We’re on the other side of the island near Stanley Market.

It’s confirmed; we love Hong Kong. Laura and I went to HK a little over a year ago for a birthday present and we came home with a new favorite city. We were only there for a few days, but it was enough to make a very lasting impression. The crime is that HK is only a 1h20m flight from Taipei and we hadn’t been back in over a year.

One of our favorite spots. Taco Loco is a Mexican restaurant in Hong Kong. Since moving overseas we miss Mexican food so we look forward to a visits to Taco Loco. In the background you can see the escalators and walkway that go up through the central part of HK. The escalators are a covered, moving sidewalk that make their way up the hill to apartments and shops. In the morning they head down into the city so that residents can commute to work and around 2pm they are reversed to carry the commuters back up the hill.

You have to be ok with crowds when getting around the city.

One of the reasons we love this city so much is that we’ve been introduced to it the proper way. On our first trip we met some friends that knew the city very well and they introduced us to some fun spots. On our second visit we went with some friends who used to live there.

Our friends and guides. Thanks!

Visiting a new city from the perspective of tourist that only knows the city from guidebooks and Internet research is fun, but visiting a city with a long time resident is something completely different. We were introduced to spots that would have normally gone unseen without our ‘guides’ there to show us around.

Roasted goose and pork with rice.

What makes HK such a fun city? I think it’s the vibe the city gives off morning, noon and night. Regardless of the time you step out into the city there is somewhere to go, something to do and always something great to eat. Coffee shops, food stalls, restaurants you’ve heard of and restaurants you’ve never heard of, all of them look inviting. You can eat Western, Middle Eastern, Latin, European and of course Asian food any time of day or night.

The Stanley Market area has a nice boardwalk with plenty of good restaurants to choose from.

(Laura will have to write the caption for this one. She went wild here.)

Shopping has been perfected in HK. Whatever you are looking for, you’ll find it in HK.  In fact there will probably be a whole section of the city dedicated to selling that product and every possible variant of that product, fake and genuine, cheap and expensive.

More of the Stanley Market area and beach.