Friday, January 22, 2016

Day 3 - Hong Kong Island

Into the little touring van, and off to visit the Hong Kong Island with the tour host that no doubt wanted to be a famous television game show host.  Man that guy could talk, and it sounded like a recording of what he had no doubt done a million times, shuffling tourists around.

The trip up to the top of the island to Victoria Peak is done via a quaint little tram.  552 metres high with a 7 km running track around the top.  Lovely place to get away and bash out a nice run whilst glancing down at Victoria Harbour, Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island.  Given we were on a time restriction, I was unable to partake in the burning of calories.  Ha ha...I can't remember the last time I bashed out a 7 km run, thank goodness there was only time  At least the talking guide had all the moves and he managed to navigate his way to herding all the tour into the car at the same time.  No mean feat when you have wandering tourists of every nationality, may have been easier to heard cats!

 

From Victoria Peak we headed over to the south side of the Island driving past Repulse Bay.  The name is drawn from the battleship HMS Repulse who battled plundering pirates many years ago.  Our next stop is scheduled to be the local jewellery factory.  We were ushered in and stuck there for what felt like an eternity.  After some time of playing dodge with the sales people. and convincing the child that she did not need a $700 AUD miniature jade dog, I dutifully purchased a Rat pendant for my necklace and fended off others as I tried to find my way to the exit.

Next stop is the Stanley Markets.  Although our time to wander around here is now down to less than an hour, due to the length of incarceration at the jewellery factory!  By this stage in the day I have not eaten since breakfast and am nearly fainting.  We race through stalls in desperation, searching for any food venue to plunder!

With the threat of being left at Stanley Street to find our own way home, we quickly ate and headed back to the bus.  The air conditioning of the bus was a welcome relief to the temperatures outside, and the trip down to the Aberdeen Fishing Village was lovely.

We were to visit the "remains of Hong Kong's boat people...with an optional sampan ride".  Marketing people have a lot to answer for. 

Upon arriving at the dock, we move straight onto the sampan.  I am not sure where the tour for the fishing village was, so the spin around the harbour was at least some way of having a look at a boat of some description.


 
It was amusing to see that a love of gardening could be achieved whilst residing on the water.
 

 
The thing that bothered me most about this trip was the obvious problem with refuse and environmental sustainability.
 
 

Day 2 - Hong Kong Harbour

After a day of transport hopping and trekking around Disneyland, we were pretty wrecked on arriving back at the hotel.  I didn't want to walk any further, so as we rounded the corner from the hotel I noticed a restaurant called Rubota Kim.  Funky name, so I limped on in and took up residence at a table.  Low and behold, for the third night in a row we were about to eat sushi!

By this stage I wanted something a little different, but the eel and tuna sashimi on the opposite side of the table was not making a run at my side.  I was able to squash in an edamame bean or two.  It had been warm all day, so the crab and mango option sounded nice.  I ordered tuna for the youngster, and looked away when realising that the tuna was not cooked.  The tuna jelly went down fine thank goodness. 


The waiter wandered back to the table to advise that there was not any mango left.  Big sigh from me, but he says that he can put some cheese on instead.  Not being familiar with cheese on sushi, I thought I misheard him.  Apparently not, and it was certainly the first time I have every had grilled cheese on sushi!

Much to our dismay, the next thing on the list was to trek down to Hong Kong Harbour for the famous photo shot.  Have to see it at night, the lights are spectacular.  By this stage my feet had long since passed the hurting stage and had progressed into a state of numbness.  Although there was not a large time zone variation, the travelling and big day at walking had taken a toll on the normally early to bed pair.  But it is a holiday, a life adventure...buckle up travellers.

The view was amazing and well worth the walk. We were also fortunate enough to have a lantern parade that we got to wander through.  A spectacular way to end the day.  The fitbit clocked over 12 km today, and I have felt every step of it.