Victoria Peak and Nan Lian Gardens

It's amazing that, in a city filled with masses of people, in just a few minutes you can get to a place where you all you can hear are the birds singing and the leaves rustling amongst the trees. This place is Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. Sure, it only lasts for a short time but it's peaceful and the views are amazing.

We went through the peak gardens and to the highest point of the peak where where is a lookout and then found a side trail to get us back to the main trail that goes around the peak.

A quiet side trail on Victoria Peak.

View from the highest lookout. A cloudy, hazy day.

Looking down on some of the Central Hong Kong high-rises and over to Kowloon.

Details on a high-rise building

Reflections in a mirrored wall of Central high-rise.

We were leaving Hong Kong in the evening so we took all our luggage to the Airport Express Station in Central Hong Kong in the morning (Which is awesome! Drop bags off early and don't have to deal with them at the airport.) and then took the subway over to Kowloon where we went to the Nan Lian Gardens and Chi Lin Nunnery. 

On the way to Kowloon, Andrew and I had one of those classic movie moments where one person (Andrew) gets on the subway at the last moment and the doors close with the other person (me) still standing on the platform! Luckily, we'd just discussed where we needed to switch lines; I mouthed the words "Mong Kok" to confirm with Andrew which station we would meet at and only a few minutes later we were reunited! 

At Nan Lian Gardens -- again such a contrast between old and new, peace and chaos.

Transplanting at the gardens.

A spotted dove

Intricate designs on the roof of the nunnery.

Hong Kong - City of Contrasts

This is the second stopover we've done in Hong Kong and we are enjoying it just as much as we did the first time. Part of what makes it so fascinating is the contrasts.

Bright shiny new buildings looking very futuristic, high-end fashion stores, expensive restaurants and hotels. Immersed into a landscape of dingy alleys, run down buildings, food stalls and people hawking cheap knock-off goods. Just around the corner, when you least expect it, is a small church nestled in the middle of it all.

At times there are so many people you can barely move and it's overwhelming. A couple minutes later you might find yourself in a small oasis of quiet.

The lakes in Hong Kong Park with wild looking high rises in the background.

Tai Chi Garden in Hong Kong Park. Photo taken from the observatory tower.

A church amongst the chaos.

We spent our first day walking, walking, walking. First stop was the aviary in Hong Kong Park. It's a very large space built into the hillside (you can see the side of it in the photo above of the Tai Chi Gardens). I'm using one of Andrew's cameras on this trip which has a very long zoom lens so I'm taking way more photos than I usually do. It's all set to automatic so photos are definitely not the quality that Andrew gets but still pretty good for me!

I loved the bright blue around this bird's eyes.

These two were hilarious! The one on the right was posing nicely for me, the other one was oblivious.
The right one kept bumping the other one as if to say "Hey, pay attention! She's taking our picture!"

Turtles in the lake in Hong Kong Park.

Colourful cacti in the Conservatory in Hong Kong Park.

After lunch we went to the zoo and botanical gardens. Amazingly, all this (including the aviary and conservatory in Hong Kong Park) are all free to access.

The ring-tailed lemurs are so cute!

The mid-level escalators make going uphill much easier!

Free Stuff to Do in Hong Kong

After back-to-back 4+ hr flights from Sarong to Jakarta and then Jakarta to Hong Kong, Andrew and I took a couple more days in Hong Kong to relax before the long flight back to Canada.

I am so impressed by how many free pubic spaces there are in Hong Kong.  Places that would normally charge an entry fee anywhere else.

We really loved the hike around Victoria Peak (so peaceful in the middle of the rest of big city chaos), so headed back up there our first morning and again wandered through the zoo and botanical gardens. This zoo has the most active and noisy monkeys we've ever seen so we enjoyed sitting and watching them for a while.

Hong Kong Park, along with the walk-through aviary, plant conservatory and a couple small museums and galleries was also nearby.

