The Trip – Day 37 – Hong Kong

I got up at around 4am (you already know that if you read my last post) and got out at 7am. I like the empty streets of an otherwise extremely busy city. Everything looks calm and the few people on the streets are taking their time walking, unlike the crazed typical walking you see during the day.

I went straight to Hong Kong Park, deciding to postpone Ocean Park for tomorrow. Hong Kong Park is a really beautiful urban park with many kinds of plants. It also resides on a mountain side, but after all the nature I saw in this trip I was a little underwhelmed. The thing I really liked about Hong Kong Park was the Aviary – a small, closed and controlled forest with many types of tropical birds and plants. You can see in the pictures some of the birds (I’m really happy I had the new camera for this.) Another nice thing in the park was Vantage Point – a 30 meters high tower with a very nice view.

Seeing it was still early, I went to Victoria Park – another urban park. I enjoyed walking the paths of the park, as there were already many people around at the time – exercising Tai Chi, jogging and playing Bowls.

After resting for a while (jet lag, I guess) I took the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is a must-see tourist attraction that gives a beautiful view of Hong Kong that is only ruined by the air pollution’s fog. Today wasn’t the best day for the peak, either – it was very cloudy and even rained a little. But tomorrow isn’t going to be any better. Like this guide suggested, I didn’t go to the sky terrace (observation deck) but instead walked the beautiful roads around the peak, which go through the mountain-side forest and give the best view from the peak.

Today I was walking around with headphones listening to Invaders Must Die in a loop. At times I was bobbing my head up and down or smiling because I was enjoying the music so much. I guess I looked a little stupid but I didn’t care. I like taking in sounds as much as sights, but walking around with familiar music gives some sense of security. Also, a lot of the locals walk around with headphones. And there’s another benefit – when you’re with headphones they don’t offer to custom make suits for you (what’s up with that?)

I took so many pictures it took me over 2 hours to create all the panoramas and choose the good ones. On some I couldn’t decide which are better so there are some that look almost identical. I’m such a crappy photographer.

I think I’ll go out tonight to have a taste of the nightlife, but since I’m tired of the blogging thing for today I’ll post now without telling about it. If anything interesting happens tonight I’ll write about it tomorrow. I also plan to go to Ocean Park tomorrow, but as usual… we’ll see how things go.