Monday thru Thursday

On Monday, Sean Flynn and I went to a Buddhist nunnery and garden before out second suit-fitting that afternoon. The garden and nunnery are in the middle of the city, surrounded by skyscrapers and honking cars. It is no doubt a welcomed escape from the city for many Hong Kongers.

We went to our suit-fitting that afternoon, before grabbing some lunch and heading back to the hotel. We ate (for the second time) at a "local" Chinese restaurant. We had to point at the pictures and our servers new no English. Once again, we left hungry. The chicken was definitely undercooked and the pork was nearly all fat. The noodles we ordered were of lesser quality than ramen noodles. We did manage to eat all of the fried rice.


That night we hiked Victoria Peak. It is about a 1.5 mile hike, with the first half much steeper than the second. With the humidity, we were soon bathed in sweat. At the top, we grabbed a bite to eat and watched Hong Kong's signature light show. It was very cool. We later found out that virtually nobody walks it as most take the tram or a taxi.

On Tuesday we went to Lantau island to the world's largest outdoor seated bronze Bhudda (could there be any more qualifiers?). According to custom, we ate at the vegetarian restaurant below the Bhuda which is presumably run by the monks. After lunch we got to watch several monks praying and did our best to appease Bhudda by lighting some incense. The Buddhists are big on incense. The Bhudda is on the top of a very high peak in Lantau, and it was foggy all day. As such, we only caught glimpses of him until we got up close. It was fairly impressive, but less so once we found out it was built less than 15 years ago.

On Wednesday we met with an official from the US consulate. He gave us a very interesting presentation on the commercial prospects for both Hong Kong and China. More importantly, he gave us some bar and restaurant recommendations. That evening we went to Soho and grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant (you can only eat so much Asian food before you need some real food) and grabbed some beers at a Cuban restaurant complete with pictures of Che and Fidel. That night some of us went out in Lon Qui Fong, a bar and restaurant district. It was actually inundated with American sailors from the USS Nimitz.

On Thursday the group split. My half of the group - Luke, Sean, and I - went into the hinterlands. We started out the day at a walled city museum before heading out to some actual walled cities. Before heading further into the New Territories, we tried another native Chinese restaurant. Suffice to say we do not need to try that again. The spicy beef was mainly fat and the spring rolls were much too greasy. The noodles were OK until Sean added too much spicy stuff. The staff laughed at us and tried to give us forks, which Sean and I refused, but Luke accepted.

The actual walled city we visited was more or less a ghetto. The trail we walked along, described by Frommers as "wonderful", was better described as seedy. There was raw sewage running in grates along the streets and some of the residents were living in what were more or less tin shacks. It stunk everywhere. The temples and halls we saw were interesting and old (many more than 600 years old) if only because they were in the middle of such destitute poverty. We all agreed it was good to see this side of China.

When we returned, we quickly ran to the night market when we returned before coming back and getting some Pizza Hut and drinking some beers. We called it an early night as Friday will be a big day.