Hong Kong

After two days in Macau, it was off to Hong Kong. Called the New York of Asia, with 7 000 000 people and the most expensive prices I've seen in a long time, it was a real change from our other experiences in Southeast Asia.

The easiest (and for $21 CAD probably the cheapest) way to get from Macau to Hong Kong is by hydrofoil. Leaving at regular intervals every day, it holds over 100 people and takes a little over an hour to make the trip.

When we arrived in Hong Kong, we started wandering around town looking for the shopping. We didn't have to look very far, though, as EVERY district is a shopping district. The streets are covered with signs on top of signs on top of more signs. This shot is of Nathan Road (the most famous shopping area in HK).

We went to see Man Mo Temple in downtown HK, which is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the gods of literature (Man) and war (Mo). The inside was filled with huge incense pyramids. Each spiralling pyramid represents a person who has died recently. The family writes a prayer to them on the red card in the middle and lights the incense in their memory. It takes weeks for the incense to burn itself out.

This picture is taken from the financial district downtown.

This is Two International Finance Centre, currently Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper (88 floors).

We then took the mandatory tram ride to Victoria Peak to get a view of the amazing HK skyline. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very clear day and the view was a little masked by clouds and fog.

We ate dinner on the Peak so we could catch the view at night - and it was well worth it. Despite the continuous flow of fog coming from the peak behind us, the lights of the city were amazing.

When we got down from the Peak, we decided to take a tram ride from one end of downtown to the other. It was a great way to see the lights and the atmosphere of the city.

Each of the major towers are lit up every night for a light and laser show. This one changes colours from blue to purple to red to green.

Two International Financial Centre at night.

The next day , Jenn and I went to the New Territories to check out the Temple of 10 000 Buddha's. To get there, you had to climb up over 400 steps lined on either side by huge replicas of the various discpiles.

At the top of the steps and outside the temple, are some of the stranger statues: Extremely long arms, legs.... eyebrows...

This one looks kinda like a peacock.

The grounds of the temple. The actual temple is the the building with the red roof in the back.

This is the inside of the temple, said to contain over 12800 images of Buddha.