Hong Kong Part 2

I spent half of my trip to Hong Kong with my friend Sara Greenberg. We are old friends from Martha's Vineyard and I was so happy to hear that we would both be living in Asia at the same time. I could not wait until we could spend some time traveling together. As a matter of fact, she is coming to Seoul next weekend :).

Sara was an awesome tour guide and we did tons of amazing stuff around Hong Kong. I stayed with her in Central (great location) and we made our way around from there.

One morning we met up with her friend Justin and my friend, Quinn, from Korea for a hike in the New Territories.

We took the metro to Sai Kung and then a cab to a small path opening on the side of the road. This path took us on a 5 hour hike over Sharp Peak to Tai Long Wan (Big Wave Bay).

Hiking in Hong Kong is notorious for being a paved cement path through a jungle. However, we came accross this trail, Sharp's Peak, which was everything but paved cement. The sign read "The trail leading to Sharp Peak is very treacherous and difficult. For saftey reasons you are not advised to proceed." And then we decided we had to take the challenge.

We hiked for a couple of hours up and over many mountains and into the clouds. We knew the trail would dump us out on Thai looking beaches, so we kept going!

We ended up grabbing lunch and large Tsingtao's at a small place on the beach. It was one of hardest, and most rewarding hikes I have ever done. After relaxing on the deserted beach for a little, we hired a small taxi boat to take us back to the main land (we were far too tired to make the 2 hour hike back (the only way to reach the beach)). Here is what the harbor/wet market looked like when we got back from the beach!

Sara and I also spent an afternoon at Stanley Market, near Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island. It is a famous market area where you can bargain for the typical Hong Kong tourist goods. I bought a couple of silk bathrobes and some post cards while we wondered thought the tiny stalls. Right near the market, there is a cute water front with outdoor bars and restaurants.

We spent some time walking around the city and eating great food (Mother's Day Dinner). Hong Kong is truly an amazing place to live as an expat. There is so much to do and it is easy to navigate, because most everyone speaks English.

On my last day in Hong Kong, I joined Sara and some of her friends on a "Junk". We all chipped in to rent a boat and a captain for the day. We sailed around Victoria Harbor and then back to the New Territories (this is where the cleanest and nicest beaches are in Hong Kong.) We stopped at a small seafood restaurant for lunch and then docked near a beach for the afternoon. We jumped off the top of the boat into the water and basked in paradise. GREAT DAY!

As we took the boat back into Victoria Harbor the sun started to set. It was so beautiful and felt so surreal. It was the perfect ending to my trip to Hong Kong before I jumped on the red eye back to Seoul and started the most miserable day of work ever.

Overall, Hong Kong is amazing. It is a massive beautiful city that has the best of the city and beach life. It is a perfect place for a "young professional expat" to live. There are tons of young expats living in Hong Kong looking to make the most of everyday. The only thing is that it is a much more expensive city than Seoul and many other cities in Asia. I would say it is more comparable to New York City. I loved Hong Kong and I hope one day I may be able to live there; adding another city to my list.

HONG KONG Part 1

I went to Hong Kong for a week at the beginning of May. There were a few random Korean holidays (Parent's Day, Teacher's Day and Picnic Day) that strung together to give me a chunk of time off! I have always wanted to go to Hong Kong and this was the perfect time to explore the city. I am also lucky enough to have two very close friends living in Hong Kong at the time and they were the perfect tour guides.

Hong Kong has technically been a special administrative region of China since 1997, when the British gave over their control of Hong Kong. Hong Kong lives under the principle "one country, two systems." They rule under a different political system than mainland China and they operate with free trade, low taxation and their own currency, the Hong Kong Dollar. Because of this Hong Kong is one of the largest financial centers in the world.

Hong Kong is on the south eastern coast of mainland China enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and the South China Sea. It has the population of 7 million, making it one of the most densely populated areas of the world. Hong Kong is made up of over 200 different islands. I was lucky enough to explore a couple of the different islands while I was there.

I spilt my time in Hong Kong between my friends Tina Carstens and Sara Greenberg. I was lucky to also have a couple of friends from Korea who were traveling in Hong Kong at the same time as me, so I got to meet up with them as well.

Tina is from Germany and was my family's aupair when I was just 10 years old. We have kept in great touch, and have seen each other in America and in Germany. She recently had a very cute baby, Emma! Emma, Tina and her boyfriend Sebastian recently moved to Hong Kong, in Discovery Bay (pic below)(which is on Lantau Island).

I spent a few days touring around the city with Emma and Tina and had some great dinners with the whole crew. It was amazing spending time with a family and sleeping in a real home. It was the first time in 8 months that I had seen anyone I knew in Asia. It made the trip very special.

My favorite thing I did with Tina and Emma was go to Victoria Peak! This is the best place to go to for views of Hong Kong's magnificent sky line. It is honestly breathtaking. Beautiful skyscrapers on both sides of a major harbor, with mountains in the back drop, you cant get better than that.

At the top there is a paved walking path that weaves around the entire peak. It is mostly shaded with tress and it is empty. Most people don't know it exists, which is a great thing. The path was an amazing way to get away from the crowds and take a 45 min stroll with 360 views of all of Hong Kong Island.


I also went to visit the Tian Tan Buddha with two of my friends from Korea one morning. The Tian Tan Buddha is located also on Lantau Island (same island that Tina lives on). You need to take a bus or the metro to Ngong Ping and then take a gondola up (clear bottomed) and over some mountains to reach the giant Buddha.


The Buddha itself is fairly new. Construction started in 1990 and finished in December 1993. This Buddha is supposed to symbolize the relationship between man, nature, people, and religion. It is considered to be the world's largest sitting Buddha. I would totally recommend going to see the Big Buddha if you are in Hong Kong. It was beautiful and it felt great to be in what felt like the Hong Kong wilderness.

Keep your eye out for Hong Kong Part 2. It should be coming soon :)!