Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

Hong Kong while it’s still an Asian city has been very much westernized through it’s century of British rule. So much so that it was easy to be fooled into thinking we weren’t in Asia anymore. The city is cleaner and more efficient than any of the other cities in the area with maybe the exception of Tokyo. The people act the way we would naturally expect, making eye contact or holding the door open for you. There are anti smoking and littering rules everywhere with heavy fines for breaking them. My favourite rule is definitely the no spitting.

Because Hong Kong has been so westernized it was a nice break for us. Most everyone spoke english and often at a very high level. Unfortunately with the westernization comes the western prices. Everything was much more expensive here than mainland china and you can see it in the people. Money seems to just ooze out of HK. Everywhere you look there’s money. There are more luxury cars on the streets than any other kind of car. So much so that a mercedes or a BMW looks like a mediocre car when compared to the lambourghinis or maseratis next to it.

Not only was HK a mini escape from Asia we surprisingly also got to have a break from the city. We spent our last day in HK in Shek O. It’s a small secluded village on the south coast of Hong Kong Island. We very happily spent the better part of the day lying on the beach. We very unhappily realized after we woke up from our hour long nap that HK had fooled us again. Because it is always so hazy and smoggy we completely forgot about sunscreen and woke up looking like Lester’s cousin.

We rounded out the HK trip, and our money, eating some decent Indian food and watching the laser and lantern display on the waterfront. I really enjoyed HK even if it did make me look ridiculous. I would seriously consider paying it another visit. Next time, though, I’ll take more money.