Happy New Year (Part 2- Hong Kong)

Arriving in Hong Kong was incredibly exciting- we got in at night, and the skyline is absolutely stunning as you drive through town (and from our hotel room). We both found that we were significantly more impressed with Hong Kong than we thought we'd be- there's the incredibly skyline, delicious food, a good public transport system, and it's all fairly easy to navigate because of the residual English from the British occupation. We were actually rather disappointed that we hadn't scheduled more time there...

One of the things we did was visit the Tian Tan Daibutsu- the world's largest bronze seated Buddha. It was my first time visiting a giant Buddha statue, and it's rather amazing. We took a cable car up the the temple that it's at, and then climbed stairs to the top of this mountain, where it's perched. Makes for an amazing view as the car arrives. It was absolutely full of tourists, which was rather disappointing, but still incredibly cool. It had been sort of obliquely mentioned in a tourist website, and we went on a hunch that paid off- despite the crowds, it was really worth the time.

When I asked people what to do in Hong Kong, they said "eat." Every one of them. So we took them at their word, and at an astonishing amount of food while we were there. It was all amazing. I don't know what they do while cooking there, but it works. The best meals we had were definitely Dim Sum though. It's the real Hong Kong specialty, and it's surprising how amazing it is. They just keep turning up with these little dishes of deliciousness. If you're ever headed to Hong Kong, that's my advice "Eat lots, especially Dim Sum."

Oh, and take the ferry from Kowloon (north of the main island) to the island, around 8pm. Hong Kong is home to the world's largest permanent laser show, and you get an amazing view of it from the ferry. And boats are cool.

On to Kuala Lumpur... (and pictures are now up from Tokyo- email me if you need a link)