Living Local! #1: Hong Kong

Today was the day that I finally set off on my adventure overseas! First I took a flight to Beijing which then connected to Hong Kong after a 2 hour layover, I was flying alone but the 12 hour plane ride wasn't too bad because I slept the entire way. When I got to Beijing I was greeted by smoggy skies and a very thorough security check for anyone flying in and out the country; reminiscent of airport security in America. After I got through the customs and security I found my gate where I snapped this photo inside the Beijing Airport.

The architecture of this building was very impressive and similar to the style of the woven nest for the Beijing Olympics. This airport was huge and I'm sad I only got to see a portion of it because I had to catch my connecting flight. However this airport did not have any usable Wi-Fi or everything was censored by the government so sites like Facebook, YouTube, etc. didn't work if you were able to get a connection somehow.

I had done some research beforehand and read about the different voltage adapters that other countries around the world had so I bought a universal adapter that can transform into any needed pin connectors. So if you plan on traveling out of the country remember to buy one of these beforehand. It allowed me to charge my phone in the airport while I was waiting with no issues. One of these adapters will run you around $5-$10 depending what brand you get but I'm sure they all work well.

2 hours after later and I landed in Hong Kong where I would meet my girlfriend! I am so glad to be here because I can speak Cantonese and I really enjoy speaking it, I can't really explain it but it makes me feel happy. So I meet my girlfriend at baggage claim and we decide how we're going to get to our AirBnb. At first we decide to try Uber as to avoid any overpriced airport taxi prices but the driver got lost multiple times because of our splotchy internet. For our phone service my girlfriend and I decided to get a portable Wi-Fi device that can be used anywhere around the world. It's called the Keepgo by Huawei and provides adequate connection despite being usable across most countries. We purchased the Keepgo for ~$110 and it comes with a 1 GB data plan that we plan to use sparingly to navigate/use applications like Uber. Anyways after wasting about an hour trying to get an Uber we decide to line up for a taxi which, I don't know why we didn't do in the first place, was quite efficient and we got a taxi to take us to where we wanted in under 5 minutes.

The airport is about 30-40 minutes from the main city and that ride cost us about $80 HKD which equates to around 10 dollars which is pretty cheap considering it was an airport taxi and the ride was quite far with a few toll roads along the way. When we got to our AirBnb, which was inside a very small apartment complex, we were greeted with an elder lady who acted as the door person. She asked who we were as she didn't recognize us and we said AirBnb guests which she seemed to disapprove/get upset about but when we told her it was our friend she seemed more lenient about the whole situation. Anyways we walk up to the 2nd floor where our apartment was and are greeted by a small approximately 500 sq/ft apartment in which we would share space with the owner. I know Hong Kong was notorious for it's lack of space but this was quite shocking to me how small everything is and how they do things like keep the toilet and shower together just to save space. Despite being small the price for the AirBnb was rather cheap costing us $20 a night so $10 per person.

After putting our personal belongings down we decided to check out the area known as Tsim Sha Tsui where we got Xiao Long Baos w/ Hong Kong's signature lemon black tea which is one of my favorite drinks ever. If you don't know Xiao Long Baos are small dumplings that are filled with hot soup inside and they are amazing.

We also got other dishes like Dan Dan Mien, which are a peanut buttery / chili oil type noodle that are to die for, some vegetables and vegetable baos. On top they garnish it with some ground pork usually and some green onions. If you like peanutty, carby, spicy foods like I do this is the one for you. Sorry I didn't get a picture of it I was too busy enjoying myself. The entire meal run us around $140 HKD ~ $20 USD which is so great because I love food and getting it cheap is even better.

After eating we walked around the shopping center that Tsim Sha Tsui is known for and I got a general taste of the fashion in Hong Kong. I noticed many brands that people in the US like are also trendy in Hong Kong namely Adidas. I think it's amazing how their following around the world seemed to have doubled as anyone you see at any age will be wearing Adidas in some way shape or form. People here also seem to like big name brands like Gucci, Prada, Bape, etc. and aren't afraid to spend a little money on it. Despite having an adoration for these big brand names there are a lot of replicas that you can find on the street and it becomes quite difficult to distinguish between "real" per se and counterfeit items when they are branded with the names.

Found this little boutique shop that had this on the wall which I resonated with because I think fashion nowadays is everyone trying to one up each other with the price of their clothing when it should be about individualism and functionality of what you're wearing. That doesn't mean I don't like name brand clothing it's just that people buy into it too easily in my opinion.

After checking out the whole plaza we decided to grab a light snack before we head back home. This time we got a small bowl of instant noodles with some fried eggs on top.

It was cheap, quick, and yummy meal to end the day. So far Hong Kong has been everything I expected and I can't wait for tomorrow. See you guys soon!~