Hong Kong Day 6: Victoria Peak

Hi sorry I didn’t post last night, I was so tired. Yesterday I was very sore as I woke up but I still ran for a little bit. I ran to where we can work out (if we pay) the man there said that if we get temp. staff cards we can use their facilities and pool. I will look into that. Around 12:20 we left for Festival Wok. We grabbed sandwiches at this delicious sandwich shop in the mall. Then we took the subway to Admirality. It was soooo packed, we were like sardines –you would never think this many people could be in a subway! I would have taken a picture if I could have gotten my camera out, alas I couldn’t. There we walked to Hong Kong park. This is a nice sized park in the middle of the city. We climbed up a very tall winding steps and then saw a bunch of pretty fountains. One was a mushroom shaped one which you can walk behind. The splashes of the water felt nice because it was so hot –although it wasn’t one of the hottest or most humid days since I had been here. We walked around and we actually saw Asians running around. This was very exciting to me because it meant that not all were able to stay thin and fit looking by just being well asian –although I think these were sport teams =) still… anywho we saw some nice vegetation and a pond. There were some shops there with pretty jewelry with prices ranging from pretty earrings for 1 american dollar to 7 dollars for a big necklace. You can haggle with these people. All of the girls except me bought something. I just didn’t like how the jewelry looked on me (maybe I was having a fat neck day or something?). anyways we walked up these steep winding steps to a lookout observatory where we could see lots of the city. It was a great view and very high. Then we walked through (in what is my personal opinion) the prettiest part of the park. It was lots of cool architecture that was a memorial for Chinese people who had lost their life to illness while working to save others with illness –so like doctors I think. They had lots of face statues around for that and Chinese writing that I couldn’t read. Then we went to this pretty bird observatory place. Here they had lots of birds in a big open area –you may see it in my photo album. It was pretty neat and there are a lot of strange birds in there. I wasn’t worried about getting bird flue because these are like zoo birds –they are not taken out of the observatory –though the observatory was very nice and big with waterfalls and lots of cool trees. It kept dripping water on us. we decided that it must either be 1) the pipes that were really high above us holding up the top roof of the observatory were dripping because of the humidity or more likely 2) the pipes were systematically dripping in order to keep the area wet so the jungle trees got enough moisture. Wow that was boring and unnecessary. Anywho after that we walked across the street to the peak tram station. This was really a neat ride. It only has 1 tram that runs up to Victoria peak and back so you have to wait for it to go up and then back. This is a huge tourist attraction so it can get crowded. Here is the place to sit. On the way up the tram looking up the mountain, sit in the back right corner. On the way down, try to sit in the same spot, only you will be going backwards. This tram ride was slightly rollarcoastery (but not really mom! Don’t worry) it climbs so steeply that the buildings are in a strange angle to you. it really is cool to see. Take pictures as you climb of the city. It is magnificent! Once you get to the top there is a mall/food area with a hagen daz (spelling?) and a fountain. We got up there and it was sooooo foggy. I don’t think it is normally like this, but it was still awesome. we first walked along morning trail and lague (spelling) road. It was very pretty and the fog was very cool, but the view was not the best. We kept seeing lookouts with a picture of what we SHOULD see, but we only saw fog. Then we ate at a Chinese restaurant in the mall –they have some grills and other food places that are twice as much. If you look, you can find some more local food with good pasta or sushi that is a lot less money. The mall is ok but expensive we didn’t stay there much.

After eating we decided to climb the peak. Wow that was soo steep. As we went we saw some huge snails that were cooler than the expensive apartments and mansions up the peak. We finally got to the governors walk and tried to get up to the peak gardens and just to top of the peak . Unfortunately (although as we expected because of the fog) once we got up to the top it was so foggy that you couldn’t see the person 15 feet in front of you –let alone anything else. On a clear day it probably is really cool. Then we walked back through the peak gardens, but they weren’t impressive –but I think that is because my idea of a garden is to have tons of flowers, I think in china it means just vegetation. And to me we had been seeing vegetation all day so this just had a few more flowers. Anyways we walked down and got a little lost going the other way down the governors walk, but finally made it down the steep mountain. It was very scary because it was foggy and taxis and cars were often zipping around the mountain. Then we got ice cream at Hogan daz which was expensive but delicious. By now it was dark so we tried walking to see the lighted city. We saw it and it was nice but we couldn’t take pics. Then we went on the tram back down the mountain –the mountain is so steep your ears pop several times. We got to see some of the light show of the skyscrapers of HKI. This was very cool. They have this from 8-8:20ish each day or something like that.

Then we walked around the city at night and it was very beautiful, but this time my camera had lost all battery power, so I didn’t take many pictures, but it was dark so they wouldn’t have come out well. OH it was so fun, we accidently caught a Chinese couple making out in like a place pulled off to the side of the street. I was very happy because I don’t see as many asians making out as there should be in a city of this beauty. We were exhausted as we got on the subway, luckily it was less crowded =)

I saw more dogs and cats on Victoria Peak than I have the whole time I have been here. We decided it was because this is the wealthiest part of HK. We chatted with other tourists and it was very nice –the tourist places have a lot more friendly smiley people. Back near HKBU, people usually don’t smile when I smile at them. It makes me sad. Anywho the places to live at Victoria Peak are like 900 million HK dollars –at least someone told me that (maybe I have my facts wrong, but I kinda doubt it). Gas here is about 8 american dollars per gallon, so if you have a car it is very expensive. I have also found that other than taxis, people drive Mercedes and BMWs and nice Hondas. I have not seen a beater car yet.

I didn’t run this morning because I decided to give my legs a break. We are going to leave in an hour to go to Lantau Island where the Big Buddha is. I hear it is very nice here, but again a lot of walking –I have no idea how many miles I walked yesterday (and up mountain too!). If it seems like the weather isn’t going to be nice, we will probably just go to Mong Kok or the other shopping areas around here. Sorry this was so long! Have a good day/night!