A visit to Hong Kong Island

31 October: Reenie and I spent the day on Hong Kong Island first visiting the area around the escalators. We had taken the Star Ferry over and purchased the Octopus card. We took our time going up the escalators, getting off now and then to check out the area shops, and purchased a couple of things to include tea cups to go with my teapot. There were many antique shops as well. One store had a display of old Chinese shoes for women, which bound their feet. They were so small! I couldn’t imagine the pain the Chinese women felt having their feet bound. We also stopped at a Mosque, which was very simple in architecture. Even more plain was the interior, unlike the Mosques I visited in Istanbul.

We had pork and leek dumplings, and Shanghainese spring rolls for breakfast, which were good, in a small place called Dumpling Yuan (50KH). There was a temple nearby but Reenie said “no more!” so we headed to the Peak Tram. That was a fun ride! The angle of the tram was pretty scary, although there has never been an accident in its 100 years of daily use. We had read that before the tram was built the rich were carried to the top in chairs and that it took three hours to get to the top. Can you imagine having to haul up a body up a mountain for three hours? The views were spectacular, although the air was hazy. Someone had said the pollution floats in from mainland China. We walked along one trail for a while and then turned back.

There are shopping opportunities in the sky view building and we bought a few things. We headed back down on the tram and took a bus to the Causeway area and shopped along Jardine’s bazaar and Jardine’s Crescent, small streets that are filled with clothing and souvenir stalls. I finally found some reading glasses, as I lost my other 2 pair. The glasses at the temple night market were 4 times the price I paid (25 HK).

We enjoyed dinner at Vet Delicious, located in the mist of the shopping stalls on Jardine’s Crescent. A small, but modern looking place, it filled up quickly with diners in business suits. They were in and out before we finished our meal. I had spring rolls and the pork and vermicelli bun dish.

After dinner, we walked around the area, which was quite busy. It almost had a NYC feel. Took the subway back to our hotel for the night.