Asia Trip - Day 3

Tuesday, 10/7 -

Hong Kong was wild, and I'm glad to have considered a side trip there. For a little over $200 in airfare, it was cheap and well worth it. An exhilarating mix of East and West, the city was easy to manage but I totally lost my bearings a lot. This included finding my hotel.

Today was a pavement pounding day. My first stop was the bird garden. I'm petrified of birds and pretty much despise them, but this was a cool place to walk through. I followed a basic walking tour from my guide book which brought me through the flower market then on through the goldfish market. After a bit of souvenir shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui, and traveling from Kowloon (where my hotel was) to Hong Kong Island on the famous Star Ferry, I walked around the city taking as much as possible. What I didn't know until much later in the day, that it was a holiday on Tuesday. This explains why the area under the HSBC building and the street nearby was crowded with Filipino women. I was told that the city shuts down certain areas so that they can come together on holidays to commiserate among their brethren. Apparently, tons of women from the Philippines come to Hong Kong to work as maids.

The peak tram is a must do, but the lines to come back down were insane, so I grabbed the number 15 bus to get back down to the city. This is what I would recommend to anyone who does this trip, go up on the tram, come down on the bus. The bus experience is not to be missed because it spirals down the winding hills at break neck speed. I had the luck (or misfortune) to snag the top front left side of a double decker. When the bus turned the sharp corners, branches would slam into the window next to me. How there are any more branches hanging down from this route, I don't know. The views are just as stunning going down, if not better. Make sure you sit on the left side though.

I made it back to Kowloon in time for the Harbor Light Show. It's kind of tacky but a must see. Prior to the show, the buildings "talk" to each other before dazzling the audience with the laser lights and orchestra accompaniment.

At this point, I was in the mood for Western food and resigned myself to Pizza Express, a restaurant type pizza place I had been to before in England before calling it a night.