Tour Guide Status

Who knew that after just two and a half months I could play the role of Hong Kong tour guide. I'm far from an expert, but I like to think that I know my way around better than most "visitors" and finally have the ability to show others around.

Andrew, Haley's friend, came to visit this past week; while she was busy with midterms I stepped up and played tour-guide for the day. It was fun getting to show someone new around this fabulous city. One thing I've learned here in Hong Kong is that if my business degree doesn't work out I always have a fall back option in the tourism management/ travel agent industry.

After our dinner out at "fancy" Pizza Hut earlier in the week it was time to give Andrew a taste of the real Hong Kong. Pizza and McDonald's in another country is far from adventurous.

Our day started out in Diamond Hill. The Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Gardens are always pretty in the sunshine and as I've mentioned before the nunnery has some of the most unique/authentic Chinese architecture found in HK. A second trip to the nunnery also gave me a chance to get snap happy with my camera and avoid the massive crowds we dealt with over Chinese New Year.

Hong Kong in one picture... temples and skyscrapers

 

Next stop on the tour was my favorite temple in the city, Wong Tai Sin. Again, a second visit for me but it was definitely worth the trip back to avoid all of the crowds that were there over the new year. The gardens were also closed on our last visit so the trip back gave me a chance to walk around those. 

With only 9 weeks left in Hong Kong I made a bucket list of everything I still want to do before I leave. The Wong Tai Sin gardens were one more thing I can now check off of the list. They actually weren't all that impressive but I did get to see a very large coy pond and lots of turtles! 

With lots of time left before Haley finished her exam Andrew and I headed to Mong Kok to explore the three markets of the area. Yes- it was another trip to the goldfish, bird, and flower market, but this time I navigated the streets of Mong Kok all by myself! We only got lost once for a few minutes which is a huge accomplishment for me in that area (I get a little overwhelmed because everything looks the same). I also found a cheap dog costume for Bauer. I've been searching for a well priced one for weeks so this was a big win for the day. 

"Hattie's Hong Kong Tour" ended at the bird market and just to switch things up a bit I decided that Andrew and I should walk to Mong Kok East station (one I've never used before) and hop on an MTR back to City U. Major fail- after walking for a good 20 minutes we couldn't find the station and ended up hailing a cab. We were actually within walking distance to the university- who knew.