Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Hong Kong

September 19 - 23, 2007; Hong Kong

Wednesday, September 19

Valerie: We arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning after spending all night on a train from Yangshuo. Riding the train was a neat experience. We bought a sleeper cabin, with four bunks and had the very tiny space all to ourselves. It was a good thing we decided to buy the extra two beds because there would have been no room for our luggage otherwise. (Our suitcases shared the top bunks.)

(Adam and our very narrow sleeping compartment.)

Thursday, September 20

Valerie: We decided to hike Victoria Peak today -- the highest point on Hong Kong island (although not the highest mountain in the territory). You can take a cable car to an observation deck (and shopping center) which is advertised as a "the peak" but isn't really because the actual peak is still about a 30-minute hike away. I thought the trail to the summit would have been relatively busy but to our surprise it was empty -- we were the only ones around. Apparently everyone opts for the easy cable car ride to the observation deck and back. The trail (which was basically a road for cars) was very steep although by now we are used to China's steep climbs. After a quick 30-minute hike we made it to the actual peak -- a small hilltop with several radio telecommunications towers. The views from here were very good, and would probably have been spectacular had it not been for the haze.

(View from the observation deck at Victoria Peak. Although we visited the peak during the day, we came back again because the views are even better at night.)

Adam: Victoria Peak is nice. The tram was constructed back in the late 19th century - at the time, it was considered a bit of a rich man's folly - but has since survived and become a way for HK's plebians to come and see the enormous mansions on the hill. The tram itself is a bit of an experience - in some sections, it goes up at a 45 or 50 degree angle. This is quite comfortable if you are seated, but as we discovered on our second trip down, very difficult if you are standing. I had to hold onto a brass railing for dear life, lest I fall on top of the people standing behind of me!

Valerie: Hong Kong's public transportation system is exceptional. The subways are completely air-conditioned and are very modern. As in DC, there are steep fines for eating or drinking on the train. Along with the subways, the city also operates numerous trams (see picture below). The trams have been operating since 1904, making it one of the oldest tramways in the world and Hong Kong's earliest mode of public transportation. The tram is similar to a very narrow bus, but it is electric and runs on a track. Hong Kong is one of only 3 cities in the world to operate a double-decker tram (but I believe it is the oldest running of the three). The picture may not show it, but the trams are very narrow -- only 3 seats across.

Adam: One of the coolest features of HK's public transport system is that it is still largely anchored by ferries. HK is actually a series of islands - Hong Kong Island being the largest, but also Lantau, Lamma, Cheung Chau, and a whole bunch of others. So there are ferry terminals all over the city which are pretty efficiently connected to the subways and buses.

Valerie: We later visited Kowloon (via a very nice ferry ride) and saw some impressive views of the Hong Kong skyline.

(Us on the pier. The Hong Kong skyline and Victoria Peak in the background.)

Adam: Kowloon is to Hong Kong (island) what Brooklyn is to Manhattan. HK island is polished with lots of expensive shops; it's clean, touristy, and considered the power center of Hong Kong - but in some areas of the city, you'd hardly know you were in Asia. Kowloon is bustling and chaotic, a real large Asian city. Although we didn't spend a lot of time over on this side of Hong Kong, it had some of the best food around (served on plastic chairs at the Temple Street night market).

Valerie: Our final stop was the Graham street market. This was just one of many of China's open-air street markets. With only a few exceptions, every city we've visited has had at least one street market.

(A food stall in the Graham street market.)

Adam: This market shows you Hong Kong's obsession with freshness. All around, there are live fish, frogs, shrimp, etc., which people pick out and which are slaughtered and cleaned in front of you. Unfortunately, the HK government finds it all a bit unseemly, and they're trying to shut the street markets down (when we went, the market was still packed at 6:00 pm on a Friday - so it's clearly not on economic grounds). Valerie and I registered our opinions by buying "Save Street Markets" shirts from a local designer.

Friday, September 21

Adam: On Friday, we got up early in the morning and took the ferry over to Mui Wo on Lantau island, where we started the Lantu trail, which traverses the entire island. We had planned on doing the first three stages of the trail, which cover two of Hong Kong's biggest mountains - Sunset Peak (~857 m) and Lantau Peak (~940 m). We had been told that this hike would only take five hours - but this can only be accomplished by a person who was running the entire thing. After six hours, we had covered only Sunset Peak, and we were exhausted. As with other trails in China, the concept of "switch-backs" hasn't quite come around, and the trail was a series of steps straight up the mountain. If you can imagine hiking up the staircase of a building three times the size of the Empire State Building, you get a sense of what this was like.

Valerie: The hike was grueling, although not as bad for me as hiking the Great Wall. It was a very different experience from our prior hikes in China. Here, there are no Chinese woman trying to sell you water. Ironically, however, when we actually needed them (because we didn't pack enough water) they were not around. There were also not a lot of tourists. On the entire hike, we ran into only 3 people - two foreigners and one local who said he hikes to the peak once a month!

(Valerie on the trail at the start of the hike. The mountain in the distance is our destination.)

Saturday, September 22

Valerie: By this point on our trip we were both a bit tired of sightseeing so on Saturday we hit the shops instead. After all, Hong Kong's number one tourist attraction is its shops. The city did not disappoint. Because of all that we bought (it is all so cheap here) we ended up needing to buy an extra suitcase and an extra duffel bag. Before we hit the streets, however, we finally had some dim sum. Very tasty although quite expensive.

Adam: We ate the dim sum at this cavernous restaurant on the second floor of City Hall, which is supposed to be the best dim sum in the city - and we don't disagree. Between the shrimp dumplings, the vegetable buns, and the BBQ pork biscuits, we had a parade of hits which did not disappoint. As for the stores in HK, we particularly appreciated some of the HK designer boutiques - HK has got a real sense of style, and we enjoyed stores like Goods of Desire and A Bathing Ape - although we couldn't really afford to purchase anything in the latter store ($100 t-shirts!)

Valerie: Our shopping extravaganza led us right by the Man Mo Temple.

(The incense coils hanging from the roof of the Temple.)

Sunday, September 23

Valerie: Our last sightseeing destination this vacation was a visit to the Tian Tian Buddha -- the largest bronze seated buddha in the world.

(It's a big buddha)

Adam: This trip was hilarious. We got up on Sunday morning determined to make the Buddha our last sight on the trip. We took a train out to Tung Chung on Lantau, which is about a 45 minute ride. We then got on a bus to the Buddha which is a half hour ride through some pretty scary looking curves, all navigated by a driver with a speed obsession and - we think - suicidal tendencies. When you arrive at the top of the 500 m mountain on which the Buddha is perched, you climb 256 steps to the base of the Buddha. By the time we finally got to the top, it was drizzling and threatening to rain a lot more, so we took 15 minutes worth of pictures, and did the entire trip in reverse. Total travel time: 3 hours -- but it was worth it.

Up Next: The big move to New York. The doog continues to chill in Miami.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Valerie and Adam -
It looks like you guys had the time of your lives. It seems like this was an unbelievable trip; the trip of a lifetime. I just hope that some day I'll have the opportunity to see all of these amazing places.
Congratulations again on the engagement!
Lia

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