Happy New Year from Hong Kong!

In keeping the streak alive, I headed to Hong Kong for New Years! What a fascinating place! Much English, due to the British rule for years... they even accepted the dollar in many places!

While it was a short trip, it was jam packed! The hotel was located right next to where the old aiport used to be. Now, it's out on land that has been reclaimed. We went to a temple, which was all decorated in anticipation of the upcoming Year of the Dragon.

Besides touring all over the city, up to the highest heights, I also was able to stick my feet into the South China Sea. :)

On New Year's Eve, we headed to Lantau Island to see the Tian Tian Buddha, or the Big Buddha. Had to take a very, very long cable car to get there, then walk thru the village which was playing Christmas music (?!), then walk up the 240 steps to see the Big Buddha. HUGE!! Afterwards we had a Vegan lunch in the Monestary and headed back to town to get ready for the New Years celebrations!

We found a spot downtown between the fancy hotels - one even had a stage out front with entertainment. We watched all the people filing down towards the Clock Tower - they were in such an orderly fashion. Many stopped for pictures with all of us - guess we looked like celebrities! The building pictured below even put a countdown on it and then BAM! Fireworks! :) Pretty cool! I would guess their Chinese NY celebration was more elaborate, but this was pretty good!!

While the flight was long...14 hrs... it was worth it. I luckily didn't have any jet lag and it was a fascinating city to explore and another great location to ring in the New Years!

~steph :)