Hong Kong, China

We were sad to leave Luis behind, but we knew that we would soon all be reunited again in the near future.  To console our spirits we were surprised with a First Class upgrade on our flight to Hong Kong.  I realized that if anything gets Courtney in a good mood it is a First Class seat.  Our flight to HK was great and we arrived without any problems.  We stayed at the Sheraton Towers on the island of Kowloon.  We got a great room with a magnificent view of HK's breathtaking harbor skyline.  The weather did not cooperate with us this time, since it was cold and rainy.  In hindsight this was a good thing.  We used the next three days in HK to continue planning our year long trip.  No matter how much you plan ahead of time unexpected things will arise that will force us to change things around, Japan is an example of this.  We did a lot of research on Africa, the Middle East, and South America.  Pretty soon we will have to book those segments of the trip.  However, with all the chaos that happens in these parts of the world we will wait until the last possible minute before we have to commit our scarce resources!

Peace and Happiness for Court

Destination - Kowloon!

We did leave our hotel a few times and walked around this impressive city.  The number of buildings is incredible. There are high rises, lights, and traffic everywhere you look.  I am pretty sure this has to be one of the most populated cities in the world.  What it is really interesting about HK is that it is one of two Special Administrative Regions (SAR) in China.  When the Brits turned over HK to China an agreement was signed between both countries that HK would retain its political and economic system for 50 years.  With the signing of the agreement, China also represents HK on all military and foreign relation matters.

There're a few must do's in HK, and one of them is taking the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Victoria Harbor.  This is one of the best places to admire the HK skyline.  It is also very cheap, so there was no way were going to miss out.   The ferry drops you off on the island of Hong Kong.  This where a lot of the action happens.  We ventured to Hollywood street and SOHO.  Despite the light drizzle we walked the streets HK and stopped a couple of times to take advantage of happy hour specials.

Our last night in HK saw us relaxing at the hotel.  With the rain still falling we decided to take a dip in the hot tub.  It was a perfect way to end our stay.  We had an early flight the next day to Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo.

See you in Kota Kinabalu!