You know you're addicted when the first thing you look for when you wake up in an unfamiliar city is good coffee. And you feel that slight panic when you've been walking for 15 minutes and haven't found a coffee shop. Finally found one and it's about CA$5.00 for a small coffee. Right at that moment, price didn't matter anymore. :-)
Since it'll be Chinese New Year in a few days, I thought the first thing to do is go to a temple and pay tribute to the gods and seek health and good fortune. We decided to go to Man Mo Temple because it's closest to where we're staying. On our way there, we passed by this tree that looked so old. The juxtaposition between the old tree and the modern buildings was quite interesting.
When we got to the temple, I burned some incense. There's a god of Literature and a god of War in this temple. My Chinese isn't great... I'm hoping that I stuck my incense with the god of Literature.
Outside, we saw this cheery calligrapher. People would tell him what hopes and wishes they're looking for and he would write them fluidly - one pass - no mistakes. The woman with funky glasses in the foreground is French and she has a small dog on her lap. She'd tell him what sayings she's wants (i.e. for her sister who passed away, for herself - she's a snake - this coming Chinese New Year). In the end, she bought 8 of the red posters.
Then we decided to take the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui (Kowloon side of Hongkong). And from far away, we saw this sculpture by Henry Moore! It was exciting to see something so familiar be somewhere unexpected.
While walking along the harbourfront, this junk boat passed by. I was happy but at the same time, cursing because the light was wrong. :-)
2016 is the year of the Monkey. These light up at night. Will have to come back.
Then for dinner, we went to this seafood restaurant where they steam your food right in front of you. It's Guangdong style. It was almost a disaster because there's no English menu and nobody could speak English. In the end, we went to the tanks and pointed at what we're having.
We also had prawn, lobster and elephant clam, but I gobbled them all up before remembering to take pictures.
And this was how we spent our first jet lagged day in Hong Kong.
"Captain, you almost make me believe in luck." -- Spock