Hey folks, I finally got back from Hong Kong last week, and had a blast. I chose Hong Kong because A. it was close and B. I heard people speak English there. I had not ventured outside the land of the rising sun for quite a while, so it was refreshing. I'm also really glad that I'm only an hourish from the Airport!
On the first day when I got there I had at least 10 maps I printed out to make sure I didn't get lost, and I was able to find the place I was staying at, the Anne Black Guest House. I had a random headache(obviously from the unbearable jet lag from the 1hr time difference) and pretty much crashed when I finally got to my room. I was glad that the room had some decent AC so I just let that sucker run full blast while I slept.
For the next two days I would just walk around the city, to get my bearings. I got pretty lost once as for some reason I had decided that leaving my city map in my hotel room would be a great idea. Luckily I asked a random stranger with a smart phone and he was able to send me in the right direction.
After I got used to walking around, I decided that it was time to start shoppin as it's always a good time to shop for cheap foreign junk when you're out of Japan. I decided to go to a supermarket first. To my surprise I was able to find Ruffles, Spam, Campbell's Soup, and American candy. I stocked up on the wonderful American Junk food. I would later go on to an International Market to find Munchies, Rold Golds, and Miracle Whip, all impossible goods to find in Japan. Sweet relief!!!
Later in the week I would venture down into the shopping districts such as the ladies market and sneakers street. There were soooo many brand name shoe stores here, it was overwhelming. Adidas, Nike, Reebok, like 2 of each store on each side of the street. I was glad as the stores here had shoes over a size 11 as those are also impossible to find in Japan(they did occasionally have size 11+ in Japan, but most of them were of the ugly shoes imao). The shoe selection here was also the best I've ever seen, better than the US and leagues ahead of Japan. I got me a pair of sweet Nike Free's for less than $100, I was happy. So if you want a new pair of sneakers in asia, go to Hong Kong. A+ selection and good price. I'm assuming it's because the sweat shop is on the other side of town, aka somewhere in China.
I also went onto the ladies and electronics market. This place was full of obvious bootleg items and very aggressive merchants, lol. The only things I got out of here were some cheap shirts and a cheap pair of earphones(which is funny, because the bootleg ones I found had better bass than the ones I paid decent money for, they're getting better at this counterfeit business!). Most of the stuff here was junk, an obvious tourist trap market. Lots of foreign toys(a bunch of Angry Birds junk was here!) I love HK t shirts, and other clothes.
A couple other places I went to shop at were the health shop near my hotel. It was pretty nice at they were stocked with many products I've never seen in the US, most stuff you can only get on the Internet(in North Carolina at least). I picked up some protein powder and other junk, they had pretty good prices.
The last day I went to the Ocean Park I had heard so much about. It was pretty awesome, it was a hybrid Zoo/Theme Park, and had the best of both worlds. I saw Giant Pandas, Red Pandas, and other various aquatic animals at the zoo. I also had the chance to watch their trained seal show. I checked out the waterfront as well, they had a nice light show. I also must have gone on an off day, there were barely any lines(except for the bumper cars). I rode the sky drop so many times, until I got tired of running back to the entrance, lol.
Also while in Hong Kong I decided to try my hand at Acupuncture. So I looked up a place on the Internet that could speak English, and headed out. Amazingly it was very cheap, and didn't take much time at all.
Anyway all in all it was a great trip, I was surprised how much the Chinese were into Japanese culture as well, I found many places such as Genki Sushi, Gyuukaku, and Animate in Hong Kong. The Animate even had Chinese versions of popular anime in Japan such as Madoka Magica, Pokemon, and Naruto. I tried looking for a Shonen Jump but couldn't find one :(. Game stores were also filled to the brink with Japanese and English games, mostly Japanese games. Game centers pretty much had only Japanese games, even Gundam and Street Fighter 5 lol. Everyone over here also turns into smart phone zombies on the train, just like in Japan. So my trip was pretty much a trip to Japan, only a Japan filled with Chinese people.
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