Hong Kong, oh, how I love you!

We just spent a few days in Hong Kong over Christmas!  A little trip to someplace warmer than Seoul, and to a place that I have always wanted to see.  I loved it!!  And there were palm trees along the road from the airport!  I never knew I missed them until I saw them there, lining the road.

The view of the Hong Kong side of the harbor to the east from our hotel room window:


Since Hong Kong is a former British colony, they drive on the left side of the road.  So along the cross walks, they painted which direction you should look.


The Star Ferry terminal at the Convention Center.  It takes less than 10 minutes to cross the harbor from this terminal to Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side.

On our first day in Hong Kong, we rode the tram west out towards Kennedy Town and walked back towards the convention center area where we were staying, checking out the dried seafood store area and some of the main shopping areas.

Poinsettias at a nearby building -- definitely a holiday flavor.  In the more crowded areas, Christmas music was playing on the streets.


A walkway along the harbor.


Sign in a park.  Spitting is not allowed in Hong Kong, which makes for a nice difference compared to Seoul, where you need to watch when you're walking along the street for men about to spit.  There is also a lot of no smoking laws in Hong Kong, so bars and restaurants aren't filled with smoke.


Sign on building.

Tram that runs along Hong Kong Island.  $29 for a Subway value meal seems like a lot, but $29HKD is really only about $3.75USD.


A dried seafood goods store.


A narrow building.


Street off of the main drag in one of the high end shopping areas.  Note the large crowds -- this is normal.  Although out at the more residential ends of the tram line, it's much less crowded.


The Victoria Peak Tram, as viewed from the observation deck. Riding the tram up is kind of like riding Thunder Mountain at Disneyland, except there are no curves, it's just straight up.  And riding it down is like riding Thunder Mountain backwards, because you sit facing the peak.


View of Hong Kong Harbor from Victoria Peak.

Dumplings!!  We had lunch at the Chinese restaurant there at the top of Victoria Peak.  We had (clockwise, from upper right) beef balls, pan fried pork dumplings, and steamed bbq pork buns.  The pan fried pork dumplings are my favorites.  Or is it the crab, pork and asparagus?  Or the Shainghainese style dumplings in Macau?  Oh, they're all so good.


More poinsettias.


Building in Central area.