Totally Worth the Sleep Deprivation

The concert kicked off a crazy weekend of sightseeing and levity. On Friday night I got to experience the Western bar/club area of the city, Lan Kwai Fong.

Now here’s the thing about me and Feminism..I don’t begrudge anyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, the right to be offended (or not offended, that’s also a legitimate decision) by anyone’s actions, but I thoroughly enjoyed not having to pay cover charges at any of the bars we went to. I’m not sure whether or not this custom offends any of the local women, but as a foreigner I didn’t feel pressured in any way to drink more, or to constantly talk to the men. In fact, unless I initiated a conversation, I was more or less left alone to have fun with my friend. America could definitely take a card or two from the Hong Kongers.

Lan Kwai Fong is this little corner of the city built on the side of a mountain (not altogether unlike Syracuse), and is made up of a network of stairs and escalators. It’s really pretty amazing. It’s full of bars, Hookah lounges, clubs, cafés, shops, most of the Western population, and tons and tons of local 20-somethings. A lot of the smaller bars are open to the street and play loud reggae or American music while everyone dances in the streets. It’s young, energetic, and freer from awkward sexual implication than American party culture could ever hope to be.

People in HK stay out LATE. We left the bars at around 4am, and there were still huge crowds of people everywhere. I went to bed as the sun rose, and regretted nothing except my lack of pictures from the night.

The next day was reserved for sleeping.

Sunday, a group of us went to the Big Buddha, this giant (stone?) statue on Lantau Island. In order to get there, you have to take the subway all the way to the end of the line, and then take a cable car (yeah, a CABLE CAR) to the island. It’s absolutely breathtaking riding across the water and through the mountains to the little tourist village of Ngong Ping.

We ate lunch at a Buddhist temple (what they can do with meat substitutes is the stuff of legends and epic poetry), and then went to say hello to our giant stone friend. After climbing about a million steps (SU people think Crouse but like x 3 and a million degrees and the entire population of Newhouse on the stairs), we got to the Big Buddha, and the museum and gift shops that sat under its base. Lots of photo ops, lots of majestic views, lots of inner peace.

Then we had to climb back down.