Hong Kong 2007

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Day 3 - July 31, 2007

Welll, the first thing we had to do today was a bit of education here in HK. Several of us decided to take a bus tour of the island. We boarded the bus and took seats. Linda, our interpreter was in a seat near the front of the bus. The tour guide promptly told us that we all had to sit together and move back which would mean that not all of us could see the interpreter. She also told us that the interpreter could not stand up because it was against the law. After much discussion, we were able to come up with a solution that seemed to work for everybody.

The first stop on the tour was Victoria's Peak..way up on the mountains, the panoramic views of the city are stunning. The roads up the mountain are narrow and winding, and going up (and coming down!) them is quite a challenge in large double decker tour buses. When two buses pass each other from different directions on a curve, you literally feel like you need to "suck it in" to get by because there are only a matter of inches between the two vehicles. Once you are at the Peak, there is a lot to see and do with shops, cafes, and local vendors hawking their crafts.

The next stop was Aberdeen Harbor on the south part of the island. This is a small, very colorful area lined with brightly painted wooden fishing boats (called sampans) covered with tires. We took a ride around the harbor on one of these boats.

We then got back on the bus and looped around to an area called Repulse Bay. The beaches and views here are stunning. There is another beach here called Deep Water Bay. This beach is protected by "the yellow line" which is a sharknet that goes all the way down to the sea floor.

The last stop on the tour was Stanley Market. This area is also a former fishing village. It is known now for its incredible market place where you can buy just about everything (and we did!). Also, the entire waterfront is filled with restaurants and pubs. We ate lunch there at a great place called "Main Street Cafe and Pub". The menu was like a book...they had everything. Tami ordered vegetable soup with beans. When the soup arrived, there were no beans, so we sent it back and asked for beans. They brought it back out and this time it was full of peas. We didnt want to make a fuss but we told the owner about it. He said he would bring out a new bowl, full of beans, no charge. Well, the third bowl was chock full of peas too! It was after that we realized that "beans" means "peas"...who knew?

After eating and shopping, we took a local bus back to the hotel. It was a pretty long ride, and many of us napped along the way. The intense heat and humidity can really sap your energy. But very little time to shower and change and get ready to go to a traditional Chinese meal where the locals would eat. Our guides were new friends from the Theatre of the Silence. We had to wait quite a while to get a table. Though it looks like a bit of a dive from the outside, the restaurant was obviously popular with the local people. When they had space for us, we made our way upstairs and to the back of this crowded, smoky room. We were still a bit skeptical but just a few minutes after we sat down, plate after plate of food showed up on the table. We passed it around family style. Everything from fish balls to ginger chicken. We tried to tech Tami how to use chopsticks. She says that several folks have tried and she just cant do it. We think she's faking it.

View from Victoria Peak	Luis and April pose with the cart driver
These boats have everything on them, some even have air conditioning!	Riding the Aberdeen Harbor in a sampan
Beautiful beaches! Expensive beach real estate!	Beautiful scenery everywhere you look
Luis shows off his lunch choice	Obviously, it was a good choice!
All of us eating like the locals do	Some unusual dishes
oh come on Tami! You can do it!

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