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Hong Kong. My future home. . . maybe

I have tons of footage by the way. I will probably dedicate a whole page to video clips.

What a year 2013 has been!

“I love life! I love what God is doing!”

Sending love from The Peak!

My first impression of Hong Kong: “wait, am I really out of the country? Because I don’t feel far from home.” I’m not too sure what I expected. Of course I had done a little research here and there and had asked around about Hong Kong, but I had no idea it would remind me of New York.  Much bigger, much cleaner, better trains, with people from around the world!  (Don’t get me wrong I LOVE LOVE LOVE NYC, but I think NYC may have jocked a few things from Hong Kong) I mean Hong Kong even has a SOHO.  The first thing you really notice is the skyline and the architecture of the buildings. Truly amazing.

Found a cool location on a morning jog.

One of the first things people asked me when I told them I was going to Asia was “Do you know any of the languages? How are you going to communicate?” Well as you can see from the pictures, English is EVERYWHERE! Don’t get me wrong there are still a lot of people that don’t speak English but it’s definitely not a major barrier.

I’m half monkey and half crazy!

 

A little guerrilla marketing never hurt nobody! (It’s just chalk anyway)

Public transportation is great. The MTR is probably one of the best subway systems I’ve experienced in all of my travels. Can you spot me in the last picture??

My first fan in Hong Kong! (I caught her taking a picture of me so I asked if she would like to take one with me.)

One of the best things about Hong Kong is the energy and the feel. I could honestly live in Hong Kong with no problem. I hate to keep on comparing it to New York but that’s the only other city that I can compare it too. If there was a bigger population of black folks I would be figuring out my move now!

Plenty of American influence. (Forrest Gump is definitely one of my  favorite movies.)

She was too fly! Two snaps for this lady. I hope to be rocking it out like her when I get to be that age!

I met people from around the world who worked in many different industries from fashion to music to banking to anything you can think of. One of the many great things about traveling is meeting new people and expanding your mind to depths you couldn’t even imagine. I was truly like a sponge. Soaking it all up!

So about the weather and my hair. Too humid for straight hair. I tried to hold on to my straightness as long as I could.  I had to let it go.  Had to bring out the curls.    It was soooooo hot and humid. It was kind of crazy to see people suited up, but of course they are use to the weather.

The curls in full effect!

Fresh food. Any thing you could possibly think of was for sale.

One thing about Asia in general that I HATE,  EVERYBODY smokes! You can practically smoke any and everywhere. YUCK!

I’ve been a big advocate for following your dreams and showing God what you’re willing to sacrifice to make it happen. He has shown me tons of favor. I can’t help but to think he came through again in the clutch with Art Basel  taking place when I happened to be in Hong Kong! Like realllly though! What! That’s insane!

A special thank you to my friend Maria for my outfit! Her designs are amazing.  I was headed to the first Art Basel event in the city.

My signature will be worth something one day!

It was nice to rub shoulders with the art worlds elite! One day I’ll be able to cop a few pieces. But for now I’ll just enjoy the pictures I took and bask in the memories I made.

Headed to the second day of Art Basel.

Still can’t believe I went to Art Basel in Hong Kong!

Found this jacket in a back alley for $12 bucks! Edward copped some shoes for $6!

Live from the Underground. Big K.R.I.T.  in the iPods at the Apple store.

On the 4th full day of the trip, Jet lag hit me like a ton of bricks. I did go out the night before but a few drinks couldn’t have kept me in the bed ALL DAY! Out of all of my travels, I’ve never experienced anything like this. I could literally only stay up for 30 minutes at a time within a 20-hr span. I was thinking “Geeeesh Lauren, you done caught the flu or something already?” Luckily, my body was just getting adjusted. I mean we are 12 hours AHEAD!

Hong Kong is definitely too big  to experience in only 6 days. There is absolutely no way. There are over 260 islands that make up Hong Kong. All of them aren’t inhabited but that just shows you how massive this place is. I DEFINITELY will be back. Probably sooner than later. So far it’s the only country that makes me really feel like I’m in the US. If you want to party and be in a major city, Hong Kong got that. If you want to go to the beach and chill out, Hong Kong got that. If you want to trek in the mountains, Hong Kong got that. If you want to shop at your favorite designer stores, Hong Kong got that.  If you want to find some deals on some of your favorite designers, Hong Kong got that. If you want to meet people from all around the world, Hong Kong got that. If you want someone to tell you what to do with your money, Hong Kong got that. One of the financial capitals of the world!

One of the missions for this project was to document how to travel on $30/day. So here is the run down for Hong Kong. $1USD is equivalent to $7.7 Hong Kong dollars, which is great, but living off of $30/day including living expenses isn’t practical. But in terms of exploring and getting around and eating, you can definitely make $30 stretch.  Food cost can range from reallllly cheap to reallllly expensive. After all Hong Kong has everything you can get from any other major city in the world. We went a little over budget. Luckily the dollar gets stronger and stronger as we travel to the other countries on the list. No,  it’s not a coincidence. lol. I planned it that way so we could budget accordingly.

I also want to express what measures I had to go through to get this video and post up! My computer started acting crazzzzzy! Clicking on stuff by itself.  So something that normally takes 4 hours took 2 days. I believe the heat and humidity is having an effect on my baby Mac. (It’s definitely time for a new one) Also iMovie sucks! I need final cut pro and someone to teach me how to use it. I’ve gone near and far searching for steady wi-fi and boy has it been a struggle. Probably because I am writing this from Bangkok. But I am grateful to be able to share this with you all. One day I will have a team who will shoot, edit, produce and everything else. But for now, you got to deal with what skills and tools I have!