Spring Break Adventures!

For my spring break I decided to spend my time a little outside of China, but at the same time still in China, but I needed to fill out exit/ entry cards for my flights, but I didn’t need a new visa… “how is this possible?” you may ask. By going to China’s two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau!

First off, as Cantonese (not Mandarin) is the more popular dialect in Hong Kong, my new Chinese words for this post are 你好 (néih hóu), which means “Hello” in Cantonese. They are the same characters as 你好 (Nǐ hǎo), which mean “Hello” in Mandarin, but pronounced slightly differently. I found it very funny while I was walking around in Hong Kong speaking Mandarin, some of the Chinese people told me I spoke better Mandarin than they did. Thanks CET!

Anyway back to my travels… I spent a total of 5 days traveling between these two Special Administrative Regions (SARs). 4 days in Hong Kong, 1 day in Macau. I first flew directly into Hong Kong, and checked into my hotel on the southern part of Kowloon. Just on my drive to the hotel I noticed a few cool things,

Drivers on the right side. Didn't know I'd be seeing these here.

Of course I had to go here... multiple times...

After checking in, I walked around the area in Kowloon a little. I first had to see the Hong Kong avenue of stars, where numerous Hong Kong film celebrities have a star with their name and (in some cases) hand prints.

Bruce Lee's star!

Jackie Chan's star!

At first I thought this star said "Karl Marx", that'd be weird for him to have a star here

Later that night, I walked along Hong Kong harbor and found out every night at 8:00, the buildings all along Hong Kong harbor light up in a choreographed laser-light show. This was a cool unexpected surprise!

How cool is that? Just stumbling upon a laser light show that is played on the buildings of one of the most amazing skylines in the world.

The next few days I spent going to some really cool places in Hong Kong.

The cable car ride up to Victoria's Peak. This really old cable car system (I think it was built in the late 1800s) brings passengers along a very steep track. Not gonna lie, it's kinda scary at times

The Crusader (he hasn't been seen in the blog in a while) at the top of Victoria's Peak, overlooking Hong Kong Harbor.

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. I couldn't go in (members only), but if anyone remembers the scene in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond film "Die Another Day" where James Bond swims into Hong Kong Harbor, this is where he first arrived.

I took a hike along the south side of Hong Kong island on a trail called the Dragon Back. Somewhere along here you (supposedly) can see where they shot the scenes for Han's Island in the Bruce Lee film "Enter the Dragon." I couldn't find it 🙁

Ordinarily, I wouldn't talk about going to a bar, but this isn't just any bar. This is the Ozone Sky bar in the Ritz Carlton in Hong Kong. It's the highest sky bar in the world and has great views of Hong Kong harbor (and is probably the coolest looking bar I've ever seen)

One spot that I needed to see to satisfy my inner child was Hong Kong Disneyland! I happened to go on a weekday when it was raining. Many people, if they did come to the park that day, just waited inside buildings or under tents hoping that the storm would pass quickly. I, knowing disney so well, knew ahead of time there were multiple rides that were completely indoors, so I just walked through the rain and as a result of my bravery, I got on Space Mountain 4 times consecutively with no line… AWESOME!

Yup the Disney Castle's behind me!

Had to get a Mickey waffle. It did not disappoint

China section of the classic "It's a small world" ride. Maybe I'm a little old to be going on this ride... Nah

While I loved the time that I spent at Disney, I arrived at 12 pm and by 3 pm I had gone on nearly every ride and seen everything that I wanted to. It was just so small in the eyes of someone that’s only been to Disney World before. Wow this post got long quickly, next post… Macau!

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