pre trip to hong kong

this is where we stayed in hong kong. it is on kowloon side a place called hung hom

all the builders in hong kong are crazy. not only do they seem to rebuild every building as soon as they can they also use bamboo for all their scaffolding (even these 30+ stories buildings)

this is the best market we say in hong kong called the "temple st night markets". they are held at night (obvious fact #1) primarily in temple st (obvious fact #2)

hong kong has the "longest undercover escalator". this is one of the views half way up looking down a street. a classic neon sign swamped street

there are heaps of temples in hong kong with cool scary statues out the front. this one was wicked on this inside but i've never felt comfortable taking pictures in temples so you'll just have to believe me. sorry.

ren purchased a banana from a guy on the street. after a confusing half english conversation she brought one banana for one hong kong $ (about twenty five cents australian). but both were happy with the deal so no problems.

these are ren's cousins sam(uel) and ben(jamin). we stayed with them and ren's aunt jennifer. sam doesn't do much (but tries) and ben runs around like a maniac and is cool.

here is classic view of central island from tsim sha tsui on kowloon side. have a look here for a higher resolution version.

here is ren in front of central island. the peace sign hand things are a japanese photo tradition, but it's fun anyways.

this is the entire underground system of hong kong. it is amazingly simple, 3 main lines, not more than 4 platforms at any station. some of the bigger stations have like a dozen exits spread very far apart so planning where you exit a station is harder than deciding the station in the first place. it is a lot simpler than the london underground and way simpler than the tokyo underground!!

one thing to look out for in tsim sha tsui is if you look like a tourist you will be swamped by school kids asking you a complex survey with mind numbing questions like "where do you come from?", "what is your favorite food?" and this time, my favorite, "who would come back to hong kong if they built disneyland?" (?!?!?) those crazy chinese! at the end they get a photo with you taken by their friend. so we thought we'd get some photos also. this has happened to us both times we have been in hong kong so beware. update! this cracks me up :) every person i've talked to tell me how when they see this picture they say "gee mats put on weight" however it's just because i had my money belt on with this stretchy shirt! lol!

we also made a day trip to an island where all the hong kong hippies live. it was very hot so i needed to buy this cheesy tourist straw cowboy hat. better than sunburn though, just!

no cars are allowed which is nice and there is a very good vegetarian cafe bookshop (probably even the only one in hong kong!)

others things to looks at!
next stop, how we got to london
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