Hong Kong
Out of context: Reply #10
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- BuddhaHat0
Usual things like taking the tram to the Peak, doing Macau etc are nice activities if the weather is right.... I spent a whole shitload of my time walking around with a camera, hitting cool shops and restaurants (Cantonese is imo the best kind of Chinese food by a long way).
My favourite day in HK was probably the day I walked around Lamma Island. There are no roads on the island, there are only bikes or walking, to walk the whole island is about 3.5 hours, and there are incredible restaurants on both sides of the island, and it's a calming, beautiful walk if you get good weather. About 40 minutes by ferry from Kowloon.
I don't know what the deal is with American citizens, just make sure you get any visa stuff for Shenzhen and Macau sorted before you start heading for the ferry.
You might want to check out Guangzhou or Sanya (for the beaches) as well if you're going to hit Shenzhen, there's a really interesting mix of foreigners there (Brazilians, Americans, Japanese etc), so the things you can find to do and eat are pretty varied (for China at least). Also, fakes in HK have been banned for a while now and shopping is nothing like it used to be. If you want fake shopping, the mainland is a million times better.
If you don't like walking around the markets being harassed by sellers shouting 'Mai shenme!?!?', www.taobao.com is chinese ebay and it is incredible. If you can befriend a native speaker with a bank account, you can get shit delivered in 2-3 days. Don't bother trying yourself, it's too damn hard.
Have a great time Rick!