Hong Kong — Where in the World is Laura?

After being out to sea for what seemed like forever, we hear the news that we can finally see land. We're on our way to Hong Kong for a few days while on deployment, and pass the Philippines on our way there. As they announce over the intercom that land is finally in view, everyone stops what they're doing to go get a glimpse of land far off in the distance. It's foggy out, and it's torture. They were teasing us with land just out of reach. As the Philippines fade away as the ship continues to make its way through the gray water, we see bigger mountains on the horizon as the ship moves slowly, heading towards the pier. Or maybe the mountains were the same size as the others, we were just getting closer. We can start to make out a Ferris wheel and the makings of what seemed to be a park hiding in the fog. It's freaking Disney Land! Right on the coast, spread out near the water. If that didnt get everyone excited, I don't know what would have! Except real food, being on dry land, not working, a real bed, a beer (or 5) and fresh air. After being cooped up on a ship, anything seemed exciting.

When we finally have some freedom explore everything Hong Kong has to offer, our first stop is Disneyland! I’ve actually never been to Disney here in the states but the one in Hong Kong is very small, it was its 10 year anniversary when we went and it was one of the coolest things ever! They have a whole section dedicated to Toy Story where everything was enormous, and it made you feel like the size of a toy. We went on space Mountain and around the world, and we also went to the one restaurant they had at the park and when we got the receipt, the entire thing was in Chinese 😂

Walking around the streets of Hong Kong is just as cool as Disneyland. It felt like the entire city was one giant farmers market, and everything is super fast pace but also gorgeous.

One of our next stops is.....Buddha! I honestly don’t even know if any of these pictures can do it justice, it was amazing. Sitting up on a hill, he is hard to miss, but once you walk up to him he is so immaculately enormous, I literally got shivers! It was such a cool experience! Obviously the area was flooded with tourists and cameras going off left and right and I definitely joined in with that.

We spend the rest of the time exploring the street and see some crazy things that you would never see here, like construction workers climbing bamboo ladders and grids up the sides of buildings, and having meat markets with rats on sticks like Shish-kebabs, it’s insane! A few of us end up going to the tallest bar in the world, I wish I got a picture but I didn’t. 😩 it was a cool experience, it’s obviously super high-end fancy bar/club and we walk in with hoodies and jeans on haha. I don’t even think we buy any drinks because they’re triple the price because of where we were at.

All in all, I would definitely go back to Hong Kong. It’s a beautiful city, with so many hidden treasures! We were only there for a few days, so we had to squeeze everything back to back, but it was so worth it! Below are some more of my favorite pictures of the rest of our stay! I definitely want to give credit to some of these amazing pictures to my friends Jen, Monty, and James! I didn’t take as many pictures, but now I wish I had! I was too busy getting lost and getting tattooed!