Hong Kong

Unfortunately I only had one day in Hong Kong, but it was amazing! I loved it, and will just have to come back. Who’s coming with me? We started our day by taking a tour of Hong Kong. Sadly, when we got to the top of the mountain to look over the city it was too foggy to see anything. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around and exploring town. Later in the evening we went out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby the port and then saw a light show. Looking across the bay we could see all the buildings of the skyline all lit up and for about 20 minutes they put on a light show. The lights on the buildings were all coordinated with each other and set to music. It was really cool. Then we took a walk to the night market to do a bit of shopping. Walking around I was reminded a lot of New York City. The buildings were all lit up and there were people out everywhere. While we were walking, it got really windy and all kinds of debris was blowing in our eyes. So sunglasses became quite handy. Once we got to the night market, I found that the people were extremely friendly. For a change I didn’t feel like everyone was trying to push me to buy things. I was able to just chat with people and ask them questions about what they were selling without feeling bad for not buying anything. It was quite enjoyable. One of my favorite things was that I could smile at people and they would smile back. I found everyone so friendly.

Here are some interesting facts about Hong Kong:

Hong Kong is part of China, but the people drive on the left side of the road as opposed to the right like China, and they have their own laws.

Because of the size population, it’s very expensive for grave sites, so there’s a constant problem of choosing between being buried and being cremated. The people here have come up with the 50/50 solution to this problem. They bury their dead for 7 years, and then dig them up and cremate them.

Green is a color for long life, and red is a color for good luck.

For good feng shui you should live with the back of your house towards a mountain and the front of your house facing water.

The equestrian games for the 2008 Olympics will be held in Hong Kong.

Good numbers are 8 which sounds like rich, and 9 which sounds like longevity

Bad numbers are 4 which sounds like death, and 7 which is the number of years a person is buried before they are cremated, and also the number of courses served at funerals.

Hong Kong has no welfare. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.

When “good” license plate numbers become available the government auctions them off and the money goes to charities.

And that sums up my day in Hong Kong. The next morning I was on a plane for Beijing.