Why Taiwan >>>>>> Hong Kong.

So it's been a week since my last post, and yeah, there's no way in heck I am going to be able to recap everything I've done! From Wednesday to Sunday, I was in Hong Kong, and quite simply, leaving Taipei for those five days made me realize how much I love and will miss Taiwan. Because I can't possibly go over everything I did in Hong Kong, I'm simply going to make a list of reasons why I think Taipei is way better than Hong Kong, and then bombard you with a few of my favorite pictures from my trip there.

So, here goes. Reasons why Taipei is more awesomer than Hong Kong:
-Taipei food is cheaper. Way cheaper. You can be getting fat and full in Taipei with really good food for like 4$ US while you'll have to spend at least 10$ in Hong Kong.
-Taipei people are more easy going. They walk at a leisurely pace and don't push or shove you out of their way. Even the escalators in Taipei are more easy going. I swear, the escalators in Hong Kong are on crack or something, they move SO FAST that the first time we got on one, we almost fell over. No joke.
-Hong Kong people are ruder. They're not so willing to help like Taiwanese people always, 100% are. You'll approach someone to ask directions in Hong Kong and before you can even get the place you want to go out, they'll wave their hands and say "Nope, I don't know" and walk away. In Taiwan, the locals ALWAYS help, or at least try to.
-Taiwan service is better. For example, Hong Kong taxi drivers all have hella attitude and all try to take longer routes just to make more money. Given, Taiwanese drivers do this too, but Hong Kong drivers are way less subtle about it; they'll circle the same block a few times, they'll add 70 HKD to a cab fare randomly when the ticker clearly says a trip under the bay costs 30, and worse of all, they just all seem like they hate all their passengers. We were in multiple taxis in Hong Kong, but one guy in particular stood out: we told him the address we wanted to go to, and he didn't respond, nor did he move. So we asked him if he knew where it was, and he basically yelled, "Of course I know where it is, why don't you just show me?!" In addition, we went to this sushi place for lunch on the last day. There were six of us, and he gave us three menus. We asked for more, and he said "We're out of menus," and then, looking flustered, pulled one from another table and said "I guess you could use this one." The waiter messed up our order and brought a wrong, much more expensive plate of raw shrimp instead of salmon. We told him we didn't order it, that it was his fault. You would expect him to take it back or something like that, but nope, he said that we had to eat it and pay for it, since he already brought it out. Seriously now?
-Hong Kong's MRT system is depressing. This is minor, but Hong Kong's MRT system is all painted in dark shades of grey and dark red, and the trains themselves are grey and metal and generally depressing. Taipei's MRT system is brighter, well lit and generally a more pleasant place to be.

There are a few things to like about Hong Kong. The sushi in Hong Kong is ridiculously cheap; I'm talking like 1 USD for two pieces of salmon sushi. The club scene in Hong Kong is awesome, mostly because they're all concentrated in one area: Lan Kwai Fong. I imagine it being a lot of fun if you're Caucasian, are drunk and have massive yellow fever. But seriously though, it seems like there are a lot more clubs in Hong Kong, and that they're a lot more classy and fun than the ones in Taipei. Also, Hong Kong desserts, especially desserts that contain mango, are out of this world! And, if you're into skyscrapers, Hong Kong does that better than Taipei does too. But I guess it really depends on what kind of person you are. A chill, relaxed San Diegan like myself enjoys the laid back lifestyle that Taipei has to offer, whereas I'm sure someone from New York would hate Taipei and love the fast-paced, pushy and rushed lifestyle of Hong Kong.

Me, Jenn, Romin, Nancy, and Jeremy at Avenue of the Stars.

You simply can't deny the beauty of Hong Kong at night.

Hong Kong is famous for their mango desserts, and it's easy to see why. They are delicious!

No trip to Hong Kong is complete without a trip to Dim Sum. This place was pretty darn good and not that expensive either.

Exploring the main Hong Kong island.

We were hankering for a good ol' American Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving so after calling around a lot we finally found an Italian restaurant called Fat Angelo's serving a Thanksgiving feast!

Lan Kwai Fong, also known as the clubbing district of Hong Kong. I found this place to be cool because it's just bar after bar, and you see people millin about in the middle of the street having a good time. Lan Kwai Fong is also on the hilly part of Hong Kong so bars are stacked in steps up and up the mountain.

Me failing at fitting everyone in the picture at Club 9 Lounge. This place had a cool outdoor chilling area and no real dance floor; it seemed like it was strictly made for lounging, which was pretty cool.

We went to Macau for a day. Macau was actually pretty fun with lots of stuff to see, but I'm not sure there's more than one day's worth of stuff to see so I'm not sure if I'd go again. Still, an interesting place with a European flavor with a hint of 1/3rd scale Vegas.

There's a restaurant called Margarito's in Macau that apparently was the first place ever to make these kind of Dan Ta's. These are the most amazing dan tas to have ever graced the innards of my mouth. Seriously, this was AWESOME.

Back at home base HK, we went to go see the Big Buddha. It bothers me how touristy they've made the Big Buddha. They built this little town where you can buy souveneirs and watch videos about Buddha and everything. It feels like an amusement park and that just bothers me.

No trip to HK is complete without a go up to the Peak. We caught HK on an extremely clear (and cold) day, so the view was awesome!


Another chain of dessert places in HK that's famous, called Honeymoon Desserts.

This is the so-called "Ladies' Market," but it's more like "Tourist's Market." Everything here is target towards tourists, like bad HK t-shirts to souveneirs, etc. Still, admist all this junk you'll find some good stuff; there's a street full of shoes, a separate one with electronics, etc. I bought my first pair of Chucks here. And as for shopping in HK, the only shopping I really did there was at an H&M they had in Langham Place. Go figure.

My last meal in HK was stinky tofu. Jenn tells me that stinky tofu originates from Hong Kong so I had to try it here and let me tell you, this stinking tofu from a random stand in the middle of a street filled with aquatic material was the best stinking tofu I've had both in HK and in Taiwan. Yum-oh.

I know from the sound of things, Hong Kong isn't all that great of a place to be, what with it's rude people and stuff. But it's actually a lot of fun. The thing is, I couldn't imagine living there for an extended period of time like I am in Taiwan. Hong Kong is good for short trips but too much of the pushy lifestyle would make me go beserk. When I got back to Taiwan, I was so pleased to get off the plane and walk through the airport with no one pushing past me, and get into a cab with a pleasnt taxi driver taking us exactly where we wanted to go with holding a pleasant conversation with us. I was glad to go back to the alleyway next to our school and eat cheap fried rice. Hong Kong was fun, no doubt, but Taipei is just a better place to be.

I've been back in Taipei for a few days now, and besides are awesome rock performance on Monday, not much has gone on. I'll talk more about our awesome rock performance in my next post, once I've uploaded the video of our performance onto Youtube or something. It's pretty bad, but it's still pretty awesome.

Until next time, zai jian!

-Justin.