Hong Kong: Happy Naked New Year!!!

We have finally left the continent! YAY!!! Our first destination was Hong Kong before a 14-day cruise throughout SouthEast Asia. We left from Orlando and connected in NYC. I was extremely worried about our luggage getting to Hong Kong, but the ticketing agent at American Airlines assured us that it wouldn’t be a problem. Ha!

Packed up and ready to go!

Our seats of Cathay Pacific

THAT is a long flight! Right over the North Pole!

My luggage tags SAY to go to Hong Kong!

I pretty much slept through our flight to Hong Kong. Apparently, according to the girls and Chris, every time they checked on me, I was asleep.  Every time I woke up, they were asleep. We shall never know the truth…

We arrived at 5:40 a.m. Hong Kong time and immediately went to baggage. Low and behold, half of our luggage was missing. Of course! Sierra and Chris had luggage, but Isabel and I were out of luck.

The luggage officials in Hong Kong immediately were able to track one of the suitcases, but were unable to locate the other. We didn’t know which one was missing. The located suitcase was sent on a plane to Hong Kong from NYC and was delivered the next day. It was Isabel’s!

That left me. 5 foot, 10 inch, plus-size me, with no clothes in Asia. I moaned to the airline and the hotel that it would be impossible to find clothes there. They sympathized, but told me to try anyway.

I was sick and tired of wearing the same UCF shirt and yoga pants, so I hit the markets. I would walk into the stores and gesture at my body, and they would reply with a shake of their head. Finally, I entered one store that had many larger t-shirts and asked if they had pants.

I started sporting Chris's clothes on the second day. I make this shirt look good!

The saleswoman immediately pulled out a tape measure (my nightmare) and measured me up. She started sorting through the stacks and hustled me through to the fitting room with three jeans. TWO FIT!!! Amazing!!!

I was also able to pick up two red underwear, which apparently is auspicious in the year of the horse.  My luck must have worked, because at the end of the second day, they found my suitcase!!! They had to fly it to Hong Kong and I received it the day before our cruise left.

That was the luggage crisis. I think I cried twice. Oh well.

We booked the Royal Plaza Hotel in Kowloon, which is on the main peninsula of Hong Kong. There are three main areas, Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, and the airport area. I was quite happy with our location, since it was a bit removed from the tourist corridor, but still had plenty of action close by.

We were mysteriously upgraded to the top floor, which was the premium “club” floor. This was our view from our rooms. Beautiful!

Our first plan of action. Dim Sum.

I have a bit of an obsession with dim sum. I love the dim sum (like tapas for Chinese) at Lam’s Garden in Orlando. It was where I was first introduced to it and my family goes there quite regularly. Since we found dim sum, we keep trying it in different cities: NYC, Boston, D.C., but none have held up to Lam’s. Hong Kong is the original birthplace of dim sum, so I was excited to try it.

Our hotel had a dim sum breakfast every morning in one of their restaurants. We hit that on our first morning. The sticky rice, my favorite, was DELICIOUS! I could have eaten JUST that! We also tried several other types of dim sum. Everything was good.

Would you believe it? I actually STILL think Lam’s Garden is better than dim sum in Hong Kong! Amazing!

desert from the lobby

We were not able to make it to the tourist attractions throughout the three days we spent in Hong Kong, such as the Big Buddah, Victoria Peak, or Disneyland. Since it was the Chinese New Year (year of the horse), everyone was off work and visiting these attractions. The lines were HUGE! I’m glad we didn’t attempt it, since we were so tired!

We were able to book reservations at the Intercontinental Hotel, on the harbor, for their spectacular brunch buffet. I was able to try fois gras for the first time in it’s purist form. Seared. I liked it!!! OH! And truffles! Lots of truffles!

Seafood madness! Is that a truffle egg?

Isabel and Cici LOVED the deserts!

Weird gold fruit in lobby

This drink cost me...but it was pretty!!!

The next day, we headed to the cruise ship, which was an adventure in itself. The cruise terminal is a mall. The biggest mall in the world, I was told… NOBODY knew where the cruise passengers actually checked in. We went up. We went down. We went all over that mall, until FINALLY we found a sign and dropped off our luggage. We then had to travel all the way down the pier back to check in. Obviously, we were peeved and sweaty, but we made it to our room. THIS TIME, with all out luggage.

I definitely think that I need more time in Hong Kong to really appreciate it. I would have liked to go at a non-holiday time, so that it was less crowded. If I go again, I will make sure I allot a week to see it. We made it to several of the markets, but I feel like I missed a lot of it by being so jet-lagged and not being able to see everything.

Next stop: Hanoi (Halong Bay), Vietnam

Chinese New Year orange trees

Chinese New Year orange trees

Year of the Horse

Sunset in Hong Kong

Found a bartender who can pour my drink!

Jet lag at KFC

Happiness is Crocs

In the markets

Goldfish Street

Puppies everywhere to pet!

Cici is the year of the Rabbit!