Started the morning trying to purchase onward train tickets to Yichang. After visiting several ticket agents and the train station, we established that there seemed to be only one ticket agent who could sell us the ticket we needed (no direct train from Hong Kong, need to cross the border into Mainland China first), and at the prices they were asking for the ticket, we figured we could buy a Soft Sleeper ticket day-of at the station if they sold out of the cheaper Hard Sleeper tickets. Nevertheless, this killed the whole morning.
After lunch (uninspired chicken curry and beef with squash at the Cultural Center), we went to the Art Museum. Of the four large exhibits, two were modern (one dreadful, the other just bad), one was a collection of very nice ink on scroll drawings of various landscapes that made Mary sad that we had to cut the Southern China portion of the trip, and the last was a fantastic pottery exhibit showing like 4 millennium of Chinese pottery.
After the museum, we took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island and wondered up to the Peak Tram station. While the walk was about a kilometer or so, we did it almost without crossing any streets. How did we manage that in the middle of a big city? By using the extensive elevated “sidewalks” (think pedestrian overpasses, only you don't have to return to street level between crossings). We were incredibly impressed! What an incredibly walkable city! Again, this totally reminded Mary of Coruscant.
Along the way we passed through a court building with nice stained glass windows, and past the court of last appeal, which amused us.
Once we finally did run out of elevated sidewalk, we explored the European cathedral and a nearby little park with a great fake-waterfall fountain.
The Peak Tram was much more crowded and touristy than we'd anticipate, making us wish we'd come first thing in the morning. But it was worth it. It is a cable car, not unlike those in San Francisco... except it seemed steeper than any we've been on, it was really long, and gave amazing views of the city.
From the top of the tram line, we hiked a short but grueling way up to the actual peak, which gave great views over the back of Hong Kong Island, but pretty much no views at all of downtown.
Then we hiked all the way back down to the Star Ferry, which was grueling in a different way: mostly on the knees. At first we wondered about the strange texture of the rock of the mountain, but part way down we found graffiti requesting that the concrete be removed from Victoria Peak. And on closer inspection we saw that we were in fact looking at concrete, covered in moss, and with holes were it was put around existing trees. This must be for erosion control, which must be a huge concern with such a steep peak practically in downtown Hong Kong, but it is presumably just awful for the local eco-system.
Josh liked the graffiti. Apparently the symbol is from Half Life 2, a computer game he plays.
After, we tried to get Dim Sum from two different places recommended by Lonely Planet. The first only serves Dim Sum at lunch, and since there was an event going on we couldn't eat there without a reservation anyway. At the second we waited almost an hour for a table before giving up and going to the grocery store instead.
Did see some pretty buildings while we were at it though.
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