Living the island life - Hong Kong Island that is!

Hong Kong island has a population density of 16,390 per square km, Melbourne has a population density of 1,567 per square km... that's 16 times the number of people living on this small island. No wonder every second building is a high rise!!

Foodie moment

Last night we headed over to Hong Kong Island for the first time to grab a bite not really knowing what to expect. Just a short walk from Central Station we found ourselves in bar and restaurant paradise, Lan Kwai Fong. With so many options we were hard pressed to make a choice, but we were extremely happy with the quality of food we experienced at the Moi Thai / Vietnamese restaurant we found. Sorry Victoria Street, but these guys give you a running for your money!

After a lazy sleep in we were starving, so we decided to head back to Food Republic at Silvercord Mall for some more awesome value for money food. This time we had Szechwan Cuisine self serve. Not knowing what half of the things on offer were, we picked ingredients on look alone. The result was a really delicious (if not extremely spicy) soup. Yum!

We had read somewhere that if you're in Hong Kong, you have to try the egg tarts. Not knowing exactly what they were, we stumbled across them on display at a local market on the way to our tram ride. We gave them a go, and they were pretty good, as the name suggests, egg flavoured tart with lovely crumbly pastry.

Now feeling the effects of the extremely spicy breakfast soup, we were after something a little more stable for dinner. We walked around behind our hotel and found the Gourmet Tower. An entire mall dedicated to food! Don't know how we missed this one. In the lower basement level at a forgetably named Chinese restaurant, we had steamed dumplings. Something we hadn't had before was the steamed pork and sticky rice dumplings

Cultural moment

Everywhere you look in Hong Kong, you can still see the traditional ways in use. A good example of this is the bamboo scaffolding they use for construction. The seemingly flimsy platforms that look like they can blow over in a small breeze are a stark contrast against the modern buildings they are propped up against. Old ways are often still the best...

Wow moment

So today we decided it was about time we checked out the most urbanised area of Hong Kong, the cleverly named Hong Kong Island! We had heard the best and cheapest way to see a good amount of the island was via tram ride. The trams over here are double decker skinny things that look like something out of a Harry Potter movie. When I say these are cheap, I mean it, $2.30 HK (30 cents AU) for one journey anywhere. We started east of the city and spent the next hour and a half cruising through to the west.

What we learnt today

Not unlike an iceberg, it seems that as many buildings and people that there are above ground in Hong Kong- there are just as many below. All shopping centres have at least one basement level which houses shops and food courts. The MTR (train system) has massive sprawling underground stations that double as subways for pedestrians to cross busy roads. Our station (Tsim sha tsui) has 16 different exits bringing you out onto any street corner you wish to visit in the area.