The Man Po Temple was within easy walking distance of where we were staying. Unfortunately, given that it's apparently one of Hong Kong's top attractions, we expected more. But it does appear to be undergoing renovations so perhaps that was part of what detracted from it.

We also headed over to Kowloon and were very impressed with the Nan Lian Chinese Gardens  which is looked after by the nuns from the Chi Lin Nunnery.

At the Man Po Temple

At the Man Po Temple

One of many birds in the walk-through aviary in Hong Kong Park.

Very futuristic looking building! 

One of the smaller groups of turtles in Hong Kong Park.

At the Nan Lian Gardens

At the Nan Lian Gardens

Chi Lin Nunnery

Hong Kong - Random Thoughts and Photos

Andrew and I have enjoyed visiting Hong Kong but are now ready to move on to Kathmandu! I'm excited! Although it will be my fourth time (Andrew's fifth) in Nepal, it's been way too long! After a few days in Kathmandu itself, it will be great to get onto the trek which the main purpose of our whole trip.

This morning we were able to check our bags in at the in-town airport check-in at Hong Kong station.  A fabulous service when your flight doesn't leave until evening. We've had a great experience in Hong Kong. Very friendly and helpful people and, despite all that's on the TV news and in the papers, have seen very little of the Occupy Central activities.

We like our new Arc'teryx duffles and after the trekking we will leave some stuff behind,
send other stuff home via FedEx, and then they will much lighter and smaller for the remainder of our journey!

Here's some other random thoughts and photos . . .

I have never seen so many people walking with their heads down, looking at their phones! It's seriously epidemic proportions here and amazing that more people don't run into each other. The escalators even have recordings and signs telling people to pay attention and watch the moving steps instead of their phones!

If the fashions I see people wearing are fashionable . . . apparently, I have zero fashion sense. I wouldn't leave the house in the some of the clothes and wouldn't be able to walk to the end of the driveway in the shoes!

A very crowded two-storey Apple store. So many people! Has no one ever heard of on-line shopping? And this wasn't even on Saturday which I'm sure was even busier if the rest of the city was any indication.

The "Travelator" is a popular way to travel several steep uphill city blocks and, in the heat and humidity, was very appreciated by us!

In the walkway to get to the "Travelator" these paintings on the walls and pillars are fun and colourful. The kids theme reminded me of my favourite 3-year-old.

At the botanical gardens and zoo, various animals held up the benches.

Garbage can in the children's play area of the zoo. 

Walking pebbles . . . by the end of each day's endless miles of walking, I think this would have felt good on the feet!

The clock tower in Kowloon.

Our apartment was in the trendy SoHo area near lots of restaurants and bars. We ate at two great vegetarian restaurants (Herbivore and Life), an Italian restaurant and had authentic Chinese cuisine at Ho Lee Fook restaurant which was just a couple doors down from WTF Tapas Bar. Humorous!

Big Buddha, Cable Cars and Tea

Along with about a bazillion other people, we went to see the Big Buddha today on Lantau Island. Officially named the Tian Tan Buddha, it's 112 ft tall. Huge! Unfortunately it was a very grey and cloudy/smoggy/foggy day so photos are not the brightest.

Transportation to the Buddha included the metro and the Ngong Ping 360 (a very, very long cable car ride). Humourously, as we got closer to the front of the line the staff were looking for two people to fill one of the gondola cars. They quickly scanned and waved us forward. It took me a while to figure out how they knew we were only two. Duh! Tall white people! Which two of these things don't look like the others?!?

After getting a closer look at the Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery, we found refuge from the crowds in a fancy tea shop where we learned the art of making a cup of tea. Boil water to a very specific temperature, warm the tea pot and cups, rinse the tea (once or twice depending on the type of tea), then strain and pour (no steeping for the type of tea we had). We tried the fermented Pu-erh, which neither of us had ever had before. "Good for digestion," we were told.

One of two pillars guarding the entrance to the monastery.

Inside the monastery.

The Art of Tea