Hong Kong was a pretty last minute trip, and was only about a week in total. This meant that it was my favourite kind of travel – no plans and free to explore whatever we felt like.

Mike and I decided that we would spend a few days in Hong Kong and then head up into China to do some exploring. So with only a couple precious days in HK, we jumped in headfirst. I have an expat friend, Elspeth, there who we met up with, and acted as our nightlife tour guide. Without thinking, I introduced Mike to Elspeth as “my best friend’s husband” since I thought it made the most sense for the situation. Mike is still upset about that introduction (he’s since started referring to me as his wife’s friend). Elspeth brought us to some of her favourite places for dinner, drinks and views.

My best friend’s husband and I on a whirlwind tour of HK nightlife.

The next few days in HK were spent checking out Mong Kok and all the markets, the fantastic architecture in Union Square and stunning views from Victoria Peak.

Mike and I happily (and haphazardly) found out that if you’re going to Victoria Peak, it’ best to go early in the morning. We showed up for the tram at about 9am, and only waited for about 5 minutes for our tickets and then another 5 for the tram to arrive. By the time we got back down to the bottom, the lines looked as if to be at least half an hour wait each, as they wrapped around the building and doubled back.

The view from Victoria Peak

Since time was limited, we decided that an overnight train would be our best bet to get to China (in order to save on time and see the most). We had originally talked about heading up to Shanghai, but it turned out there weren’t any trains leaving when we wanted to, so Beijing was decided for us.

The train was a fun adventure, but was pretty uneventful. We left Hong Kong in the afternoon and spent the ride reading and trying to kill time (turns out neither of us know any 2 people card games). Really all there was to do was have dinner in the dining car and head to bed early.

Our pretty sweet compartment on the train to Beijing

We woke up somewhere in Hunan province, which was neat. It was cool to see the change of scenery from the night before. Hong Kong was pretty tropical feeling with it’s big palm trees and ferns. The landscape had changed so much by morning. It was also really interesting to see the different stations we rolled through. By the time we pulled into Beijing, we were both really impressed that we hadn’t killed each other after spending so much time in such a confined space.

Tagged: Asia, Beijing, China, Hong Kong, train, travel