Shopping trip to Hong Kong

This is the massive Hong Kong airport...I'm glad that I have always been with more seasoned travelers when I've had to use it! My El Salvadorian friend, Lupita, needed to take a trip to Hong Kong to close a bank account as she prepares to move to the U.S. and she graciously allowed me to tag along with her on a quick, two day trip. She knows all the great shopping areas and is a wonderful person--a great combination!
The famous view across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong island to the Kowloon side (if I remember correctly!) I never got to see this view at night, but it is reported to be pretty awesome when all the buildings are lit up. Hong Kong is a confusing mix of island and mainland components that I can never keep straight. Again, I like to travel with those who know more than I do and are not so directionally impaired.
Clock tower at the harbor. This place was almost deserted, though I imagine that's not always the case.
This is for my girls! Hong Kong is such a shopping and fashion mecca and it shows in the cabs. We only have green, blue, yellow and purple cabs in Xiamen, none that I've ever seen with advertisements quite like this. And, is it just me, or does this cab look like an English throw-back to the times of colonialism? Of course I benefited from this city's past as it left a legacy of spoken English.
Shopping at the night market, also called the Ladies' Market. We didn't find too much to buy here but did get some cute little things for the kids. This is the site of some terrible acid attacks, one of which happened when we were in HK for visa changes last October. A disagreement had escalated and a man returned to the market and splattered a bottle of acid across several stalls, blinding one man (with whom he had a money dispute) and injuring several bystanders. There have been other random attacks with people dropping open bottles of acid from windows onto the throngs of people below!
This is a long, narrow alley with stalls on both sides; we had to squeeze through the aisles at times. Sometimes we felt that the shopkeepers' knowledge of English was a detriment since they could then understand our discussions with each other! If I was more confident in my Spanish we could've used that language, but my vocabulary isn't great. Speaking of that, one day back in Xiamen we were having a pedicure together and were able to converse in Spanish when we didn't want the people to know what we were saying. I felt triumphant to be able to finally turn the tables--it really becomes tiresome to not understand what is being said all around me, no matter how hard I try to learn. Of course I get it that this is China and I should adapt to Chinese or suffer the consequences but it takes time.
One of the many malls we visited--I don't recall how many stories it had, but there were a lot! This is the inner courtyard, showing the corridors and the floating escalator. Lupita knew of many shops that I was not familiar with and we spent quite a bit of time looking for clothes. It was so great to find sizes that actually fit "Western" bodies and not just the under-100-pound frames that most Chinese women seem to sport. We were able to score quite a few good buys and I stuffed the extra duffle bag I had brought with clothes for myself and the rest of my family, cosmetics with familiar brand names, hard-to-find food items like lentils and split peas (and chocolates and cookies from Marks and Spencer!) and a few souvenirs.
We had purchased Octopus cards in the airport that allowed us to use the airport train into the city and then subways and cable cars throughout the city. We rode the tall, skinny cable car just once and it was fun. We took seats on the second story for a better view and I wished my kids could've come along for the ride! This was a quick trip but I think we walked about 50 miles judging by the state of my feet and were able to enjoy some lovely sandwiches the likes of which I've never seen in our part of China, did some successful shopping, saw a few sites and enjoyed a much-needed getaway!