Holy Hong Kong!: 40 hours in the world’s most dynamic city.

As per usual I decided very last minute to hop on a plane this weekend, not wanting to miss out on a travel opportunity. What I didn’t think about was that I was entering a city already known for its 24hr appeal and that I would be there during rugby’s largest 7s tournament and all that this entails. With only 40 hours to take in Hong Kong, coupled with the craziness that surrounds a rugby tournament, and plans to meet up with friends from home I hadn’t seen in nearly eight months, there would be no question that I would stay up for the entirety of my short time in the city that really never sleeps. Here is a snap-shot for anyone interested in making the most of a short trip to Hong Kong, or curious to see if I am still alive and kicking…I am. :

Saturday 8pm: Arrived in Hong Kong airport, about an hour after I had anticipated. The A11 double decker bus is a great, affordable way to get to the center while enjoying a tour of the city. Because I was eager to meet up with friends who had already been in Hong Kong a night, I took the high speed MTR train (under a half an hour) easy, fast, safe.

9 pm: Arrived at the YWCA gardenview international house. Great location next to the admiralty metro stop, breakfast, pool and with eight of us in a room…affordable.

10pm: Dressed and out the door, we headed to Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong’s open air bar scene. From what I hear a rowdy area on a typical Saturday night…with an estimated three thousand rugby players and fans there for the event alone, the streets became a sea of colorful chaos. *Side note: I was told Hong Kong is about as safe as large cities get, and this must be true if directionally challenged…and let’s just face it, tipsy me, got into a cab and made it back to the hotel in one piece.

Sunday 8am: Woke up in the hotel after having slept underneath a bear costume and surprisingly felt ready to start my day.

9am: Rugby players and fans may be insulted that I opted out of attending the games that day, but I’ve been to my fare share of tournaments and thought of this day as perhaps my only opportunity to see Hong Kong. If you would like an overview from someone who was in attendance, check out: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/expat/josephinemcdermott/10138400/the-hong-kong-sevens-hangover/

I headed for the metro and got off on the mainland in Kowloon. Walking through the Jade market just off Canton street I grabbed some street food for breakfast and took in the sights and smells of flower peddlers, fish stalls and hand-made dim-sum.

10:30: I walked to the star ferry pier for a panoramic view of Hong Kong island and took a ten minute boat ride across Victoria harbour on the classic ship.

11am: Landing back on the island (accesible by MTR or ferry until midnight and by a 20min taxi ride 24hrs) I spotted what is usually the bain of my existence: a double decker tour bus crowded with visor wearing tourists. Not sure if it was the hangover or the goal of seeing all of Hong Kong in a day, but I paid my 200HK and hopped on. Probably one of my better decisions that day. Not only is the “Big Bus” an easy and affordable way to see the city, but you can hop on and off at any of the six stops throughout the day, and the audio (available in English, French, Chinese, Japanese, German and Spanish) is chock full of factoids about the city’s history and culture.

Noon: Got off on stop #4: SoHo and Lan Kwai Fan Fong, which looks entirely different during day time hours, with lovely shops and restaurants. I ate Thai food at Cafe Siam and watched expats move on and off the world’s longest outdoor escalator that glides all the way to the top between central and mid-levels.

1pm: Headed into the antiquer’s paradise that is Hollywood street in search of some traditional caligraphy brushes and other treasures. It is easy to get lost in a tangle of narrow, incense perfumed alleyways and my advice is to just go for it, all the best photographs, stories and steals come out of them.

3pm: I hit up SOHO’s boutiques and walked away with 3 new dresses from the lovely Ranee K http://www.raneek.com/

6:01pm: Ran for the last “Big red bus” which departs at 6 and got distracted by the beautiful shoes in  http://www.pedderred.com/ No problem, I took the MTR to Admiralty and had a nice walk through Hong Kong park, stopping to see the monkeys and flamingos.

8pm: Listened to stories of the day’s rugby-capades and an explanation of how one member of our party was currently in jail wearing nothing but a polar bear costume…over some dumpling soup at Tsui Wah on Wellington street.

10pm: Back out for one more night of merry mahem in Lan Kwai Fong.

1am: After a sugar high brought on by the green jello shots administered by a plastic syringe I had been downing, a friend and I decided we were not ready for bed and wanted to visit the mainland to keep the party going. Neither the metro nor the ferries were running so we hopped in a cab that took us under the harbour via the cross-harbour tunnel to Kowloon. I am quite familiar with the “singing room” or nore-bang as it is called in Korea, but my friend had never experienced this form of karaoke and so we spent the next 2hours or so singing a series of Sunny and Cher and hits from the 90s in our own little singing room Asian style.

Sometime shortly after sunrise: Matt and I sipped our coffee in silence and watched the smoggy sunshine beam through skyscrapers from the Peak, one of the best views of Hong Kong. We took the old tram down a 45degree slope to admiralty.

Monday afternoon: I said good-bye to the piece of home that is my adventurous friends and boarded a plane to Shanghai with both fond and fuzzy memories of what is in my opinion the world’s most dynamic city: Hong Kong.

For info on everything Hong Kong, check out some of these helpful sites:

• http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1481386
• http://asiancorrespondent.com/hong-kong-blog
• http://www.hongkongblong.com/

Happy travels!