truth be told, hong kong never really appealed to me before. i mean, if i were to choose a country to visit, i’d probably pick myanmar. hong kong would be somewhere at the bottom of that list. but when you’re given a wonderful opportunity to travel, you just go. especially when your airline carrier is cathay pacific because man, their food is really good! i board the plane and i can’t wait to see the crew and their little trays along the aisles. i am that impoverished! lol.

tsing ma bridge

but the thing is, no matter how “unexcited” you are, there’s always something about seeing new places that stirs the child within. you get internally giddy and you’re looking at the world before you with bright, smiling eyes while your brain simultaneously takes continuous snapshots of everything before you. that’s what i felt like the moment our bus entered tsing ma bridge, one of the longest bridges in the world, from the airport.

on our way to tsim sha tsui

the nice thing about their buses is that they are designed with the passengers’ comfort in mind. i thought it would be hassle with our luggage and all but it’s actually not. well, yeah, sure, you still have to lift your bag and all when getting on and off the bus but then they have this area at the back of the bus driver (right-hand drive, i’m noticing.) specifically for your luggage. so we left our stuff there, climbed on the steep stairs to the upper deck, where a small screen in front is connected to a camera situated near the luggage area. it gives people a sense of safety, i guess. at least you can see which passenger in the lower deck stole your bag. haha.

early morning hours

it was a long ride from the airport to tsim sha tsui. but the ride was smooth and the early morning scenery was refreshing. i loved looking at the stores with names printed in colorful chinese characters. it was definitely a whole-new-world-moment for me — the cool air and the colder breeze stinging my face, the rows upon rows of buildings, and the chinese characters i couldn’t even read.

a contrast between glass and greens

one of the nice things about hong kong is that they have well-maintained parks where you can rest and chill. while waiting for our check-in time and after strolling around, we found kowloon park, which is a huge park with a nice scenery.

kowloon park

it made me wish we have more parks here in cebu. but then again, we do have parks here in cebu! but for some reason, it’s just not a melting place for people of different socio-economic classes. and anyway, our parks are not well-maintained. and you know how dusty it is to be breathing outside. that, and the fact that you just don’t feel safe there. or maybe ours was a false sense of safety, as can happen when you’re in an unfamiliar territory.

this little bird caught my eye

but even then, nature is a good refuge when all around you are buildings and concrete. a park in the middle of a bustling modern city balances things out nicely. =)