Day 5: It's Hong Kong

Today we got up to explore Hong Kong.  First I found out that you have to turn on the water heater to have a hot or warm shower.  I had a quick cold shower--yuk.  Our bed is extra firm which is great for my back but not very comfy.  We are staying in the Tsim Sha Tsui part of Hong Kong. When we went out today, we walked to nearby Kowloon Park.  According to our local Asian historian (Joshua), Kowloon was a fortress that the Chinese kept when the British took over Hong Kong.  The population was super dense with all of the problems that entails.  So the area was demolished and a park built.  It is very sprawling but pretty with paths and benches, an aviary, and a lot of water with turtles and koi.

The entrance to the park

Sculptures in the park

See the koi?

A turtle

Look at all of the turtles on the log!

Note the swords

Tai chi?

The aviary (birds)

"Pleasure Grounds"?

Then we walked around, ending up near the harbor.  The temp is only in the 80s, but the heat index is 102 (because of the humidity).  We were sweating nonstop--it was pretty unbearable.  We remembered hats and Joshua used sunscreen on his neck and I used it on my face (where we were already sunburned), but it washed off soon from our sweat.  The harbor had a lot of people walking and boats floating.

street scene

pac-man ghosts

A former marine police barracks turned into a high-end shopping area and business offices

art that represents the signal flags that used to be used for weather

Hong Kong City island where the downtown skyscrapers are

panorama of the island

Joshua

A motorized "junk" used for harbor tours

A memorial of the Beijing olympics torch

The statue of the Hong Kong film awards

A museum being built with growing walls

Local actors' handprints and mini-bios

Joshua and some character

city park

panorama

We found lunch while walking around at a McDonald's where we could cool off for awhile.  It was packed!  After walking around after the harbor, we decided to go back to our apartment for naps and to cool down.  We did, then got up in time to go back to the harbor for the light show.  Every night at 8:00 the businesses around the harbor turn on their lights for about 15 minutes.  We got there about 7:45 and found a place to stand.  The lights came on and were timed to the music.  One had drones and people dancing on the side of the building, others had neon lights, some had lasers shining into the sky. 

After that we found a cafe for dinner.  The menu had no English translations so we guessed.  The waitress kept pointing to a picture and saying chicken, so Randy and I got that while Joshua ordered from a picture of beef in noodles.  Our chicken rested on noodles in a creamy sauce and had scrambled eggs as well.  The noodles and eggs were okay, but the chicken was tasteless with a lot of fat.  Joshua's was much better.  Then we returned to our apartment to upload photos and sleep (jet lag and hot humid weather are exhausting!).  We're planning on getting an Octopus pass tomorrow for transit to see things further away.

food hanging in the window

water creatures available

street scene