I will post many pictures for you to view. I will try to include a caption for all of them but there are more than 100. The captions for each picture will be under it. I hope you enjoy the pictures and if you have any questions just leave a comment or if you personally know me then you know how to get into contact with me! :)
I will have to upload the videos later, they need to be edited down some. Blogger thinks they are too big of files, so I will hopefully get to those after I finish my other travel pages.
Also, many of these pictures were taken by Melode, my friend that I traveled with this past vacation.
So my first stop was: HONG KONG! ^^ My friend and I were in Hong Kong for about 5 days.
Hong Kong waterfront from across Victoria Harbor in Kowloon.
Me in front of the Hong Kong waterfront.
The Avenue of Stars where they honor many great actors from Hong Kong.
Jackie Chan was one of the great stars at the Avenue of Stars. These are his hand prints.
And there were also many pretty flowers there!
This is the ladies market where they sell many different souvenir type things like clothing, bags, toys, jewelry, even counterfeit Rolex watches. hahaha! I heard a rumor from a local that these markets get raided by the police a lot to try and crack down on the amount of counterfeit items being sold. I didn't witness a raid while I was there though. Supposedly the shop owners know how to pack up real fast and run when there is a raid.
Some interesting advertising???
Then the large crowds begin in the distance.
And the crowd got bigger. This is what a lot of the buildings in Hong Kong look like.
You can see me better in this picture preparing to brave the large crowd.
This was at Kowloon park on the way back to our accommodation after dinner. We decided to stop by and see a little bit of it during night because it looked pretty lit up. We went back the next day during day time so we could see more.
Kowloon Park
Kowloon Park flowers
They drive on the opposite side of the car/bus and side of the road than we do in America and Korea!
Just walking down the streets under the lights while looking at the different shops.
Now I am almost blending in with the crowd.
Hong Kong skyline from Kowloon at night time! It was really pretty and relaxing.
They have a laser show that they do at a certain time every night but I was actually a little confused, because they made it out to be this really intense show that Hong Kong is very proud of, but it didn't seem like much. Maybe I was watching it from a bad area because most of the coast by the harbor on the Kowloon side was blocked by tons of construction.
Hong Kong skyline at night.
I believe this was the start of the laser show.
Hong Kong skyline at night.
Finally found some good Dimsum (dumplings). I forgot what kind this was but I think it had shrimp in it. I do remember that it was really delicious!
These were filled with a pineapple filling so they were more of a sweet dessert dimsum. They were also very delicious!
The bottom dish in this picture had steamed buns filled with barbecue pork dimsum. Very good but it made me think a lot of the tastes of American barbecue pork.
And then there are these cute dimsum that we had to try!! I do not remember what was in them but they were cute!! The waitress also laughed at me because I got a little too excited about the fact that the dimsum looked like little pigs.
When people in Hong Kong build big buildings they make a scaffolding out of bamboo instead of using metal ones. It is so crazy. These people are brave. I have heard that bamboo is very strong though so that is good!
Bamboo scaffolding!
Some red and gold lucky lanterns for the lunar new year.
St. Andrew's church.
Now we are back in Kowloon Park! And what is the first thing we see? A huge pond with turtles all over the place!
Me with turtles = Happiness
This is Franklin.
Just wait until I get to my Malaysia photos! Then I can show you all that I was able to see both of my favorite animals this vacation which was one of my goals! :)
How many turtles can you see?
Some interesting looking trees.
And here is my friend! Melode from South Africa!
Steep price to pay for releasing your fish and waterfowl into the lake.
How many turtles do you see in this picture???
A golden R2D2.
The big clock tower on the Kowloon side.
A ferry crossing Victoria Harbor.
Now we are on the ferry about to cross Victoria harbor to get to the Hong Kong, Hong Kong side. You can get there a few ways. The first way is by ferry which is very nice but takes a little bit longer and then there is a quicker but not as nice way that can get really crowded compared to the ferry option, which is taking the subway which actually goes underneath Victoria harbor.
Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Government buildings.
Ate some sushi. I think one of them is cod liver?
More sushi.
Then we watched a lunar new year parade, but it was right outside the building we were staying at, so we decided to stay inside and watch in comfort with snacks and drinks from above instead of dealing with the large crowds.
