He says: The biggest challenge in HK so far is not the language barrier or finding your way around the city, it's staying hydrated in 45 degree heat. I'm pretty sure we drank 14 liters of water yesterday as we trekked around the city. We had originally planned on making the hour long jet boat journey to Macau (aka Vegas east) but decided to take more time to explore HK. Our hotel rocks (the photo accompanying this post is the view from our room). Everyone who works here helps you get to where you want to go. Whether it's getting directions or a cab, the staff at the Hotel Icon could not be nicer. After our buffet breakfast, we took a cab to the HK bird market/flower market/gold fish market. The bird market is a place where bird owners take their pets so they can get some outdoor leisure time. It's kind of hilarious. There were hundreds of birds in cages and the place smelled exactly how you think it would. Our senses were treated to something a little sweeter as we explored the flower market. Flowers of all shapes and sizes were available for purchase at ridiculously low prices. Finally we walked to the goldfish market, which is several city blocks of aquarium shops that have fish for sale. The vendors display the fish by hanging them in plastic bags on the outside of each shop. It was a pretty unique place.

One thing I've learned on our journey so far: Starbucks are ubiquitous. No matter where you are in the world, you can always get a venti no whip latte if you want (please note we have not visited a Starbucks on this trip, but they are everywhere).

After the fish market we made our way by subway to the Avenue of the Stars (HK's version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame). We saw a whole bunch of stars for performers we'd never heard of - not that Butterfly Hu wasn't a real talent - so we made our way to the largest shopping centre in HK, Harbour City mall. This cavernous retail complex makes the West Edmonton Mall look like Carlingwood Shopping Centre. Looking for stores like Armani Junior or Burberry Baby? Well, Harbour City is your place. It was a great place to browse and come to the realization that if North America follows in the footsteps of HK fashion cues, we'll all be wearing furry capes in a few years time. We ended our day by taking in some history at the HK Museum of History. It gave us a better understanding of where HK has been and where it's going. A good day indeed.