{"id":39,"date":"2005-11-11T09:59:43","date_gmt":"2005-11-11T14:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/?p=39"},"modified":"2012-05-18T15:38:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T20:38:40","slug":"hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/?p=39","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Hong Kong is now a part of China, I was hard pressed to tell from my experience there. Incredibly modern and clean, full of Westerners – English in particular, and crammed into a spectacular setting, it felt nothing like the rest of China. It was also about five times more expensive, so I only stayed three nights.<\/p>\n

Rooms on Hong Kong island are insanely priced, so I picked up a place across Victoria Harbour on the mainland in Kowloon for a little over 100 USD. Looking across at Hong Kong from Kowloon at night<\/p>\n

\"B.JPG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Star Ferry has been taking people across Victoria Harbour since 1874<\/p>\n

\"C.JPG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

EVen though there is now a tunnel for cars and a subway line connecting the two sides, the ferry was the only way I crossed back and forth over the three days. It seemed wrong not too, the wait was never more than five minutes, the trip always relaxing, and at 25 cents a ride, the only cheap thing to do in Hong Kong. Heading across on a hazy day, the Central district in Hong Kong feels like a mini-Manhattan, but with the green Victoria Peak rising up in the background<\/p>\n

\"D.JPG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just above the Central district, I found a three km trail that lead up to Victoria Peak, and after about ninety minutes and a gallon of sweat (very hot and humid in Hong Kong) I made it to the top. Pretty sweet views<\/p>\n

\"E.JPG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The nightlife in Hong Kong is ridiculous, and the people that I met were incredibly friendly. Lan Kwai Fong is a great district over in Central Hong Kong where tons of expats and locals gather for happy hour and beyond, plus I found a few great places over in Kowloon, Sticky Fingers bar with good live music topping the list.<\/p>\n

\"F.JPG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After spending more money in three days in Hong Kong than I had in all of my time in the rest of China, I have to go. But I think I am coming back in January for a few days with my cousin Andy, he is meeting me for New Years in Thailand and his entry\/exit point to SE Asia will be Hong Kong. It was enough fun to get me back here, plus Macau is only a one hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong, and I still want to see that.<\/p>\n

For now, on to the land that I have been dreaming of for many years – Thailand. First stop, Bangkok, but only for a few days. The beaches of Thailand are calling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although Hong Kong is now a part of China, I was hard pressed to tell from my experience there. Incredibly modern and clean, full of Westerners – English in particular, and crammed into a spectacular setting, it felt nothing like the rest of China. It was also about five times more expensive, so I only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33,34],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chroniclesofleisure.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}