Today after I had a warm shower (!), we headed to the local transit stop. We purchased Octopus cards, which are cards with $100HK loaded on them. You pay $150--$100 for the transit and a $50 deposit which is returned to you when you return the card to them.
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| The subway system |
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| In the train car--very easy to use, it lights up with where you are and blinks what stop is next. It even has an arrow to show which way you are going on the map. |
We first used our Octopus cards to take the subway to Hong Kong Island, then we used them for a bus (X15) to Victoria Peak (a large hill/mountain in Hong Kong). At the peak are a few trails and a small mall which includes the Sky View to get a good view of Hong Kong and the harbor. This area isn't all the way to the peak, for that there is a trail to take.
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| The trail we took |
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| View of the city through the trees |
When we arrived at the Peak, I reminded Randy and Joshua that we hadn't had anything to eat yet that day. We had shared an orange, but that was all. So we looked for food and finally found a coffee shop open and we each had a muffin. Randy and Joshua were worried about the ominous clouds overhead turning into rain so we had to hurry. None of the paths are marked, so we tried one. It was beautiful, lots of green, but it stopped without going all the way to the peak. Joshua wanted to go to the Sky View, so Randy said that he found a trail that boasted of gardens and a viewing area, so we split up. Randy had just reached it when Joshua and I had finished and he was looking in the market area (a string of souvenir "shops" in one area). So he said to go ahead and get lunch and he'd meet us after. Joshua found many souvenirs for friends and for himself, so by the time we were finished Randy was back. He said that he wasn't hungry, so go ahead and get something to eat. We just bought some chicken nuggets and soda. Randy said that the gardens were a mowed area of grass and the view was enveloped in clouds. He was higher than Joshua and I at the Sky View. We got some good photos of Hong Kong (and of each other!)
Then we went back to the city and went to Hong Kong University, one of the universities that Joshua is interested in attending after high school. We walked around and after being sent to three different places, we found some brochures about the school and the program that Joshua is interested in.
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| one of the University of Hong Kong buildings |
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| a sculpture about sin |
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| The "main building" (in the US we would usually call it "old main"). It seems to be the original building of the university and is very British in style |
Next was on the subway to some apartment buildings that Joshua had read about and wanted to see. They are incredibly dense. Joshua told me that many of them were cage houses due to the lack of affordable housing. I looked it up to verify what he told me and it was true--a tiny apaprtment such as ours has bunkbeds and perhaps six people will erect cages around each bunk to create spaces for them to live. Six people going in on rent for a space made for one. They each live in a cage. Wow--sounds a little like the current news in the US. Several apartments share a bathroom and kitchen. Super density. And the towers are everywhere and are owned privately. We saw one that forbade photography (we saw the sign after we had taken some pictures).
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| Some elderly people in the courtyard playing a game |
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| The juxtaposition of poor and wealthy |
Then we were heading back to the transit station, when we saw trams moving up and down the street. They are so tall and skinny, they looked like they would tip over in a breeze. Then we realized that we hadn't ridden one yet, so we took one back to the harbor area on Hong Kong Island. However, we were unable to reach the harbor, despite Randy's best attempts taking us on many different routes. We finally gave up and took the subway back to our peninsula. We were all tired and hot, so we decided to go back to our apartment to cool off before going out for dinner. We ended up going to Pizza Hut later. It is still oppressively hot and humid. I recommend coming to Hong Kong, but don't come in the summer!
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| A tram |
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| A butterfly. Joshua and I have been noticing and labeling the butterflies we've seen. this one is huge--at first we thought it was a bat |
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