Hong Kong

Welcome to Hong Kong!The trains look as though they go on forever…Apartments in Hong KongMasses of people crossing the street.
Fruit and vege markets.This lady was just pulling along these boxes in the middle of the road in peak hour traffic…A fancy foyer.A typical main street in central Hong Kong.
We bought Andrew’s niece a little asian dress and the lady was very keen to demonstrate that it wasn’t flammable. Night market.The way the buildings are lit up at night is very impressive.Double deck trams!Hong Kong LOVES malls…Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride.Climbing the stairs to the big Buddha.
Because they wouldn’t want you having too much fun…The selfie master in his fancy suit.A water buffalo just wandering the streets.Giant incense sticks. You can’t see it in this shot but they were as tall as me!The incense haze.Cable cars over the water.More hustle and bustle on Hong Kong streets.One of the many sights on this trip that has made me want to be a vegetarian.Locals at the market.Roses from the flower market.
A guy randomly walking along the street with his macaw.Hong Kong street food near the night market.

Chicago

Chicago was amazing! Maybe it was because we weren’t expecting it to be as amazing as it was but it was really fantastic.

The train station that greeted us when we arrived gave good first impressions.

We had spectacular weather and really enjoyed walking all around the city for the first few days. The gardens are all beautifully maintained, Lake Michigan is gorgeous and the Chicago cityscape is wonderfully unique.

The Bean!

The underside of ‘The Bean’ is even cooler!A lot of The Dark Knight rises was filmed in Chicago so given the number of times we’ve watched that film, we recognised many parts of Chicago.
They’re totally serious about this too…ask for ketchup and they’ll just say “This is Chicago.”We had a wonderful evening watching the sun set from the John Hancock Centre. We went up to the cafe and ordered an overpriced drink each and stayed for as long as we possibly could. Watching the lights come on was really magical and a definite highlight of the trip so far. Mmm…banana & nutella crepes – nice healthy treat 😉We paid a visit to the very educational Adler Planetarium……and also learned that we need to start wearing something other than Havaianas!Our Air B’n’B host gave us free admission to the Art Institute of Chicago which was really good.Van Gogh is a particular favourite of ours. This is his self portrait and a gallery full of Monet’s work.There was a wonderful photography exhibition too which really inspired me. The guy can make a brown paper bag look good! That’s talent!The Chicago Cultural Centre with the amazing Tiffany dome.We also visited the Lincoln Park Zoo which is free and really quite good. How good is this guy’s tongue!Our last night in Chicago happened to coincide with the 30th annual Chicago Blues Festival which nicely capped off a jam packed and really enjoyable 5 days in Chicago.