Would You Like A Copy?

Out of all the major cities I've visited, I'd have to say Hong Kong has been my favorite. New York City was too dirty and busy, London, about the same and I found the Tube and Subway ridiculously confusing. Hong Kong is clean and their subway system, the MTR, was amazingly easy to navigate. I mean if I can do it, a small child could, and we did see young elementary aged children using the MTR on their way home from school, all by themselves. Also, almost everybody speaks English and there's English under the Chinese characters on all the signs. So if you're going to visit China, not only is it much easier to get a Visa to Hong Kong than Mainland, but it's English friendly as well.

Sight seeing was fun but exhausting in Hong Kong and we hit some touristy areas. There really weren't many non-Asian tourists, so we still stood out where ever we went. But I was able to use my Chinese here and there, and even Tony utilized his Chinese that he knows, shocking some people along the way. :) Although he got himself in trouble once saying thank you in Chinese because then the waitress began to speak a slew of Chinese to him at which he had to shake his head and shrug his shoulders at. We also tried to hit up the non-touristy areas, which led us to a night market where I really only saw one other white person. We ate at a very authentic local restaurant that was out of meat, and although we tried to leave after we found that out, were scolded in Chinese by the waitress to sit back down and she brought us both out fried rice. It was good, but Tony wasn't satisfied, he had really wanted some meat. We also found this amazing restaurant called Taiwan Beef Noodle, it was freaking amazing. We want to start a chain in the states, although it could use a catchier name.

Other than constantly being harassed as to whether or not we'd like a "copy" handbag or watch or a tailored suit, Hong Kong was a fun experience. We also visited on of the towns on the coast, Stanley, at the suggestion of a Scottish bartender at an Irish Pub we'd stopped at. This bartender had been living in Hong Kong for 15 years and still wasn't fluent in what he called "Hong Kong Chinese" (also known as Cantonese) just to give you an idea of how easy it is to get along with English there. Stanley was very pretty, but definitely touristy.