Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong late at night and was surprised at how manageable the 19 hour journey was. HK is amazing. The city lights, the size and height of all of the buildings simply blew me away. Its obvious how little space they have to work with. I spent the first few days in Cental, HK island and explored by wandering around the streets. I truly was amazed at how efficient the use of space was. Everything is so compact, every little nook and cranny utilized wherever possible. After a day of exploring, wandering, eating amazing food, I took the famed star ferry over to Kowloon to check out the markets. Never have I ever been offered more tailors or rolexes in my life. The lights never end. Millions of people lining the streets, everyone has a place to go, no one standing around except for the people trying to get you to come in to their store.

Over the next few days, I went to Macau - bungy jumped off the worlds highest bungy jump, gambled - and broke even :). I went to another Island, Lantau which is home to the "Big Buddha" and the airport and a really cool aerial tram ride all the way across a mountain range. That was a ton of fun. Had dinner in the popular going out district one night and met some nice Thai people that ran a restaurant there - which resulted in me returning the following night and us going out for drinks and thai karaoke in kowloon city until 6am...I don't even think the bar was considering closing when we all left. Late night or early morning drunk munchies consisted of raw shrimp, cooked mystery fish (whole with eyeballs) and some rice.

Went to Stanley, the far part of the island per a recommendation of Trevor, and it was a good call. A nice cheap tour of the island and on the other side, a small village with a market and some nice beaches, though I had no desire to dip in just yet.

I did the peak tram and walked around Victoria Peak and saw the view down on the city from all angles. It is quite a spectacle and even more so when I was showed a picture of the harbor in 1952 with american warships in it next to a photo of today.

My last day, i reserved for laundry - and some really good food. Had some amazing Dim Sum and met a nice woman who works as a CPA. She was integral to the meal as she translated to the waitress what I wanted. This helps quite a bit when there isnt any pictures of the food, or any english translation.

After that I headed to Ho Chi Minh City!