5 days in Hong Kong

I spent 5 days and 6 nights in Hong Kong. It was a great time to be there; the city looked beautiful, as they were preparing for the Chinese New Year (March 17, 18, and 19th). Hong Kong was an amazing city; expensive, but amazing...I have uploaded some photos to give you a taste of what I saw there:

The view from Kowloon was amazing; a nice Chinese man took this picture for me, but didn't quite know how to focus the camera...

The Man Mo Temple was right on the corner near the apartment where I was staying. I walked by it every time I was coming or going. The incense coils at the top of the picture are lit 24 hours a day, and the smoke is supposed to carry a person's prayers to the spirits (it was either the spirits or God, but the main point that I'm trying to make is that the incense makes your prayers more likely to be answered or at least speeds up the process.)

Compared to Saigon, Hanoi, Phnom Penh and Manila, Hong Kong's streets were no people in the streest and there were no motor scooters on the sidewalks. The streets themselves were very clean (I was told that they've made a huge effort to be sanitary since the SARS epidemic). Stores open at about 10:30 am and are open late, as well as most outdoor markets.

My Fulbright friend, Sara, was in Hong Kong for one night. We found this amazing dim sum restaurant by accident and ate breakfast there. We were the only foreigners in the place, and it was packed with people. It reminded me of a really busy local diner at about 8 am in the USA. The dim sum and the tea were AMAZING; we sat at a table with 5 locals, including one senior citizen who just watched us intently while we tried different dim sum plates. There were two other couples at our table and one of them translated and helped us figure out how everything worked. We kept saying how amazing the food was, and they kept saying that it was just "typical Chinese dim sum". This was the best meal I had in Hong Kong, and it cost $13 USD for both of us (very cheap for Hong Kong.)

This large Tian Tan Buddha statue on Lantau island was quite a sight. It is the world's largest, outdoor, seated, bronze statue (don't ask me where the largest indoor or gold one is; however, I believe the world's largest standing, outdoor, bronze buddha statue is in Korea.)

I randomly bumped into two other Fulbright ETA's at an outdoor market. From left: Me, Katy and Cara. We ended up meeting up the following day for dinner and some walking around. (They loaned me the sunglasses for this picture.)

The view from the top of Victoria Peak. I took a tram up the hill and then hiked around. It was a little bit foggy and smoggy this time of year, but I think you get the picture...