Sunday, November 29, 2009

Hannah's 7th Birthday - Day 2

Our second day was a tour around Hong Kong.

Avenue of the Stars is a few blocks away from our hotel but felt farther when we took the tourist bus because of all the stops, straights and turns. We passed by the same buildings twice or thrice as we drove along different streets. Kinda like deja-vu.

img_8828



img_8814



img_8817


Next stop is Jewellery City Co. Ltd. They offer lifetime warranty to all their merchandize. If what you bought gets damaged, just go back there and they'll fix it for free. The reason they gave is that no matter how old your gold is, it's still gold. But they sure are expensive.

img_8868



JC Jewelry panorama


You'll see how they make jewelries.

img_8852



img_8854



img_8863


Aside from jewelries, they also make these colorful gem globes.

img_8888



img_8881


A big chunk of natural rock found filled with Amethyst. Yummy for jewelers! I want to find one.

img_8904


Next stop was a sampan ride that takes you around a jumbo floating restaurant and a fishing village. Hmmm, smells fishy.

img_8959



img_8939


The last stop of the tour was Victoria peak. It was smaller than what I expected but has a good view of all the tall buildings of Hong Kong. There's a picture guide there that explains the highlights of the harbor view are and the major skyscrapers.

img_8990



Victoria peak panorama 3


It was still early when we reached the hotel so after an hour of rest it was time to explore Hong Kong on our own, without the tour guides and shuttle buses. Outside the 3-day Hong Kong package tour.

We took the subway from Tsim Sha Tsui station to Mongkok station and finally found out where the Hong Kong folks are. We were already wondering why there were not that many people are in the streets around our hotel, well, they were underground. Busy walking and taking the trains to wherever they were going.

img_9085



img_9084


One thing we noticed is the high density of 7-eleven franchise stores. As we walked around our hotel we found 3 of them just 5 minutes walking distance from each other. It's reasonable considering the high density of the area.

img_9529


When we reached Mongkok station and exit at the Ladies Night Market it felt like Divisoria with the audio set to Chinese mode complete with their version of yummy street foods.

img_9090



img_9124



img_9119


Shopping - a good way to end day 2 in Hong Kong.