Hong Kong Part I

Okay, today is the day I take my stand, and return to this blog.  It kills me that I've neglected this blog so very badly.  The house is only a minimal excuse, because the house is only the house.  I do have a life outside of the house, even if some days, it doesn't feel that way. 
So without further adieu, I welcome you readers back to my blog!  Of course, I will start with something really easy and totally non-boring, but what a great way to start:  Hong Kong!

As I said in my previous post, the flight over was fantastic!  The most exciting part for me was that this was only the second time in my nine years living here that I managed to fly east of Munich.  And that one time I flew east of Munich it was to Istanbul, I never even set foot on the Asian continent.  We were so lucky on the flight over to have fantastic weather, that allowed me to see the landscape almost the entire trip (well, at least into Russia, then we hit night.) 

Poland, between Lodz and Warsaw

Near Minsk, Belarus

Somewhere in Russia.  The map on the plan was sparse with details.

I felt like a little kid, it was so very exciting!  And then, I felt so bummed when the flight attendants came by and had us put down our window shades.  Grr!

We landed in Hong Kong at 6:40 am.  I was so happy that the sun had risen, so I could snap a few shots of our approach.  The Hong Kong airport is built on reclaimed land, which has resulted in the airport being more of an island unto itself. 

Once we got through immigration and customs, we made our way over to the train.  The train is a high-speed train that has three stops; Tsing Yi, a former fishing village; Kowloon, the southern part of Hong Kong connected to the mainland; and Hong Kong island. 

Although the train ride was very quick, it did give me a good opportunity to take in some of the areas around Hong Kong.  I was immediately impressed that this was a huge city with a lush, green, mountainous backdrop.

We also rode by the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals, which quickly reminded me that not only were we coming to a cool city, but that this city is responsible for the transport of many of the products we use daily.  Hong Kong is completely a global player.

Once at the train station, on Hong Kong island, we then took a shuttle bus to the hotel. 
Again the shuttle bus provided more time for sightseeing.  And very slow sightseeing at that, the traffic was insane!



After a good rest, we headed to the convention center, for our main purpose of the trip, to go to the Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair.  Of course, I already had to take a million pictures on the five minute walk to the convention center.

The most amazing thing to me in Hong Kong was the sheer amount of things to see. It was like a feast for the senses.

The fair itself was interesting.  We were only there for about two hours on Wednesday.  The exhibition center is the building in the bottom left corner in the above collage.   I noticed the big trends there were handbag hangers, paddle ball sets, and of course, waveboards.  Again, this was a gift fair, hence waveboards and handbag hangers.

We were lucky, while we were visiting the fair, the sun started to set.  So, as we left, we got our first glimpse of Hong Kong at dusk.  This is when Hong Kong gets its second wind.

After a yummy burger dinner at the White Stag, a British pub, Joern and I went for a little walk around Wan Chai, the quintessential Hong Kong district where we were staying.  Despite being exhausted, I couldn't help but want to get out and see Hong Kong!