Walk out of the terminal and it’s easy to see the MTR (metro/subway) information booth. I grab Hong Kong dollars from the ATM and then head to the info desk since my bill is too big for the auto-ticket machine. Hong Kong uses different money than China. The whole time I’ve been travelling I just get cash from the ATM. A lot of countries outside of the US are more cash based. You can only use credit in really big department stores or nicer restaurants. I am the type of person who typically uses my credit card for everything so I can get rewards points, but that doesn’t work when I’m travelling.
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| Mainland China money |
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| Hong Kong 10 dollars (about $1.50 USD), isn't it pretty?? |
The airport subway line takes me directly to Kowloon and from there I take a taxi to my hostel.
Hong Kong includes a peninsula off of China and hundreds of islands. The main three areas are Hong Kong, Kowloon, and Lantau, which are pretty close together and connected by tunnels and bridges.
I arrive at the place where my hostel is supposed to be and I have no idea where to go. I see shops and food stalls and so many people, but I cannot figure out which building I need to go to. It’s hot and sticky and gross outside and I am hungry! So ready to get to my place, chill out, and find food. Luckily I have my phone and it works in HK, just uses more money for minutes. I call and the woman who answers says she will come down to meet me. As soon as she meets me she hands me her business card, Miss Kitty Choi haha. We go up a small elevator with some other guests and get to Geo-Home Holiday World Guesthouse. She hands me my key, a bottle of water, shows me the map of the nearby area on the back of her business card, and off I go. I walk into my room and I seriously want to cry. No more open courtyard, no more quiet walks in the hutong, no more SPACE! My room is literally a closet. There’s no shower either. Just a small space next to the toilet where you need to stand and rinse over the sink. This is life in the big city.
I call my high school friend Megan and we make plans to meet, but she’s at work and needs to see her Grandmother later, so it’ll just be for dinner.
I'm by myself for 2 more days, so I figure I better do something! I decide I'll eat, take my clothes to be washed, and get a manicure/pedicure. I ask Miss Kitty where I can drop my laundry off and where to get a manicure. She shows me on the map the nearest laundry and SaSa for my manicure. I'm like cool! I've got errands to run! Then she reaches in her purse and pulls out some nail clippers, "here you go, they have a lot of different nail polish at SaSa, and other makeup too"...uhhhh??! What?! Turns out SaSa is a beauty supply store, not a salon. I tell Miss Kitty, no, I want to go to salon and she's like WHY?! It's like $100 (less than $13 USD) sooo expensive! Just do it yourself! I think to myself, really?! I don't have a file, nail polish remover in case I mess up, plus I'll have to suffocate on nail polish in that tiny room?! I finally just tell her thanks, but I'm on vacation and just want a treat, so I'll find one myself :p
It takes me a while to figure out where she means the laundry place is on my map, but it gives me time to walk around and get a feel for the neighborhood. In HK (I also saw this somewhat in Beijing, but not to this extent), they have particular streets that only sell one category of stuff. So the entire block behind my hostel are little stores all dedicated to selling things for the home. So there's one store that only sells doorknobs and door handles. That's it. Another that just sells sliding glass for your patio door. Etc...The block in front of my hostel is all pet stores. Lots of stores selling fish and puppies, and cats, you name it. It's kinda neat, but kinda odd to me at the same time.
I'm by myself for 2 more days, so I figure I better do something! I decide I'll eat, take my clothes to be washed, and get a manicure/pedicure. I ask Miss Kitty where I can drop my laundry off and where to get a manicure. She shows me on the map the nearest laundry and SaSa for my manicure. I'm like cool! I've got errands to run! Then she reaches in her purse and pulls out some nail clippers, "here you go, they have a lot of different nail polish at SaSa, and other makeup too"...uhhhh??! What?! Turns out SaSa is a beauty supply store, not a salon. I tell Miss Kitty, no, I want to go to salon and she's like WHY?! It's like $100 (less than $13 USD) sooo expensive! Just do it yourself! I think to myself, really?! I don't have a file, nail polish remover in case I mess up, plus I'll have to suffocate on nail polish in that tiny room?! I finally just tell her thanks, but I'm on vacation and just want a treat, so I'll find one myself :p
It takes me a while to figure out where she means the laundry place is on my map, but it gives me time to walk around and get a feel for the neighborhood. In HK (I also saw this somewhat in Beijing, but not to this extent), they have particular streets that only sell one category of stuff. So the entire block behind my hostel are little stores all dedicated to selling things for the home. So there's one store that only sells doorknobs and door handles. That's it. Another that just sells sliding glass for your patio door. Etc...The block in front of my hostel is all pet stores. Lots of stores selling fish and puppies, and cats, you name it. It's kinda neat, but kinda odd to me at the same time.
I grab a watermelon slush, then go and nap in my room til it's time to meet Megan for dinner.
Megan is vegan, so she suggested Loving Hut, an international vegan casual/fast food place.
Dinner was pretty tasty, I actually only got a small container of a side dish with mushroom, tofu skin, and bamboo shoots, a basil seed drink and a vegan egg tart. I wasn't that hungry, but I also shared some of Megan's food too.
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