Our last day - Hong Kong

I was a little nervous that we actually had to navigate a whole day of sightseeing on our own!

On Thursday morning everyone had to go back to work/school, so Bob and I let ourselves out and took the final ferry back to Hong Kong.  We had the return ticket from our ride yesterday, but I did have to procure our taxi ride to the terminal.  I managed the phrase in Chinese with the gypsy cab driver and everyone mostly understood each other - phew! 

We went straight for the taxi stand and checked into the hotel and fortunately they could take us, so we dropped our bags.  We stayed at the Bishop Lei International House, which interestingly is owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Hong Kong.  While this hotel can have great harbor views, we were on the backside.  This was okay, because I could see the roads where we wanted to go and plan with the map.

We walked out in the direction of the mid-level escalators.  These are built up the hillside to help commuters heading into central Hong Kong get to and from work.  They run down until 10-something in the morning, and back up the rest of the day.  We knew there would be lunch options near there, and we found Cafe O.

After lunch we walked in the direction of the peak tram so we could take the funicular to the top of Victoria Peak.  Our original plan for Hong Kong was to visit the Big Buddha, which you reach by gondola, mostly for the views.  We learned from Jeff that the gondola was out of commission so we decided on Victoria Peak as an alternative.   It's worth visiting anyway, but when you have only one day you have to pick...

On the way to the peak tram, we happened upon an entrance for the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.  We generally like visiting botanical gardens, so this was on the list if it worked out.  We headed in and enjoyed the scenery and animals.

It started to drizzle while we were in the zoo.  After a while we exited and continued to follow the peak tram signs.  It was pretty easy to navigate and found the terminus building.  We didn't have to wait long since the weather was bad, I can't imagine what it's like on a nice day.  Unfortunately we were the last to go through the line and had to stand in the back. Man, that was hard to do on the inclines!  

(Bob is pretty funny.  It was very humid, which you can tell by the curl in my hair.)

The peak was totally covered in fog by then and it started to rain hard.  We shopped and waited it out and eventually got a misty view from the inside. It was still raining too hard to risk the cameras outside.  

We actually got really good views on the way back down.  

 (nice crazy angle from the tram)

We found a bus stop outside the tram exit, so took that to the star ferry.  If we hadn't ridden the bus the day before, I wouldn't have had the confidence to try it.  But honestly, it was really simple and worked great.   Our route for the day was obviously a popular one because everything went together.  

The Star Ferry goes from central Hong Kong, across Victoria Harbor (can you guess which Queen was in charge when England took over?), to Kowloon.  This is the area that you often see of Hong Kong, with the bright lights and New York City feel of 5th Avenue or Times Square.  Experiencing this was on the top of my list of goals for the trip and it did not disappoint.   The rain made picture taking hard and it was VERY hectic, but I am glad we made the trip.

We circled back to the harbor around 7:00 and the lights of the city were really stunning.   We loved that and took a ton of pictures.  When we first saw the harbor at night, it was quite breathtaking.


Someone took this picture, I regret not picking a better spot.

I wish I was a better photographer, but these are my best shots:

There is a light and music show at 8, which we waited for.  I would probably tell someone that if the light show worked out it's neat, but not to wait a long time or go out of your way.  To us, the views of the city on its own were awesome enough. 

The trip back on the star ferry was a cinch and we decided to try the walk back to the hotel.   We stopped at 7 Eleven and also one bar for a drink.   There's a section on the mid-levels where you can hop on and off easily at bars and restaurants.  

This is the view from our bar stools.   Not very pretty, but it shows how close the escalators are.

This is how small our room was:

It was a good day and I did everything I wanted to and more.

We left for the airport the next morning.  We went to the IFC for the Airport Express and could check in, including luggage, there.  The train to the airport was simple and we had breakfast after clearing security.  The plane ride home was long, but fine, and sadly we had a painful layover in Chicago for nearly 4 hours.   

Overall it was an awesome trip!  No real problems and we saw so many more things than I could have imagined.  It was fun to let our hosts do the planning (THANK YOU AGAIN).  Several folks have asked what we thought of China.  I thought it was much better than I was warned :)  But, I wouldn't want to live there.  This is mostly due to the weather, which was too hot for me and we had pretty good weather.  

The food was fine and some was really great.   We had a lot of traditional food in Taiwan and more western options in China, and we were a long way from starving.  It wasn't a problem for us and we have pretty good chopstick skills.    If you don't, I recommend traveling with a fork.   I hope to visit the area again, especially since Carl and Chi-Tsai will be in Taiwan for the foreseeable future.  I'd love to visit the Great Wall and other parts East, too.  We will see what the future holds.  We ended up with a bunch of leftover Hong Kong money, which is as good an excuse to go back as any.