The Long Awaited Hong Kong Post

Arrived in Hong Kong in the early morning and took the bus to the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong. We got off at our stop and wandered around looking for the Chung King Mansion, which we thought to be a giant, derelict building by guest descriptions. After going in a circle, we started looking at signs instead of buildings, and found that the mansion wasn’t really that bad of a building (at least by Taiwanese standards). About the only correct guest description was concerning the queue to get on the elevator at night.

We entered the main area, full of money changers, peddlers, and so forth, feeling slightly uneasy to be around so many nationalities after only seeing Chinese/Taiwanese people for several months, and headed up to our amazingly clean hostel. We dropped our bags off and went in search of coffee, found a speedo sale, and the Kowloon Park behind the mosque. We wandered the quiet Temple Street (a market area, not a temple area) and all the way to Kowloon Pier. Totally not worth the long walk because of the construction and lack of activities to do once at the peir. My ankle and the heat began to bother me. We sat and watched tourists before heading back to the train station, to be told that we were no longer in Hong Kong, which confused us until we realized they meant the island. After resting, we found some dinner at a Turkish restaurant run by Pakistanis. Then we wandered to the waterfront for some nice night shots of the harbor lights.

The casinos especially look better at night.

We woke up later than expected the next day. We headed to Starbucks and to the MTR to the last stop on the blue line on Hong Kong island. We were disappointed by the long line to board the ferry to Macau, but we did it anyway. It was a great idea! We mistakenly got off the bus in the north of Macau, but it allowed us to see the less touristy areas and reach St. Paul’s ruins at dusk. Night time is the best way to see Macau, the lanterns add a nice touch to the beautiful Portuguese architecture and hide the derelict modern South East Asian buildings. We ate some Macanese food (soup and tea for me as my cold was starting to make itself known) and then got on the ferry at eleven.

Wednesday we headed for the peak in Hong Kong, but the line for the tram wound around the block twice, so we decided to explore Hong Kong instead. We spent several hours in the aviary and surrounding area of Hong Kong Park before settling on more McDonalds for lunch. We met up with a friend from Korea, now teaching in Hong Kong. From Time Square (a fancy mall, not an actual square), we headed to Happy Valley Horse Races. We bet on a few horses and enjoyed catching up.

Thursday I woke up with green liquid pouring from my nose and eyes. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see. I was miserable.  However, we got up and decided to take the tram to the peak. We paid a little extra to visit the viewing platform on the peak—so not worth it. It is just as good of a view from down below, and way less crowded. On our way back we found the free zoo at Hong Kong Park as well as a pizza parlor that sold pizza by the slice. We met Tom (our friend from Korea) for dinner and had tacos just off the world’s longest covered escalator chain (how do these records get started). We called it an early night as I was feeling terrible and Matt was beginning to feel a cold coming on too.

Friday we spent in Kowloon Park, enjoying the small zoo and aviary. Mainly, I sat on a park bench in the sun and slept. Luckily, I managed to avoid having a fever as I went through the quarantine check at the airport back in Taipei. But as soon as we reached the hostel in Taipei I had a raging fever and a horrible cough. Naturally, we were sharing the room with two other people. Those poor people.

We woke up early and checked out of the hostel. We wandered to the nearest hospital, a colonial-looking building that is part of one of the universities in Taipei. After many friendly helpers, and having to check my own weight, height, blood pressure, and heart rate, I was able to see a doctor.  The doctor couldn’t really explain the green ooze from my eye and looked extremely shocked when I told him about it.

We managed to catch the train to Changhua just after my doctor’s visit and we headed back, happy to have a weekend to rest and recover from my cold.