The Year of The Ox
Sunday, January 25th, 2009Right now I’m sitting in The Peak tower with Natasha at a juice/dessert bar that just happened to have two computers. We’ve both been pounding away for about 15 minutes now. I thought it only my duty to offer a whirlwind recap of what’s happened so far.
As soon as we landed in Hong Kong on Lantau island we set off on our quest to greet the giant Buddha – all 202 tons of him! I had been secretly hoping to take the cable car all along and the view was well worth the effort though like Thailand it was a bit foggy.
We met a couple from Austrailia who shared our car with us. They were quite good company and we kept the laughs going the whole time. Thank goodness for funny people – or at least people who think I’m funny! haha.
Our first stop once we got to town was actually the Ngong Ping Tea House. Here’s a map of the village itself:
After we climbed the I dont know how many steps up and back down we decided to hit up a local Starbucks because we wanted… well… Starbucks.
More than that we wanted to rest our backs. For the first time ever I only packed a backback and a big purse for my trip!!! Tash had an over the shoulder bag and one smaller purse.
After our little respite we headed back in the direction toward Buddha to the Pho Lin Monastery. I gasped when I saw the intricate and ornate detail.
The pictoresque ceilings, the Buddha display, the special flowers displayed for good luck during the Chinese new year, as well as small prayer cushions lining the floors.
Hurry or “p/bally p/bally!!” as they say in Korean… I need to cover a lot in just a short time… ok ok ok think Aimee Oooh after the monastery we went to some little park with a Buddha-esque building and then I bought a couple birthday gifts for Handan and my sister.
Fun fact: there are little mini orange trees all over the place including malls and monasteries also for good luck.
Oooofff my body feels like I worked out yesterday with all the backpacking (well minipackpacking). We did a crapload of walking last night just trying to find an accomodation. Three HOURS to be exact. Some genious had suggested the Panda hotel as a cheap place to stay and the cab driver agreed. 3000 HK dollars – are you frickin INSANE? At least the lady upstairs helped us find our way. The most expensive 15 min. on a computer EVER, right Tash? Ok I’ll admit the hotel was pretty damn impressive. There’s no way you wouldn’t know if was the Panda.
We were both cranky but didn’t really take it out on each other.
We just kept on chucking until we made it a guest house a friend of mine (Justine from work actually) had recommeded: The Lee Garden Guesthouse.
Oh we slept so soundly once we grabbed a rather late dinner.
The area we ended up in (I’ll need to copy that down) was gorgeous at night but I know as a zombie my mind was VACANT.
Ok switch to this morning. We slept in till about 9:30 am. I showered with one of those showers that looks like the thing attached to your sink, on the floor right next to the toilet but didn’t really mind it because it was warm. I was just wondering how this shower system worked. I can remember my father getting annoyed when I had left the floor outside the shower wet on one occasion. I blame the rest on my brother. Just kidding Matt.
Our area (And I’ll fill in the name) was absolutely gorgeous and the most New York-esquse place I’ve seen in Asia. We walked around for maybe an hour or so taking a ton of pics and enjoying the scenery. Tash probably would have killed me only she doesn’t own a camera (or a gun for the matter) and must be dependent upon moi for photographs.
We finally caught the ferry… the skyline reminded me of NYC but of course it wasn’t NYC – it was Hong Kong mainland and Hong Kong island as that is where we were headed to see the or one of the hightest points in Hong Kong. One building in particular reminded us of the Syndey Opera House.
Flash forward through our scenic bus drive up to the peak where I had some amazing photos (too bad it was a bit foggy). (OOhhh this little kid next to us said somethiung quite funny, “Mom, if I have blue eyes does that mean I’ll live longer?” hehe)
Once we reached the peak we went to The Peak Galleria which is sort of a shopping center but also offers its visitors tremendous views. Then we went right next door to where we are now, The Peak Tower. I’m in such a rush because we need to head out to catch the tram back down the mountain ASAP. We almost went to the very top of the tower but to the top figured the view would be almost the same and saved our money.
On a rather vain note I must say I feel much more photogenic on this trip and made sure to have quite a few pictures of myself taken to make up for like the 5 I had taken in Thailand.
Time to celebrate the New Year!!
Aims
aimless80