My mom is a nurse so she and my dad have been taking care of a lot of business work that my family members there just weren't qualified to do. They're there now, and it's been hard to keep in touch since there's always very limited access to the internet and to phones (phone cards = annoying) but they try to update me and my sis as much as possible. Um, things aren't looking great, but my parents and my grandma seem to be keeping their spirits up no matter what the outcome is. It's just a lot of preparation which I'm not very experienced in (thank goodness, I guess) and I mostly worry for how it will affect my mom and my grandma and I just wish I could be there for them.
So, yeah, just recently a lot of worrying and frustration that I don't know exactly what's going on and I can't be there to comfort my parents and help them out with things, and to be there to see my other (lots of) family that are in Hong Kong... it sucks that I have to be here trying to concentrate on studying for finals, if you can imagine.
But with that said and done, I'd like to take the time to (happily and gratefully) reminisce some reasons why I love Hong Kong and shed some light on why I enjoy going there so often and why I talk about it so much to you people. Maybe you can join me sometime, I know you'd love it!
In no particular order, these are some of my many favorite places to visit in Hong Kong.
Avenue of the Stars
Avenue of the Stars is the Hollywood of Hong Kong. It's located on the Victoria Harbor waterfront, on mainland Hong Kong, with a beautiful view of the skyscrapers and buildings across the river on Hong Kong Island. It is in a popular shopping district, plus there are lots of other things to do here like go to museums, eat great food, ride different boats across the river and just enjoy the awesome weather and the gorgeous views. There are celebrity statues and a walk of fame on the ground along the harbor and it's just a place I always go to at least once when I visit HK.
Hong Kong Disneyland
I've only been to Hong Kong Disneyland once, actually. But I loved it from the get-go. It is such, such a beautiful and unique place with gorgeous architecture and designs. Hong Kong Disneyland is so clean and nice and new, and--best of all--it has the greatest well-priced food ever. It is eons better than the food in Disneyland here, with dim sum and Japanese options and great meal sizes with good prices... what can I say, I love to eat!
Grand Century Plaza
Grand Century Plaza is probably one of the places I spend the most time in when I go to HK. It's a wonderful mall with like over 6 floors and the best clothing stores, bookstores, a fabulous food court and restaurants (I love to eat!!!), and they always have really fun and great events going on in the main area. The decorations are beautiful and best of all, it's attached to the wonderful hotel we usually stay at which makes for easy access (and for laziness which I have plenty of). The mall is also within walking distance of my grandparents' house and connected to the train station so its completely the most convenient and fun place ever!
Hong Kong Jockey Club
I've been to the Jockey Club twice so far because my uncle is a member and it's just way too much fun! He spoils us and gets us private boxes with amazing views of the track, buffet lunches, and private tellers that place our bets. Betting! I love to bet on horse races (it's probably the only gambling I'll ever attempt), we get to look at the stats and read about them (though I usually bet based on how much I like the jockey's uniform). People are so hardcore about horse racing and its a super great place to be on big racedays. :)
Ocean Park Hong Kong
I've been going to this amusement park probably since the beginning of (my) time, like when I was 3-4 years old? It's sort of like a Sea World, but with better rides... they have great aquatic animal shows and aquariums to go to, plus last time I went they had this really fun (and inadvertently hilarious) ice capades-like show. They have a cute seal mascot dude and it's always really crowded but still fun nonetheless. The amusement park is like on different levels (think Universal Studios) that you can ride a cable car to and from and on top a mountain which has a giant seahorse carved into it which is also really cool.
Victoria Peak
Besides the fact that it's named after me, Victoria Peak is one of the most fun attractions in Hong Kong and a must for us to visit each time we go to HK. It's a giant mountain that people usually hike--it's a huge circle with great views of Hong Kong as you walk and our family usually hikes it for New Year's as sort of a resolution/new year/renewal thing (if you get my drift). After the hike, there's a great center to go to with shops of all sorts and restaurants. My sister and I must get the Smoked Salmon Pizza at this restaurant called Cafe Deco... it's unrivaled and we've never even seen it made anywhere else. It's wonderfullll (food again, seeing a trend?). You also get to take a really cool tram up/down to Victoria Peak and that's a fun thing we always like to do too.
No comments:
Post a Comment