Day 2: Exploring, Shopping, and Beer

Got up yesterday and enjoyed viewing the boats from our window - the views are my favorite part of the apartment for me!  Our first mission of the day was to find a grocery store so that we could have a few items on hand for our kitchen.  Walked a long way from our apt.  Along the way, I found the California fitness club where I will  do my zumba class!  I can actually walk to the place.  I am in awe of the tall buildings all over Hong Kong.  I want to snap a photo every minute. Some buildings are modern and beautiful, others are apartments with clothes hanging over the balcony. but I am surrounded by verticality.  And of course people are everywhere! We did find a grocery store - even had my hair product that I had forgotten!

I continue to be impressed by the Hong Kong people.  They remain relatively calm, non aggressive and unhurried on the streets, compared with New Yorkers or Bostonians.  And polite as well.  I also feel safe here and would feel very comfortable walking the streets alone, if I were not directionally challenged.

Spent afternoon walking along the bay near convention center - beautiful views, spectacular actually. Took many photos of the bay, including our first selfie. 

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Headed to Causeway Bay area to the Times Square Mall.  Causeway Bay was the site of the recent protests, but all is clear now.  Mall is 8 floors with exclusive shops as well as more average. My 2 shopping goals for HK were to buy a red leather jacket and a pair of jeans. The first item I spotted at the Louis Vuitton store was a red leather jacket,  pretty much the one I had imagined.  Price was $7000 US dollars.  I next found my pair of jeans - a gold pair from Dubai at the Chanel store for $1500.  Those jeans were incredible.  Not only would they have been perfect for salsa dancing, but would have been a most appropriate outfit to wear to my pilgrimage to see Michael Jackson's sequined glove in Macau.  Unfortunately, Rich did not share my fascination with these 2 clothing items, and we moved on to Zara, an average priced clothing store where I bought 2 pairs of jeans for $100. I had remembered Zara from our first trip to HK.  It reminds me a lot of Nordstrom Rack.  The mall is artistic inside - lovely birds hanging from the ceiling.

We rode the train back and what an experience.  I have never seen so many people so crowded together.  But again, people are friendly and seem to know how to be sane in a large crowd.
We headed to dinner at a place called Frites Belgium.  Rich had heard that they had a huge and good beer selection.  Very happening and hip place. Lots of tall, good looking Aussie men were hanging out at the bar.  They were here for some sort of economic conference. Good place for single women!   But enough about the Aussie men, as Rich is looking over my shoulder.  Rich did love the beer.  Food was so so but mussels were good as were fries.

One  of my favorite aspects of traveling is meeting travelers from other countries.  It is so interesting to compare impressions.  We enjoyed talking to a nice guy from Zurich, Switzerland who had just moved here.  He moved to start a business and feels that Hong Kong is a vibrant city.  He loves it here and also feels as I do that the people here are calm and friendly.

And so our day ended with a fun night.  Still thinking about the gold jeans from Dubai.....