I had mentioned in my last entry that Andrew and I were looking forward to heading to Asia since it was somewhere we had both never been. We were also looking forward to our flight since we had booked Business class seats months ago using miles we had accumulated through work travel and points – we figured it would be nice to treat ourselves to a bit of travel luxury halfway through the trip. One of the things that comes along with Business class seats is access to the Business Class lounge at the airport, so we got to the airport plenty early to take advantage of this perk. Unfortunately it took over an hour to get our tickets because of some mix-up on their end, so we were only able to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to board our flight. It was a very comfortable 11 hour flight, to say the least. We had originally booked seats next to the window, which put us one in front of the other, however, after take-off we moved to 2 pod seats that were next to each other. The flight crew was amazing throughout the entire flight and even gave us a “Happy Honeymoon” card that the entire crew (including the pilots) had signed, along with a delicious dessert and champagne. Overall it was a wonderful experience flying on Cathay Pacific.
Our original window pod seats before we moved…
Our new seats!
The sweetest gift from the Cathay Pacific flight crew!
We had left Paris around noon on Thursday and got into Hong Kong around 7AM on Friday morning. Needless to say, we were exhausted since neither one of us slept much on the flight, albeit the comfortable seats we had. It was an easy trip to get to the hotel from the airport, which was on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, across the bay from the main island. While we had planned to check out the city a bit, we decided it was best to take a short nap first. Well, we ended up sleeping for 7 hours and woke up around dinner time.
Unfortunately Andrew started to feel a bit of the sickness I had on our last night in Paris, as he didn’t feel the best after waking up from our nap. I was still recovering as well so we decided to take it easy and walk around the city a bit and try a ramen place, Ichiran Ramen, that came highly recommended by our friend Lu. We waited about 45 minutes before getting seats, but the ramen ended up being well worth the wait. The layout of the restaurant was interesting as there were no tables together; everyone sat in individual cubbies and filled out their own custom ramen form. We learned they set up the restaurant this way so everyone can have their own privacy while enjoying their bowl of ramen. We really enjoyed this place and will definitely have to go back. Apparently the restaurant is based in Japan, so if you’re planning on going out to Japan any time soon you can check this place out there too!
Streets of Hong Kong
Ichiran Ramen
We wanted to explore the city a bit more, but both still weren’t feeling the best, so decided to call it an early night. The next morning we were feeling alright so we headed out to Victoria’s Peak, which apparently gives the best 360 degree views of the island. We had taken the metro around the city the night before, so we decided to opt for the Star Ferry to get a different view heading over to the island.
View of Hong Kong from the Star Ferry
After a bit of confusion with the bus lines, we made it over to Tram Peak ticket line, which was much longer than we expected. It ended up taking about an hour to get our tickets and take the tram up to Victoria’s Peak, but it turned out to be an awesome view from the top. We walked around a bit and checked out a few different look out points, and then waited in another 30 minute line to take the tram back down the mountain. At this point we weren’t feeling the best, so although we had planned to eat out somewhere, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit.
Victoria’s Peak
So many people waiting to go up!
View from the top!
After a bit of rest and relaxation at the hotel, we decided to head out to the Temple Night Market to check out all of the different vendors and see what they were selling. It was a pretty cool scene and we ended up walking away with a few things after some good bargaining!
Temple Night Market
The next morning Andrew and I woke up and still weren’t feeling the best so decided to spend the day in the hotel room just resting up. We ordered some bland room service food that we thought would be easy on our stomachs and rented a movie. Although we were bummed we weren’t able to check out a few of the things we wanted to in Hong Kong, we knew our bodies needed the rest.
After a full day of rest, we were able to work up enough energy to head over to the Intercontinental Hotel that night since we had heard the hotel lobby lounge had a great view of the entire Hong Kong island, as well as the nightly light show that happened at 8:00PM. We got there around 7:15PM, so were able to grab a great seat in the middle of the lounge area. Unfortunately the light show was pretty underwhelming. Apparently all of the buildings used to take part in the light show, and it was pretty grand, however, now there are only a couple of buildings that participate so it’s not that exciting. It was an enjoyable time though and it felt good to get out of the hotel room.
View of Hong Kong Island from the Intercontinental Hotel
We headed back to our hotel to pack up, as we had an early flight the next morning to Shanghai where we were going to meet up with a few of our friends from back home!
Andrew + Allison Around the World 