Visit to The Peak

One weekend we made a really fun visit to The Peak. The Peak is where the Governor used to live (before the hand-over of Hong Kong back to China). Lots of history here. Max the Monkey was visiting when we went to The Peak, so that's who that funny looking fellow is hugging my neck - we were really great friends.

To get there we took the train to Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounce this like Chim Sha Choy) on the Kowloon Peninsula. Then we got to take the historic Star Ferry across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. This is the side of the harbor that you see most frequently photographed.

The really tall buildings are located here - my favorite is the Bank of China building (look for a related letterbox shortly). The tallest building is the International Finance Center building. Very majestic! I haven't been down here at night yet, but the B's promise to take me soon. Every evening at 8:00 PM they have a laser light show that is pretty impressive. Anyway, back to my story.

After arriving in Central, we waved goodbye to the Star Ferry (that's it leaving in the picture) and jumped on the bus. You can take The Peak Tram, but we happen to know that the line to take the tram up the hill is usually terrible, and the bus is much quicker. What a ride, too! The road is very curvy as it climbs the mountain, and you get a great view of the city below. Up, up, up we went to the top. Actually, if you must know, it doesn't go all the way to the top, but they call it The Peak anyway.

When we arrived it was lunch time, and since they have already dined at some of the super restaurants here (check out Art Deco or the Peak Lookout on line), we headed for an easy favorite - Burger King. Yes, there are a lot of American fast food places here in Hong Kong, but we have only ever seen two BK's. The only down part about BK in HK is that they don't offer all the kids crowns - darn, I wanted one! Refreshed and ready to head out, we bounded for the trail.

We found the Circle Walk and passed waterfalls and lots of interesting views of the South China Sea and the Harbor. One old India Rubber Tree has amazing roots hanging everywhere. In addition to the walk and the sights, we stopped by the Star Ferry Letterbox and checked on it. Unfortunately, we forgot our markers, so the image is just in black, but Traveln Turtle did a nice job on the stamp. On around the walk we went taking a few pictures here and there.

After the walk, it was almost time for Little B and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to head to tennis. On the way up the mountain, there was terrible traffic heading in the opposite direction, so we decided to take the tram back down the mountain. Wow! What a fun ride. The tram is supposed to be the steepest funicular railway in the world. It makes a steep 373 meter path up the mountainside and has been in operation since 1888. The view is terrific. Here's a picture of me and Little B on the tram. How cool is that?

See the picture that is kind of sideways? That's the angle of descent - whoa!

Do you like the one of the slope registration? They register the slopes the check them regularly - "Safe Slopes Save Lives". Never seen that one before!

The Big Walk

OK, my paws are finally recovered from this walk. It was only 7.75 KM, but it was up and down and over lots and lots of rocks. It took us around 3 1/2 hours from start to finish. To get there we took a train, a minibus and the big bus to a town called Sai Kung. Then we took a minibus for another half hour to head to the Wong Shek Pier. From there we went on the Tree Walk and then connected to the Family Walk. We saw lots and lots of butterflies, but my pictures of it did not turn out. :( They were really pretty!

Along the way, there was a lot of evidence of the wild cows - wow! they must be really big! We didn't run into any of the cows, but it was interesting how far along the path the animals must have traveled. We went up and up the trail to the top of a small hill - it was supposed to be only 100 meters high, but I don't buy that one! We still saw evidence of the cows.

At one point we crossed to a small beach and we took a break there. There were a lot of large boulders lining the beach and we rested there awhile - at least until the mosquitoes started having lunch at our expense. So onward we went.

It would have been a beautiful walk, but the smog was pretty bad and the humidity was 95%. Made it a little difficult to breathe and walk at the same time.

There is a picture of me at the historic limestone kiln that was located close to Hoi Ha - the terminus of this walk. This was a major industry for the area in the past. Neat!

March 30 2008

Hi, Mom! Just a note to let you know that I'm alive and scratching in Hong Kong. This week has been a very busy one. On Monday we went hiking out on Lantau Island. This is the island where the airport is located, as well as home to the Big Buddha. I helped the B's plant two letterboxes over there. Just getting there is half the fun of this outing. We took the shuttle bus to the train and then rode several different ones to Tung Chung. There you can take a cable car ride over to Pnong Ping plateau. Well, the waiting time for that was over two hours, so we decided to take the bus. What a thrill ride! In most places the road is only wide enough for one bus with pull-over sections for when someone is coming in the opposite direction. And the hills you go up and down! At times you don't think the bus is actually going to make it as it grinds its way slowly up the hill. Then you zoom down the other side of the hill - just like a roller coaster and twice as exciting when another bus is headed your way!

After we got to the Po Lin Monastery, we paid brief homage to Big Buddha (no, we didn't climb the 200+ stairs to get to the top, this time anyway), and headed along the path past the Tea Garden Restaurant. There used to be a tea garden in this area (hence the name) but it has grown wild now. As it was a public holiday (Easter Monday), the pathway was p-a-c-k-e-d with visitors. It was like we were all in one big herd walking along this path. After a short while, we came out into an open area where the Lantau Trail sections 3 and 4 converged, the Wisdom Path began, and a neat vegetation trail all came together. The B's were ready for lunch by this time (it took us almost two hours to get there from their house), so we chose the vegetation trail first. We wandered along the trail looking for a good place to pull over and eat our packed lunch. We found some likely boulders and rested for a while. It was funny that so very many people were along the path from the Tea Garden and at the Wisdom Path, but we only saw ten people on the path we were on - the entire time.

We planted a letterbox in this area and then retraced our steps back the convergence and located the trail-head for section four of the Lantau Trail. We completed this 4 km section of trail gladly - it was mainly downhill - hooray! Most of the time we don't believe a hike rating unless it says strenuous hiking. They really mean that one - anything less is suspect since you always seem to be going up hills more than the guidebooks indicate. The trail took us through a rain forest section and a pine tree section. It overlooked a reservoir and if the day were clear we could have had a good view of the South China Sea. Alas, the ever-present smog had not been blown off and the view was iffy - as you can tell from the pictures. We crossed very many streams and saw the warning about flash foods frequently. Good thing the day was sunny!

After hiking, we boarded the next bus headed downhill, and thankfully it took us back to Tung Chung. From there we headed over to Tsim Sha Tsui and a local restaurant for dinner. Boy, we were hungry by then!

On Saturday, we headed in the opposite direction, to Sai Kung, for a hike. I'll write more about that one tomorrow - I'm still recovering from that hike! The weather here is warm, and unfortunately, the humidity has returned, which is why I think that hike was so difficult - 95% humidity is hard to breath in!

Disneyland Hong Kong

She has gone to Disneyland and had her picture taken with Mulan, Buzz, and Minnie Mouse (this is a real trick since Little B has n - e - v - e - r gotten even close to a costumed character. A little unusual for a 10 year-old, but she really doesn't like them and gives them a wide berth, but she did it for Fluffy!) She has also been to Shenzhen (mainland China) to go to the tailor and then have a Dim Sum lunch.

Fluffy in Hong Kong

Fluffy went with Max (who is on his way home, now) to The Peak via the Star Ferry, checked on The Star Ferry letterbox planted there, and then back down via the tram.

Fluffy visits Hong Kong

March 2008...Fluffy arrived in Hong Kong to visit The Wandering B's! She will be seeing all the things her family will probably never see as well as maybe finding a few letterboxes :)