The Best Birthday Present....Hong Kong

So, as many of you may know at this point, for John's birthday we decided to go to Hong Kong. First of all we had the best time....the best. After some begging, a little pleading, and assurance from reviews of other travelers John consented to letting us spend a little more mula and get a room with a view of the harbor. Let me just say, the view is awesome both during the day and at night. And little did I know, but we ended up in a perfect location for all the things that we wanted to do.

While I was frittering away my time before our trip and glanced only briefly at our travel book, John was totally on the ball. By the time we got there he had an appointment with the tailor, had us purchasing Octopus passes (metro cards) for easier travel access, and had the map all figured out.

So for his birthday, John got the trip, but his other big present was a hand tailored suit. He was so cute about it. He had done all this research on the right one to use including asking others, internet reviews, and pouring over our travel book suggestions as well. In the end we went with one of the premier (meaning, not as cheap as one originially assumes) tailors that actually visits the states three times a year if you need any alterations or want a new suit. I have to say they were really good. After a day the suit was already coming together nicely.

To give you an idea of what happens when you get to the area where the tailors are...picture every five seconds you encounter yet another person asking you if you are interested in a hand tailored suit. "Pretty lady" need nice dress? The best was when one of them told John that "nice suit would make you more handsome". It's a little annoying, but hey everybody has to make a living, right? Needless to say, the tailor John picked did not have a hustler out on the street. Although, on our first visit I had a few reservations as the office is in what one can only describe as a bombed out building up a very narrow staircase.

So after the tailor, we both decided that of course he needed some personally tailored shirts too. However, went with a different tailor for those...one totally across town. I have to say, we got to Hong Kong on Thursday so found the shirt tailor on Friday and left with four tailored shirts on Tuesday. It's amazing how fast they are there.

Now other than the tailor there were some fun sights.....we hit up the Tram to Victoria Peak, which had a fabulous view of the city. We also made the trek out to see the Big Buddha...and when I say Big I mean BIG. We wandered around Stanley Market and realized that neither one of us is a very good bargainer. There were all sorts of Chinese goods to be had at the market and it was just fun to play the game even if we probably over paid for everything that we bought. In addition, we traveled a million and one times on the Star Ferry from the Hong Kong side to Kowloon, and even saw the Symphony of Lights, which is a really cool light show put on by buildings on both sides of the harbor. Aside from that we just wandered around the city, ate some great Dim Sum and Thai, and generally just enjoyed the perfect weather.

I hope that you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving! We aren't celebrating until Saturday since no one has the day off. As we're hosting (yes, small gasp since we all know that I'm not much of a cook) there is sure to be a blog post to tell you all about it.

Until next time...Jenn