Wednesday: highs and lows. But mostly highs.

Day 2 in Hong Kong started at 4am. And I'm cool with that. Time to knit, drink copious cups of tea and surf the net on things to do in HK. (Time to phone VISA and argue with them via Kit over Skype, and spend an hour sorting it all out while simultaneously losing all internet access for the morning. Dammit! A low.) The first high for today is that Laurie arrives from Beijing! 

Selfie on the ferry

She had traveled to Beijing a week earlier, and then was coming here to do the presentation together. So once she was awake I headed over to her hotel above the waterfront Convention Center. 

The view out her 30th flor window of the mainland shore. It stretched forever in both directions. 

Today we decided to head over to Tsim Tsa Shui and Mong Kok, so we hopped a Star Ferry ($1.50!) for the 5 minute ride. Our first stop was the massive Harbour City and Ocean City malls. I was on a mission to find a pop-up shop based on a ridiculously simple and fun video game that myself and a number of mom friends love to play, called Neko Atsume. They were rumoured to have a shop here in HK over the summer. After looking around for an hour, we asked a cashier and she said 'oh yes they had a store here until August 31st. And they had a huge 50% off sale to get rid of all their stock'. Such a bummer. 

But then I found this:

 

It's a freaking Hayao Miyazaki store!!!!! Holy toledo!!!

For those who aren't fans of Hayao Miyazaki's amazing movies, you have no idea the amazingness that you are missing. For those who already know and love his work, this next ones for you:

I'm inside the Cat Bus!!! It's like being inside my dreams!

Okay, so struck out on Neko Atsume, but surprise win on Totoro. Next stop, Mong Kok!

Mong Kok is deeper into HK, away from the ocean a bit. It's less touristy, very much local. No signs in English, no fancy shops. It's . . . well, it's an experience.

Giant corner building typical of the apartments in the area.

Need some pots or pans? 

We were in Mong Kok to check out some Markets. The Temple Market, Jade Market, Bird Market, Flower Market and Goldfish Market. That's a lot of markets yo.

Temple Market was a huge street market of stuff (junk). Knock off bags and jackets, underwear, battery-powered fans, you get the picture (cause I didn't take any!). We were outta there fast. 

But not as fast as the Jade market. If the jade market actually contains jade I'd be impressed. It was mostly way too shiny, uniformly bright green, plastic trinkets. I actually didn't care, there were some cool turquoise and amethyst fakes I would have happily bought for $10. But if I stopped moving, or even slowed down, I was confronted with the overzealous seller at that particular stall, telling me about their bracelets and good deals and 'here pretty lady try this'. It's just not my thing, please don't talk to me. So we buzzed through there quickly, and headed to the Flower Markets.

Hong Kong is a fragrant place. Not bad fragrant, necessarily, just different. Mong Kok can be a bit tougher on the olfactory senses. When we turned the corner to the Flower markets, it was like we'd stepped onto a fresh meadow. It was glorious! 

One of many orchid stores.

There was just store after store, and trucks unloading long boxes of fresh lilies and big puffy hydrangea stems. There were wedding bouquets and amazing wreaths for the upcoming Autumn festival which happens here next week.

Air plant anyone?

These were my favorites. When they bloomed they look like a cross between a peony and a rose. Anyone know what they are?

Right around the corner was the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. After the beauty of the flower market we were ready for some beautiful birds.

It was not a bird garden. It was a bird market. Like a fish market. But they're alive.

Stall after stall of birds in tiny cages. There were some parrots too, but it was mostly these tiny yellow cages with two birds in each.

The birds were beautiful. Their tiny captivity, not so much. A low for the day. After the bird garden experience we lost our appetite for the Goldfish market trip, figuring it'd be rows of fish in tiny bowls for sale. Not a highlight, so we skipped it and headed back to the subway. On our way we came upon  an odd treat:  

He had a sign beside him. Why can't I read this stuff dammit!? People walking by stopped to pet his bum, like he was a good luck buddha or something. So we did it too.

 We passed a construction site where they were dismantling the bamboo scaffolding and taking it to another site. I just can't stop being amazed by this stuff.

By now it's 4pm and I'm exhausted! We'd walked for miles and I needed to get home for food and rest. 

The incredible view out Laurie's window at night

I stopped at M&S to grab some dinner. Gluten free falafel balls and tsatziki? Yummy!!

My evening ritual was enhanced with some Body Shop salt scrub stuff. My feet and legs are killing me. Not in a bad-footwear kind of way, but just so much walking and so many stairs and hills.

It's like having a bath at home, sort of. When I get home in a few days, a real bath is first on my agenda. 

I decided I really didn't like what my pattern looked like, so I pulled it all out and am starting over. 

Tomorrow, Temples, the PMQ and a cocktail lounge perhaps. And more rain for sure.

xoxo

C