January 27, 2011: A Great Day In Hong Kong

I'm in Hong Kong for vacation, and that means a week of fun on the opposite side of the world. As I write this I am worn out from my first full day of wandering the city. This morning my wife, Gina, and I started walking at 6 am and we didn't stop until about 8 pm; several train rides, a ferry ride, and about 15 miles worth of steps added up to a very tiring day. But fun, since the day included a return to the Hot Toys store, a ton of stops at a variety of small toy shops, and an hour-long expedition in a secret toy retailer hidden on the 16th floor of an office building in Causeway Bay. I grabbed a few toys (including a very cool Metal Gear Solid action figure and a cheap transforming robot), but today was mostly recon before diving into the real action. For an idea of some of what we saw today you can check this Flickr set I posted after getting back to the hotel room.

But it wasn't all toys. We visited the Bird Market, Flower Market, and Goldfish Market as well as spending some time in Kowloon Park. I've lost track of how many bakeries we stopped at; at each one we selected one item and shared it. My favorite was the BBQ pork roll, but then how could I choose a mayo/cheese/crab roll over BBQ pork? ("Mayo/cheese/crab"? Sounds delicious! -- Paul)

I'm very tired and about to fall over. The long flight combined with a poor night of sleep and then a long day of hiking through the city has left me completely drained. And I can't afford to be this tired yet because we have four more days in the city . . . so it's time for me to collapse. After all, I need to be well-rested for the second pass through Hong Kong's toy shops.

-- Phil Reed