The pearl of the orient

We've spent the last 2 days in Hong Kong. What a great city! I've included a lids below of some of the things we've learned so far:

Skyline:
The Hong Kong skyline is truly stunning, by day or by night. At night, the buildings light up with dazzling displays. Every night, the buildings display a synchronized light show, visible from across the harbor. Right now, many of the buildings are decorated with Christmas or New Year displays.

Mobile phones:
Everybody has them and never stops looking at them. On the train, it's typical to see every single passenger looking at a phone. Today, one guy on the train was looking at a small smart phone. He finished, put it away, then pulled a large smart phone out of his pocket and continued working on that one.

Food:

The food is really good here. Our first meal in town, we wandered into a food court above a local market. The area was packed with people. We were the only non-Asian faces in the crowd, and all the menus were in Chinese. We were lucky to be greeted by a friendly English-speaking waiter who helped us figure it all out. We were thankful, because it was one of our best meals of the trip. For dinner, we went for dim sum. We had various steamed buns and dumplings. Yum!


Language:
Thankfully, many of the locals are bilingual. Most signs are in Chinese and English. So getting around and getting help has not been am issue. Actually, this had been a theme everywhere on the trip. It is very easy to travel as am English speaker.

Prices:

Hong Kong costs about the same as home for most things. This is fine, but a huge contrast with the other places we've been. Our hotel is reasonably priced, but our room is about 10 ft x 15 ft. That includes the bathroom. Space is at a premium here.

Shopping:
Basically, the whole city is a shopping mall. There are all sorts of multi-story shopping centers filled with designer shops and good restaurants. We also noticed that every mall has elaborate Christmas displays.

Transit:
It's really easy getting around here. The metro is excellent and fast. Very essay to use.

Parks:
There are a few very nice parks. We visited Hong Kong Park with a great aviary and conservatory. Another had botanical gardens and a zoo. All this makes for great free entertainment. Today, we even got to see baby orangutans and acrobatic gibbons.

Kung fu:
Today, we watched a free Kung Fu show in the park. It was really fun. Quite elaborate for a show put on by a local club of amateurs.

Tomorrow is new years eve. We will ring in the new year on the harbor front, where there will be a big fireworks display on the outside side of the harbor.