hong kong by night

after church in singapore, jane and i hopped on a plane to hong kong. i have always wanted to visit this city, and especially lately have been profoundly pining to see china. (hong kong is close enough to hold me over for a while!) we arrived at the airport and zoomed into the city on a train, then grabbed a bus to our hotel. my eyes were positively glittering with thrill as we drove through the streets of hong kong, all alight and abuzz. it truly felt like a dream.

after dropping our stuff off, we headed to soho to grab dinner and begin exploring. jane had been to hong kong just a few weeks before, and so she was able to show me around a bit. i was instantly and completely captured by this neon metropolis. hong kong by night is just intoxicating. there’s a little thrill in the air that really stung me.

central hong kong felt like a super neat conglomeration of new york (big city buzz), china, britian, las vegas (neon lights), and san francisco (steep hills). everything was so alive and the action seemed to go on and on both horizontally and vertically. we found the most delicious vietnamese/thai place and shared a gorgeous meal on the patio, and this was our view:

 

the night sky was so bright thanks to all the city lights. the sheer number of apartments in hong kong just blows my mind. after dinner we got gelato and strolled through the hills of soho. these pictures just don’t give the electric, prickling thrill of it all any justice!

and thus began our hong kong adventure. i fell so fast!

china, india and arabia

jane showed me around the neat cultural neighborhoods in singapore.
it was like we went to china, india and arabia all in one afternoon!
i loved the bright buildings and shutters and the lanterns in chinatown.
see the laundry hanging out of the windows of that high rise?
we ate lunch at a hole in the wall place known for its homemade noodles.

jane’s husband blake showed us a pretty look-out point up a hill above chinatown.

we went in the buddhist temple right as a ceremony was beginning.

little india was equally as colorful as chinatown.
it was fun to find some things that reminded me of my time in india, like these flower stands:
 
we checked out a bustling wet market in little india. i love southeast asian fruit stands,
even though the extremely pungent durian smell is always pricking our noses!
it started raining right as we got to arab street – but teetered off just enough for a picture with the mosque!
arab street is full of textile shops. we admired the all the patterns as we strolled.
we had dinner on orchard road (kind of like singapore’s 5th avenue) with a group of jane’s friends.
it was so fun to meet them, and the dumplings and fried rice were fantastic!
our last singapore sightseeing stop was clarke quay along the river, all lit up and buzzing at night.
i loved seeing singapore as jane’s city!

singapore botanic gardens

on saturday morning, jane and i took a walk in the singapore botanic gardens – and holy smokes it was truly amazingly gorgeous. it was so fun to stroll and swoon at all the pretty vistas and flowers.

we walked through the orchid garden, the crown jewel of the lush, lush park, and then made our way around the pond past flora and fauna galore before heading home.

i took so many pictures because i couldn’t help myself. and this post is just a collection of photos of outrageously beautiful flowers. it was too hard to narrow them down! but all the flowers were so unique and sublime! looking at these pictures makes it hard for me to believe that i actually saw these in real life.

     

…sure made for a pretty wonderful saturday morning on the other side of the world.