Hong Kong Day 2: Mid-Levels Escalators - The Peak – Laser Show

Brenda and I woke up earlier than we expected on Friday morning - I think it was only 7am. After my Mom and Val headed out to the mission office I took my first shower in many days. After all that traveling, humidity, and heat it felt great to be clean!

We decided we would spend the day on Hong Kong Island. It's only a 15 minutes ferry ride on the Star Ferry - Hong Kong's most scenic and inexpensive mode of travel across the harbor. 

On the Star Ferry with the Clock Tower in the distance

Our first destination were the mid-level escalators in Central Hong Kong that ascend up the hillside - the world's longest covered escalators. We didn't have the best weather, but for the most part the escalators are covered so it didn't matter.  

We had a lot to fit in that day so we didn't wander around any of the shops and restaurants on the way up (Hong Kong’s SOHO). 

An intriguing mosque on the way up

Once at the top of the escalators we decided to walk to the Peak Tram instead of taking a bus. We took a street that went right through the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens. It is so amazing how populated Hong Kong is - the buildings are truly massive and they are so close together and everywhere you look - but then there are big lush mountains as well. It's like combining the rain forests you'd see in Jurassic Park with Manhattan super-sized. 

A cool tree growing up the wall

The botanical gardens had a small zoo-like area with monkeys and birds, which were fun to look at. 

My favorite were these bright red birds

We got turned around a bit finding the rest of the way to the Peak Tram, but I was glad we took the walk there. The peak tram is a cable funicular created in 1888. I'd been on something similar in Switzerland but this was smack dab in the middle of downtown Hong Kong. It was a steep ride up. Very cool! 

I skyphed this from the web since I didn’t get any pictures with the actual tram

The "Peak Tower" atop Victoria Peak was created in 1999 and allows stunning views of the bustling harbor as well as views of the more rural Aberdeen area. 

What a stark contrast between the two sides!

Brenda and I spent several hours enjoying the views and roaming around the shops. My Mom had mentioned that we needed to try an egg tart while in Hong Kong. We saw them at a little eatery and decided to try one at the cost of $28HKD - when we told my Mom what we paid she gasped, apparently the delicacies usually only cost between $3-5HKD (or around $0.50 US). Oh well, right? It tasted good, though not something I'd eat regularly - or consider a dessert.  

Instead of an actual lunch we decided on eating several little munchies instead - chocolate filled croissants, gelato, etc...

Birdie had the crazy idea to hike down the mountain instead of taking a bus or riding the tram. The trail looked shaded enough since we're basically hiking through a dense tropical forest so I didn't object... until we started. It was steep, really, really steep which makes sense because the ride up in the tram seemed nearly straight up the mountain so taking the trip down by foot was really hard on our knees.  Once we got off the mountain we still had to trek through the city and it was toasty. We stopped at a bus stop at one point and waited, and waited, and waited, but no bus came so we walked all the way from the top of the peak to the harbor. We met up with Mom and Val in Sham Shui Po for a little browsing through the market and dinner. 

We ate dinner at a popular noodle restaurant. There were all sorts of bizarre foods you could have in your bowl of noodles - octopus, fish balls, pork belly, etc... I opted for bean sprouts and lettuce. The noodles were good and I managed to eat the entire meal with chopsticks. Because foods here tend to be quite spicy we didn't request any additional spice - to our surprise the noodles themselves didn't have much flavor or spice at all. 

We also got some smoothies from a street vendor. Mine was basically a fresh pineapple Icee – yummy and refreshing.

That evening my Mom took Brenda and I down to the promenade to watch the laser show over Hong Kong Island. While we waited for the show to start it was fun to watch the various boats going through the harbor. 

The show is the world's largest permanent light and sound show covering more than 40 buildings on both sides of the Victoria Harbor. It was really neat, a must see.

We walked back to my Mom's apartment along the promenade. Her building sits right on the harbor. The whole city was lit up - beautiful! I was tired though and thirsty and ready to get home and put my tired swollen legs to rest.