Unfortunetly, the day started at a bright and early 8:30 am so we could all meet and commute to the building where we were having orientation and Cantonese lessons. We had an hour and a half of orientation, working with Professors Vaz and Demetry on making agendas, writing our project report and how to write good research questions and utilize them when laying out the body of our report. Then we had an hour and a half of Cantonese lessons. Our Cantonese instructor's name is Victoria. She is an English major who has been studying English for over 10 years. She is very bubbly and energetic. She definitely is trying, but Cantonese is EXTREMELY difficult :-/
Then, a group of us decided to grab some lunch and then go to Victoria's Peak. Victoria's Peak is the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island. We first had lunch at this very fast paced restaurant. My friend Katie is from Mainland China and can read Chinese so that is extremely helpful. She speaks Mandarin though so even she experiences a language barrier. Luckily for her, many Hong Kongers also speak Mandarin so she often orders for us in restaurants and can ask for directions.
After lunch, we made our way to where The Peak Tram is located (about a 20 minute walk from the restaurant). The line for The Tram was extremely long and the tram cost somewhere in the range of $120 HKD round trip (which is around $15 USD) so we decided that hiking to the top would be a much more logical idea. The mountain stretches 1,810 feet in the air and the path that we took wraps back and forth around the mountain. The part that was challenging for me was that the air in Hong Kong is extremely heavy deue to pollution so its much tougher to breath. I was also dehydrated... After almost fainting, Greg was able to stay behind and make it up the mountain with me. Once we got almost all the way and I was finally use to the air, the hike went much better. It was just starting out that was really rough. Anyways, we hiked for approximately 2.5 hours. Through the hike we passed all these giant mansions, which is where the richest people in Hong Kong live. Finally, we reached the end of the trail, at the top of the mountain but instead of being at The Peak Tram stop, we were in the backyard of an apartment complex. After getting directions from some startled British people, we started down the otherside of the mountain in search of a bus station to head back down to the sea level. As we were walking, we suddenly came upon a mall. We figured this would be a good place to stop for some bathroom breaks and some rehydrating. After a little souvenir shopping, we headed out the otherside of the mall. Low and behold, there was The Peak Tram! We had made it! It turns out that we actually hiked PAST where the peak tram goes. After realizing this, we decided to grab some beers and toast to our failure/accomplishment. Then we took a mini bus down to sea level and promptly got on the MTR to go home and shower. For dinner, we just wandered around and ended up buying some fruit from the fruit market.
A good nights sleep came soon after!
This is the bakery that we stop at most mornings for breakfast. It happens to be on the way to our most common MTR stop.
The girls at lunch!
Cool sign :)
This is the best coffee chain we have found so far. There is Starbucks, but thats boring. I have only gone here twice because you can find adequate coffee cheaper and I often make instant coffee in my room.
Fancy sign at the peak tram. The tram departs underneath this but the line wrapped forEVER
View of Victoria Harbor from mid-way up Victoria's Peak. It may seem like a crappy day but this is very typical in Hong Kong due to the smog and pollution. It was actually quite a nice day in comparison to other days in Hong Kong. Did I mention that some of those buildings are on the hill and therefore look taller then they are? We started at the bottom...
A really fancy coy pond in some rich persons backyard!
View of Victoria Harbor from almost the top of Victoria Peak.
Paul and Charlie climbing down from the apartment complex after thanking the British lady for directions. (Note the appropriate name for the complex)
The group, proud of our accomplishment. (This is before we realized we had climbed to far, we were just proud of ourselves for climbing at all)
This is the group once we realized that we were next to The Peak Tram and realized that we had climbed too far. Very proud of ourselves here!
Celebration Toast!
Another happy group picture. *Greg is all the way on the right and he was the one that was awesome and took breaks with me and stuff :)
We made it! The right place!
Finally arriving at sea level, it was night time. HOLY CROWDED STREETS IN MONG KOK!!! I actually think it was more crowded then Times Square on New Years Eve!
:) People and cute billboard!
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