Travel Diaries: After hours in HK/China

 

Madi here.

This October, Sarah-Jane, Jerome and I headed off to Hong Kong and China to visit the trade fairs and source new product for 2026. It was my first time going and what an amazing experience it was.

When we arrived in Hong Kong and got in the cab to head to our hotel, we discovered our hotel was on Thomson Road - my last name!! Also just down the road was a store called 'House of Madison'. Both the exact same spelling as my name which I don't see too often.

Our first day in Hong Kong was a free day to explore. On our way to breakfast we walked through this little alleyway street with a beautiful lantern display overhead. I took my film camera with me and got a shot of this which I can't wait to see developed.

Breakfast was a delicious Cinnamon Crunch Puff from a place called ' The Baker and The Bottleman'. It was a double story building, the first level was the bakery and the second level was the bar. I loved the branding and illustrations they had of a dog and cat representing the baker and the bar man.

We headed up Victoria Peak on the tram. It was a beauitful day so we were treated to a clear view of the city.

We finished off the day at a delicious Italian restaurant. I loved the style of the building and the little window tables that conect through to the inside.

While walking through the streets, we passed by so many food shops with incredible displays of meat and fish laid out and mountains of fruit and vegetables.

During this trip we used so many modes of transport: trams, trains, cabs and ferries. I loved this beautiful, old green ferry we went on after a good day shopping on the mainland. Hong Kong had so many different trams. We took a double decker tram to dinner and sat up the top.

We went to three fairs in total: The Mega Show in Hong Kong and the Jinhan Fair for Home & Gifts and the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China. They were held in massive convention centres! We did a lot of walking throughout the different halls, over 80km for the trip.

We visited Beijing Road one night, having dinner beforehand at Tiger Prawn, my favourite dinner of the trip! We had so many delicious dishes, my favourite was the prawn summer rolls. After dinner, we took a look at the Dafo Temple. The temple was softly lit and the colours and angles of the building came to life. We admired the towering Buddha which looked even bigger in real life!

One thing I noticed was that China loves to light up their buildings!! The city looks very modern and futuristic. Check out this donut shaped hotel.