Day Trip to Hong Kong

It's been a while since I've posted a blog, but that just means I've been very busy and have tons to update you all on!!!  Last Friday, I was informed that I would have to take a day trip to Hong Kong, because my tourist visa was almost expired and my work visa was not processed yet.  This means, I had to leave the country (no Hong Kong is not in China, despite what you've heard/thought, it's actually a British colony) and come back, because I only have 60 days as a tourist at at time.... can you believe it's already been 2 months??? Time is certainly flying.... anyway I found out on Friday that I would be leaving Monday at 7:50 am for Hong Kong!!! Not much planning time, but all of my colleagues who made the trip were able to give me tips and advice on what to do in a short period of time (my flight back was at 9:00 pm).  I started my day at 4:30 am with a wake up call from my taxi driver (he was 30 minutes early), so I quickly packed my backpack, triple checked that I had my passport, and ran out the door!  After getting through immigration and security, I had an hour to relax, drink some coffee (it was a nice treat, because I've been drinking instant coffee in my apartment), and wait for my flight.  We boarded at 7:45 am and naturally we waited on the plane for TWO HOURS before leaving... that means I had 2 precious hours in Hong Kong and that made me unhappy (as well as all of the other passengers who woke up extremely early for a flight that didn't leave until 9:45).  Finally, we arrived in Hong Kong around 12:30.  We were shuttle to the airport from the runway due to lots of traffic coming into the airport and luckily after waiting 30 minutes to get into the airport, customs went very quickly!! I was able to get on the fast train from the airport to Hong Kong at around 1:15 and I did not waste anytime! The train took only 3 stops, the final being in Hong Kong (my stop) and it only took about 20 minutes!! Upon arrival, I found myself in a massive shopping mall called IFC mall, which had so many brand name stores and lots of entertainment, including people dressed up as statues of famous people.  The occasionally moved and scared the crap out of people who were taking pictures with them! I knew I had no time to waste, so I quickly hailed a cab and asked to be taken to the Peak Tram, which is the tram that takes you up the mountain to Victoria Peak, where there is a beautiful view of the city skyline.  Little did I know the Tram station was right around the corner and would've been a 5 minute walk (oh well).  I bought my ticket and in no time was headed up the mountain on a tram that looked extremely old.  I was a little uneasy by the fact that we were almost at a 180 degree tilt on the way up, in this old tram, but we managed to get to the top in no time!  Here, I explored and took many pictures from different points.  There were tourist attractions at the top like restaurants and stores, but I didn't waste anytime with those.  At around 3:30 I started to get very hungry and wanted to move on to see one more thing before it was time to go.  I found another taxi to drive me down the mountain and asked him to take me to the Soho area (note:  I was able to do this in ENGLISH and it made me so very happy to be able to speak to others when asking for directions and any other questions I had.  I almost forgot what it was like to actually understand what people are saying around you and found myself accidentally ease dropping on others' conversations simply because I could!).  There was a traffic jam near the Soho area, so the taxi driver told me he would drop me off a short distance away.  I told him I had no idea how to get to Soho area and his response I will never forget... "All you need to do is walk straight down this road, when you get to Soho you will just feel it".  I thought he was crazy, but by god was he right.  The Soho area is an area full of shops, bars, restaurants, markets, tourists, and foreigners.  There's lots of hustle and bustle and my god are the streets steep!! It's a workout to walk up and down, because of how steep the streets are.  They even have escalators in some areas of the road to help you on your journey up! Here is where I found the most amazing ice cream place called, Emack & Bolio's.  The store caught my eye because instead of advertising their ice cream on the outside of the store, they advertised the cone... These cones were dipped with melted mashmallows around the opening and had miscellaneous cereals sticking to them (fruity pebbles, cocoa puffs, chocolate, rice krispies).  I opted for the rice krispie cone and the salted caramel chocolate covered pretzel ice cream and YES it was amazing!!!!! Next time I go back to Hong Kong... and yes there will definitely be a next time... I will 100% be going back!! Unfortunately 5:30 pm arrived quickly, and I found that it was actually only a 10 minute walk to the IFC mall where the airport train was... (another side note: I took two completely unnecessary taxis, because although the map looks like the area is large, you could literally walk around the island in a very short period of time.  I found this out after stumbling upon the map in my pictures below and walking around a little bit. *Natalie moment* because we all know how directionally coordinated I am ;)  Anyway in the mall, I found a Taiwanese dumpling place where I enjoyed a quick dinner and then boarded the express train back to the airport.  What a day!!!!! I can't begin to describe how awesome it was to travel to a place in Asia and not feel 100% lost all the time.... the fact that all of the residents spoke English was extremely helpful AND the air was not extremely smelly and polluted.  It was a much needed retreat and thankfully my flight home was on time! I made it back to my apartment at 1:30 am completely drained, and passed out right away.