the top was another shopping center that we walked through. We decided to stay at the top until the night lights came on.

Pretty.
On Tuesday we took the MTR to the Tung Chung station, which brings you to the cable car ride that takes you to the Big Buddha.


On the bottom left side is the trail you could hike to the Big Buddha if you didn't feel like taking the cable car. It looked like it would have taken hours to hike. Big Buddha was quite far away on a big mountain top.

Theres the big man himself.

At the top of the mountain where Big Buddha was, they also had a small village. In the village we saw some some kung fu martial arts performers. There was a sign posted saying "please do not imitate."

We stopped in Kowloon to check out the Temple St. Night Market, but hence the name, everything didn't opened until at night.

The street next to it was the food market, which sold lots of weird things, like dried shrimp, octopus and squid.

We met up with Isaac that night at his friend Danielle's purse store. We are actually making a private label tin for him, so I could have gotten a 10% discount on one of his purses. From there we walked to the popular bar disctrict, Lan Kwai Fong. Looked for a place to eat. Ended up at a restaurant called Heaven on Earth. It was ok. Our waiter however, was hilarious. He told us which dishes were good, which ones were terrible, what to do in HK and random other tid bits.

On Wednesday we were going to take the MTR to the China border to see what it was like, but found out our cards didn't allow us to take that certain train. We decided to check out the Ladies Market instead. On our way to the Ladies Market, we hit up the Goldfish Market. It was full of shops with dogs, cats, fish, turtles and a horrid smell (think pig manure, but worse).

This cute little fella managed to fall asleep straddling a piece of glass, as well as half his body smashed up against the glass wall. Too cute.


Ladies Market.

The Peninsula was once a waterfront location, but because of the land reclamation there is now another street, plus other buildings before you get to the water. It is the oldest HK 5 star hotel, but still holds it's high status where anyone who is anyone stays there. We tried to eat at the Felix, a restaurant in the hotel, but it didn't open until 6pm. I had a HK travelers book that told you, using the bathroon at the Felix is a must. We weren't able to do that.

We walked along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade that looked over to the Hong Kong island skyline. We sat down and hung out for a while. At 8:00pm, a random lights display started, lasting for about 15 minutes. Many of the buildings had lights that contributed and the place where we sat had music that was timed to the choreographed lights.


Note: my hair is getting freakishly long and in need of a trim.

A pretty chandelier at a restaurant called Serenade where we had dinner. The service wasn't that great. We didn't feel very welcomed, they wouldn't let us dish up our own food, and they took forever to bring us water. The upside, we got a free dessert.

After that we walked to the Star Ferry to ride one way for $1.70HK each. We caught a cheap taxi back to the hotel.

On Wednesday we went to Tsim Sha Tsui again and visited the HK Museum of Art and HK Science Museum. They weren't that fun. We went back to the Ladies Market and got a few more souvenirs. On the way home we stopped at one more market.

This is the last picture ever taken by the nice store clerk. Dave unleashed his wrath upon her. :)

That night we ate at Zen, one of the restaurants at the fancy Pacific Place mall. It had this cool sheet of green diamond things that spiraled through the restaurant. We got a seat in the middle of it all.

On Thursday I had some urgent artwork needed for Little i, so I stayed in the hotel and worked on that, while Dave went exploring by himself for a while. He came back with a bunch of goodies for me. What a sweetie. Once the artwork was finished and sent we headed out to the Hong Kong Times Square. Definitely not as cool as New York Times Square.

We went back to the Temple St. Night Market and bought more sourvenirs again. This time we stopped at a little eating place along the side. Originally Dave was just going to have a beer, which was really cheap, but then he ordered a plate of clams and we devoured them.

Then we ordered another beer for Dave, a Sprite for myself, and a plate of snails. They were quite slimy. We enjoyed the clams more. This was Dave's favorite restaurant. It just seemed authentic and real compared to all the fancy restaurants we ate at.

That night I had a message on our hotel phone saying the artwork hasn't worked and I need to rework it. I was up until 6:30am making two new drafts. And in the end, they still weren't usable. But finally, emails were sent, images were uploaded, and everything worked out in the end. The next day I was going on 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

Friday was our last day. I had to stay in the hotel a while, to make sure the art was ok. We had a breakfast buffet at the restaurant in our hotel and packed up all our newly acquired belonging. We dropped off our luggage with the concierge and walked to central Hong Kong for the last time. We had hoped to get a glimpse of the central market, but it was closed, so we walked to the IFC building, which is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, for now.

A view of the city from the 55th floor.

The trip to Hong Kong was absolutely amazing. It is by far, my favorite city that I have visited. We had a blast and enjoyed the little holiday. When we got home I slept for 22 straight hours. I didn't get much sleep on the plane ride home and was only working with the 2 1/2 hours from the night before. Dave slept for a total of 17 hours when we got home. I think our bodies are back to New Zealand time and we are back to our working routine.