It looks pretty crowded but it got worse as the parade progressed.
Some pictures from the beginning of the parade.
More crowds. Who can find Ironman?
2016 is the year of the Monkey so there were a bunch of drummers dressed like monkeys!
And here is a picture of me with my good friends, Melode and Roger!! :) We were all watching the parade together!
And the crowd gets bigger. Yay for not being in that crowd or having to travel through it to get home!
Some floats in the parade
A lucky dragon
We saw many dragons during our time in Hong Kong during the lunar new year celebrations. Sometimes we would just be walking down the street in the middle of the day and along comes a 10 person dragon walking down the street.
A reindeer bike?
A girl doing flips in the air while another guy pedals her down the parade route.
Another video of the parade. But this one is special! It turns out that Korea University which is the university I attended when I studied abroad in Korea was sent to represent Korea in the parade in Hong Kong! It was a really exciting surprise! The ones with the flags are Korean cheerleaders (very different from the American idea of a cheerleader) and the others that are playing the drums are playing traditional Korean instruments. If it doesnt work I will hopefully fix it soon. Sorry!!
These were really interesting dinosaur like creatures. They were also handing out red envelopes to people on the streets. Usually red envelopes are given to people during the lunar new year filled with money but I am curious what they filled these red envelopes with.
More dragons
And of course Hello Kitty was there.
Dinner, roasted duck over rice. It tasted good but had many bones to eat around so it was difficult.
The window of a lighthouse near Victoria harbor.
This is the colonial building in Kowloon. It has a lot of historical value and is a big tourist spot for visitors because of how pretty it is. You can take a tour for the building but you need to sign up I think a day in advance.
This gun was used for communicating with ships in Victoria Harbor back in the day.
The red flag with the white flower is the flag of Hong Kong. The flower stands for harmony while the red background is supposed to show Hong Kong's connection to China as a special administrative region.
Getting ready to take the ferry across rather than the subway.
This is a picture of Kowloon, the area of Hong Kong that we were staying in, which is across Victoria harbor from Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
On the ferry
Watching people load onto a different ferry while on a ferry on the other side of the ferry terminal.
Even though Hong Kong is a big city with many tall buildings it still has some pretty trees here and there.
Another bamboo scaffolding
This is outside of the The Peak Tram station which can take you up to the top of Victoria peak. It is fun riding the tram but not very much fun trying to get onto the tram because it was a little bit chaotic and unorganized. It was a huge mob of angry people trying to push each other out of the way so they could have a seat on the tram first. I was surprised yet happy that nobody got pushed onto the tram tracks. It seemed a little bit dangerous. If you dont want to take the tram up you can always get a taxi and there might even be busses that go up that way too, it just takes a little bit longer because you cannot go straight up the hill like you can with the tram. However, Victoria peak is beautiful and you can see everything from the top.
We saw this at the end of a long alley and could not resist taking a picture of it. We were trying to decide if this was real or if it was actually a trap. For those who are wondering, it was real. There actually were cookies, but I did not consume any of them :)
This is the Aberdeen floating village in Hong Kong. Some people live on the boats still today to avoid paying for the increase of land taxes. They live on the water because the government cannot make them pay the land taxes since they don't live on the land, but some boat people only do their fishing during the day time. You can take a sightseeing sampan (a smaller boat) around the floating village like I did and see the boats up close.
There are many boats in the floating village.
There is also a floating restaurant that you can visit and eat at. We did not because we were running short on time and had many other things to get done before our departure for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It looked pretty fancy though.
This is the front of the floating restaurant.
This is the middle of the floating restaurant and there is a sightseeing sampan in front of it. I think it is letting people off so they can look at the inside of the floating restaurant.
This is Causeway Bay which is very famous for shopping. As you can see in the picture it is a very popular area for tourists and the people of Hong Kong.
Too many people!!
This is what the taxis in Hong Kong look like.
Another view of the Causeway Bay area for shopping.
They also have trolley cars that go down tracks in the middle of the roads between traffic.
This is the clock tower lit up at night.
This is also the clock tower lit up at night but in a different design.
This was my trip around Hong Kong. It was a lot of fun and I am happy that I was given the opportunity to travel around and learn so much about this country. However, it came to an end and it was time for me to get on the plane again to travel to my next destination which was the country of Malaysia! :)
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