Pacific Mall x Gazillion= Hong Kong!

Hey all. Finally arrived in Hong Kong yesterday afternoon.

To recap, The last 4 days in Thailand were spent on the island of Koh Phi Phi [Pee Pee]. It is one of those places you see in travel magazines, that has aquamarine water, white sand and mountains in the background. It was like a little slice of heaven. Koh Phi Phi itself is made up of two islands, Phi Phi Don, and Phi Phi Lay. Phi Phi Don is larger and houses most of the resorts and where you find the main ferry pier. Phi Phi Don, though larger, is still very small. Only a narrow strip of the island is actually inhabited. There are no motorized vehicles on the island, only bicycles. And a lot of it is still under construction from the post-tsunami destruction. It was relatively quiet, but It'd be interesting to see it in a year's time when all those mammoth resorts under construction finally open up.
Phi Phi Lay lies about 2 km south of Phi Phi Don, it is uninhabited for the most part, it is mostly unreachable rock cliffs and dense, hilly foliage. The movie "The Beach" was filmed in Phi Phi Lay's Maya Bay. It's this beautiful lagoon, with amazing snorkelling. There are some locals who camp on the island in Maya Bay on Phi Phi Lay, but no permanent residents.
Ray and I got enough sun and mosquito bites to last us the rest of the Canadian winter. Well Ray at least, I head back to Bangalore and 25 degree days! Koh Phi Phi was the most relaxing part of our trip. We lounged on the beach a lot. Took a one day tour of the surrounding islands, beaches and lagoons. Went snorkelling and swimming too. The snorkelling here is phenomenal. The fish are great, but the coral is something else! And to be able to see it all from the surface of the water is such a thrill. We also pigged out on great seafood. The jumbo tiger prawns are so good, fresh everyday, and relatively cheap!

Hong Kong is pretty cool. It reminds me of a cleaner, hillier version of Manhattan. The airport express train into the city was uber cool, it travelled outdoors mostly so I got to see a lot of harbour and lots of mountainous coast. The city itself is teeming with people, there are people everywhere! Chris says they're favourite past time is shopping, which is evident by the number of malls and stores that are around. For the most part the culture here is just a larger scale version of what you would experience at Pacific Mall on a Saturday afternoon. It's very much a "going out" culture, which doesn't surprise me because given the limited space on the island, i'm sure there's no incentive to stay in one's teeny tiny apartment.
I'm meeting my Auntie Colleen this afternoon, which should be fun since she knows this place well. Off to dim sum in Hong Kong!