36 hours in port - 9 hours working – 1 hour of sleep = 23 hours of Jen & Luke’s windwhirl tour of Hong Kong

It seems like forever ago when I found out I would be heading to Hong Kong on my contract. In December, March seemed like it would never appear but at last! I was finally going to see my long lost cousin (well… I saw her in the summer BUT never where she lives!) After working the night shift and getting off at 8am, I was WAY too excited to even think of sleeping or resting before seeing Jen. Originally we had planned to meet around 11am but I immediately called her when I finished work for her to meet me as soon as possible.

Jen came and met me at the pier where my home was docked and we started are windwhirl tour of Hong Kong. Our first stop was Mong Kok which was a busy marketplace with the streets lined with all kinds of clothing, bags, and other random items. We enjoyed a bubble tea, shopped in a few shops (I absolutely love that I found H&M and Cotton On and that things were super cheap!) and then headed for lunch.

Our lunch was rather interesting as we went to toilet themed restaurant called Modern Toilet where everything was bathroom related, you sat on toilets, you ate out of sinks and you sat at tables made of bathtubs. I must say Asians think of the weirdest ideas for things…

After having a quick bite, we went across town and took the famed Star Ferry across the harbor to the bottom of the Peak. We headed up to the Peak via cable car (which at some points you were almost completely vertical) where you get a view of the entire city and also, this is a special spot for Jen since Luke proposed to her there. While in the building, heading up to the top of the peak, the escalator ended up getting the best of me and cutting my toe open. (I now understand why you shouldn’t wear flip flops on these things.) A very friendly information booth worker came to my rescue and bandaged my toe all up… clearly it was her first time doing this since my cut was only small but she wrapped my toe all up to make it out like I broke the thing… Regardless, she was quite sweet and I was just glad me and Jen could get back on schedule.

After doing a bit more shopping and looking around, we headed to dinner at the top of the Peak at Bumba Gump’s which is a themed restaurant all based on the Forest Gump movie. (Again, another weird Asian theme?) This overlooked the city and it was neat to see the sun set and Hong Kong come to life (Night life that is) with all the lights turning on as the sun went down. We made our way to the rooftop which was packed with people to try to catch a glimpse of the beautiful city at night.

By this time, it was getting to the time to meet up with Luke who had been working all day so we headed to well known bar street. The street was lined with different bars and people standing all in the street. We met up with Luke at a Canadian bar called Stormie’s and finally after 3 months I had a Coors Light (which for those who know me well, is my beer of choice and these Aussie’s have no idea about it) Soon, it was getting close to my time to return back to my home so I could start my shift for the night.

The next morning after 9 hours of work, Jen and Luke picked me up and took me on a tour of the Hong Kong country side. This was really nice to see since the first day was all about the city (which I LOVED and can’t wait to go back!!) but it was neat to see that there was a lot of natural beauty to Hong Kong as well. We headed out to Jen and Luke’s house which is an awesome three story house with lots of windows with sunlight and a nice roof top balcony to view the mountains surrounding their house. At this point, I was in need of two things, a short nap of an hour and a cup of coffee when I woke up which Jen readily supplied.

We headed into a waterfront fish market town which the streets were lined with aquariums filled with different sea creatures that you could pick and they would cook it for you in the restaurants right there. Anyone knowing me knows I would have no part in this so we made our way to a cowboy ranch style saloon and had a bite to eat. (Tempura battered pickles… way better than beer battered ones in Canada!)

Our time was coming to an end as it was all board for staff at 5:00PM so we raced back to the ship and said our goodbyes before they sent me on my way. It was sad to leave Hong Kong but I now understand why Jen loves it so much over there and I can’t wait to come back (but for a much longer time) to visit her again.

These 36 hours definitely made up for my first impressions of Asia.