Shenzhen and Hong Kong in Dec 2009

I had the opportunity to go to Hong Kong last December with my sis in law, Ayu. She had some work to do and I was invited to tag along. It was just me of course no kiddies. We were in Shenzhen, China first for 3 nights and spent a night in Hong Kong. I don't have any pictures of Hong Kong because I only managed to get a memory card for my pocket camera later. All the pixs are with Ayu and I will downloand them once, if, I get them from her.

Shenzhen is about a 45 min drive from Hong Kong. It was definitely not what I expected. It reminds me of New York and also Singapore. There are nothing but high rise buildings there. It is just building after building and busy streets. Just like New York. Despite the cold winter wind, people were everywhere rushing here and there.

We managed to get some shopping done there ( I would probably only go back for the material, bought all the Chinese silk I could) and the food. They took us to this Muslim restaurant and the lamb was fantastic! Cooked several ways Mongolian style but all tasty as ever. In fact, that was all I seemed to want to eat anyways. With the lamb dishes on the table I didn't even look at the oher dishes.

We also managed some sightseeing and saw Windows of the World and some cultural shows. Very interesting ... it was like the whole of China in an hour. Windows of the World was really awesome, they had a replica of every possible world landmark in a huge theme park like area. Takes about 3 hours for you to walk the whole park. You have the Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, even Jesus Christ on top of that hill in Brazil, Mount Rushmore, pyramids, windmills in Holland, Taj Mahal and even the entire Borrobodur, in greatest detail too. I have some great pixs from there and will share them with you soonest!

What was Hong Kong like? Dirtier compared to Shenzhen for one and congested. It's like being in Bukit Bintang on a larger scale. We were taken to Harbour City, the largest and longest mall, it is like 4 malls in one entire stretch. Of course I didn't and couldn't walk the entire stretch but managed to get some retail therapy done. We were also taken to the Ladies Market which is Petaling Street for us. An experience no doubt.

This is me with Bruce Lee on the Avenue of Stars. We stayed at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kowloon Hong Kong which is right opposite this walk. So lucky we caugh the Star Cruise ship at the back too!

That is the skyline of Hong Kong and that tower, forgot its name, is the tallest in Hong Kong. It was extremely foggy when we were there. In fact so was Shenzhen. Must be because it is winter. Reminded me of the gloomy days in winterland Kalamazoo when I was studying.

That is me at the Ladies Market. We got a whole load of souvenirs here. The fake handbags and shoes were in abundance here, you actually have catalogues to choose from!

For dinner in Hong Kong they took us to this Kebab place. I had this really fantastic Lamb Pizza, it was extremely delicious!

When we arrived in Hong Kong we took some time to walk the streets and it was very much like Singapore. This picture was taken from the mosque where we stopped for Zohor. Can't remember the street but it was comforting to see a fairly big sized mosque on such a busy street. Traffic of cars, buses and people did not seem to stop at all. We passed by the same way at about 10pm and it was the same scene.

I would not mind going to Hong Kong again as I did not get to see all the sights. As for shopping, yes there are more choices there and all you need is money! Lots of it too!!!!