I started off my Golden Week in one of the biggest and greatest cities in the world: Hong Kong. I arrived at night and caught my first glimpse of the city from the airport shuttle. It's a busy city, bursting with high-rises apartments, an endless horizon of skyscrapers, double-decker buses navigating the narrow streets, endless displays of neon signs, high-class shopping malls selling expensive brand names next to numerous 7-11s, stores open until all hours of the night, restaurants with amazing cuisine lining the streets, and busy sidewalks bursting with people from all over the world - Hong Kong is an amazing city.

I stayed five nights at the Mirador Mansion in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, famed by backpackers for some of the cheapest accommodation in Hong Kong. My first exciting few days were spent taking in the sights and sounds and randomly wandering the city. Victoria Peak is where you go to see infamous city skyline but it was rainy and humid when I went and couldn't see anything but the clouds I was in. I wandered over to Shirley street, a shopping district with the longest escalator system in the world, went to a few museums (including the Space museum that the nerd in me insisted on going to), took in the sprawling night market on Temple street, ate delicious Dim Sum and Chinese food, wandered Kowloon park, took a peek at the numerous shopping malls, walked up and down bustling Nathan Road and rode the extensive subway system to the outer edges of the city. At night I went down to the pier and watched the infamous light show where most of the skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island are lit up in tune with music.

What made me fall in love with Hong Kong wasn't the city itself but the outlying islands that are only a short ferry-ride away. Two islands I went to - Landau and Lamma islands - was like going to a completely different world. The islands are still relatively untouched with tiny fishing villages (and great seafood, I might add), tree-covered mountains and deserted beaches. On Landau Island I took a cablecar ropeway up to a place called Ngong Ping village which has a Buddhist monastery and a huge Buddha statue on top of a mountain. There were a few trails leading off from the main path so I decided to follow one and ended up at the top of Landau peak two hours later. After a few days in downtown Hong Kong, it felt great to get back out into nature again. I originally planned on taking the ropeway back down but I decided to continue on hiking down the other side of the mountain with a Swedish guy I met on the peak. We walked down to the highway where we caught a bus to a small fishing village and soaked in the scenery there for a bit, then I caught a ferry back to central Hong Kong. I fell asleep just as the ferry left the sleepy fishing village and woke up as it arrived at the downtown pier crowded with people and busy traffic. The contrast is incredible!

Lamma Island was another amazing island I went to by hopping on a random ferry. It was like a tropical island, full of palm trees and beaches instead of tree-covered mountains like Landau Island. I walked for two hours along the hiking path from one fishing village to another in the scorching 30 degree weather and saw amazing views of the beaches and harbors. It's the perfect place to get away from the city!

There are countless other little beaches, islands and other places you can go (including Macau!) but unfortunately I didn't have enough time on this trip. Hong Kong left a lasting impression on me and I'll definitely have to go back again one day, maybe with a little more time and money.

Check out my album for more pictures of Hong Kong.