I’m starting off my very first blog with my holiday in Hong Kong! I’ve been here for almost two weeks now and have only been able to take photos this week, having submitted my Strategy Organization Learning (SOL) paper for my summer MBA class last Fri.

Allen’s apartment is located right in the heart of central and it’s fantastic as the wet market is 20 steps down from where we live! We’ve been walking around this area since we got here and I’ve been making mental notes as to what I’d like to photograph when I finally have the chance to! (Photos to come later…)

Hong Kong is a lovely hustling and bustling city! The SOHO area is very quaint, with pubs, restaurants and boutiques sprawled throughout the streets. Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) is another interesting area where all the expats hangout and is particularly loud and dirty over the weekends! (You don’t feel like you’re in Asia when you’re at LKF because 7 out of the 10 people you walk by are expats!). Central is central – always busy and crazy hectic during peak hours. In HK, you walk A LOT!

Everything here from accomodation to transport is expensive and it definitely takes some getting used to but the food and shopping is great and I can’t wait to spend more time here!

The weather has been good this week. We experienced our first Typhoon 8 last week (this is the signal the HK Observatory issues which requires everyone to stay home, or if they’re at work, to go home. How awesome!) and it’s been raining quite a bit until these past two days when I brought my camera out. Somehow I’m not surprised how cooperative the weather has been!

On Wed, Gricia (our friend from KL who lives here now) and I went around HK to take photos. Our journey was a lot more pleasant with her around as she could communicate with the locals (and I got less shouting at this time!) We started off at the wet market at central and took the tram to Wan Chai.

This lady was one of the nicer people in the market, considering I was shouted at a number of times and told to bugger off! She happily allowed me to take photos of her store and even posed with her fresh squid!

She was also selling frogs… (I had a phobia they would jump out at me but I took it anyway!)

Here’s another sweet guy (guy on left) – he said it was OK for me to take photos as he repaired a watch…

On our way to take the tram…

On the tram, on our way to Wan Chai…

At the wet market in Wan Chai… the people here are much friendlier!

Photo by Gricia…

Here’s one of my favorite shots…

We’ve been eating a LOT but we’ve been pretty healthy too and have hiked up the peak twice over the past two weekends. The first part of the trail is very steep but once you’re up there, the view is spectacular, overlooking the entire HK island and Kowloon peninsula. I’ve also done yoga 3 times this week! On Thursday, Gricia, Allen and I took a cab up the peak to take photos of the lovely view and then had dinner at the Peak Lookout.

Having some fun with the lights!

To view more photos of Hong Kong, click here!

To view more photos of the Lights & Effects photos, click here!