We were very curious what Hong Kong would be like on Christmas. Would anything be open? Would we be able to find places to eat? We need not have worried; Christmas was like any other day.

We decided against going to Macau because Clayton had read that many, many people from mainland China come in on the weekends to go there.  Christmas Day was on a Sunday, so we assumed that it would be extra-crowded. After experiencing the crowds in Tsim Sha Tsui the previous night, we had no desire to experience more crowds today.

We had already seen the main sights that we had wanted to see, so decided to make it a relaxed day. We headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. We passed the street where the Ladies Market would be set up but it was too early in the day for any of the stalls to be open yet. Most of the little shops along the streets were open and there were many people out shopping.

We stumbled upon a food market and found it to be one of the most interesting places we visited. The types of food for sale were, shall we say, very “interesting”. Many were completely unidentifiable, but we did see all types of meat from all types of animals for sale. You could get fresh chicken, as well as some other types of birds. They would butcher the animal on the spot for you. There were many types of mystery sausages hanging from hooks. There were pressed salted ducks (I only know this because there was a sign identifying what they were). There were a couple of streets dedicated to all types of seafood. Many had live fish, eels, crab, etc. We also found lots of fresh produce. Many of the fruits and vegetables were completely different from any we have seen before. It was a really fascinating place to visit.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to finish our packing and relax for the rest of the day. We were hoping our suitcase wasn’t over 50 lbs., because if it was, it would cost an extra $200 to get home. Gotta love those airline fees! We rearranged things so that the weightier items would be in our carryon (which we had decided to check rather than bringing on the plane). And, Clayton had purchased a daypack at one of the markets, so if needed, we could use it to bring our suitcase’s weight down if necessary.

We watched some movies in our room (English channel with Chinese subtitles) and had some snacks in the club room for dinner. We had reserved spots on the airport shuttle for 8:10 in the morning so went to bed early since we would be getting up early.