This morning I woke up remembering it was Tuesday evening back home, and the first game of the World Series would be on around 8:09am, local Hong Kong time. I quietly exited the room so Amy could sleep some more and went up to the breakfast area that had a beautiful view so I could eat breakfast and watch the game, and yes, blog a little.
Game 1 of the World Series was a seesaw of scoring before the Rod Sox finally went ahead by a score of 8-4 in the 7th inning. I realized, by then, the Dodgers probably were going to lose and went back to the room to start getting ready. We were going to meet the girls at the train stop around noon and head to the Hong Kong Museum of History.
In the guidebook that Amy T had lent me prior to the trip, this must see place pointed out that this museum would help give context to your experience in Hong Kong. Being the stereotypical American that I am, I don’t get curious about details of a lot of other countries unless I am going to visit or have visited. My only real data point about Hong Kong thus far in my life is growing up and remembering seeing a few things around the house or clothes that said ‘Made in Hong Kong.’ Also, there was Hong Kong Phooey, the Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera that I watched growing up. He was a dog working at a police station that disguised himself as a mild-manner janitor, but actually he was skilled at Kung Fu and would use it to fight crime. As I type this, I realize how absurd this all sounds and laugh to think as a child, I thought that all sounded reasonable.
I figured a visit to this museum would be a good thing for me to get a much better education on Hong Kong, and the ladies also all were up for going. There were going to be eight galleries for us to walk through of Hong Kongs’ history, starting with the natural environment and pre-historic Hong Kong, and ending with the territory’s return to China (from Great Britain) in 1997.
As we started through the museum, we really didn’t have a good sense of how large the exhibition was going to be so we were spending way too much time listening and looking at every detail of the natural environment in the first section. Amy B and I were literally listening to just about every English audio guide on the animals that are native to the area – including a South China Tiger, different snakes, a black bear, we learned a lot indeed, but laughed at ourselves when it was all over and we were running out of gas to think we spent so much time focused in this area. Amy T and Shelly were feeling the same way and only hanging back in this area because they thought we were VERY interested in these details and didn’t want to rush us. Ha, ha.
About the time we were in the archeology section and looking at recreations of grave sites, ancient jewelry, and old pottery – Amy T comes up to Amy B and whispers, ‘You have some admirers.’ We both turn around and see a small group of Chinese School Children, about middle school age, standing near and staring. One bold girl steps forward and says to Amy, ‘You are so beautiful, may we have your picture?’ Amy smiles at her, introduces herself, and asks the girl her name and looks over at me. Then, somehow, I shift into agent mode and start talking to them to direct the photo session of the newly discovered starlet.
The one girl explained in very simple English that they were a group of students from China and they were so happy to meet us and wanted to know where we were from. They asked again for a picture, I offered to take their camera and take the picture of the group with Amy, but I don’t think they understood me and were motioning to see if they could do selfies with her. It was a precious East meets West moment. They were clearly star struck for a moment as we also were all equally enamored by them and their wide-eyed innocence and charm. When they were done with the photos, the one girl said to Amy. ‘You are beautiful. Thank you, I love you, sister!’
We continued through the museum looking at the different exhibits. One thing that fascinated me was the ‘marriage chair’ that carried the bride to the groom’s house in a marriage procession. Marriages were pre-arranged, and after the arrangement an older respected married woman would come bless the future home and speak fertility over the dwelling while the bride stayed with her parents in their home for a month prior to the wedding. She was also required to weep for a month over her anxiety of the upcoming wedding marital rites. On her wedding day, she would be carried in a procession like the one in the picture below.
We saw many things in the museum including colorful replicas of dwellings of early inhabitants, traditional costumes and beds, a tram from 1913, a model of a Junk Boat, and WWII film footage including interviews with Chinese and foreigners taken prisoner by the Japanese. One section was devoted to the formation of Hong Kong’s urban culture, featuring replicas of a retro grocery store, soda fountain and interiors of a poor man’s home.
About the time we got 3/4 of the way through, we all decided we were famished, it was now around 2pm and we hadn’t had lunch yet and were ready to go. As we looked to find the exits, we realized we were now in the holy grail of the museum tour. What we had actually come to understand more about, specifically, the most recent history of Hong Kong – when the Brits arrived, when they left, the occupation Japan, how that impacted Hong Kongers, etc. We pushed through for about another 30-45 minutes to give ourself more time in this more interesting section. We were already kicking ourselves and laughing for spending so much time up front looking at every detail of the environment and animal exhibits. We were really out of gas now and needed lunch.
As we were leaving I started looking up nearby restaurants with good rating and a good variety of menu options. I found a place not too far from the museum and we walked in there around 3pm. It was a food and wine bar – I was hoping for my first good glass of wine of the trip. As we were looking at the menu, Amy B noticed a sign that read ‘Half price on all menu items from 2pm – 6pm, every day.’ That seemed too good to be true as this was a bit of an upscale place ($$ – $$$). Yes, it was true. We all enjoyed our selections and a chance to recharge before moving on to our next thing.
After our late lunch it was time to head to The Peak. Victoria Peak is the highest hill on Hong Kong Island. The Peak is a major tourist attraction that offers views of Central, Victoria Harbour, Lamma Island, and the surrounding islands. Amy T said we had the choice of riding a bus to the peak or taking the Peak Tram, a popular – almost vertical funicular ride, which would guaranteed have a 1.5 hour wait to get on. We opted for the bus ride, which actually took about an hour up a windy road, but was preferable to waiting in line and getting crammed on a tram. We chatted on the ride and it actually went really fast.
Once up at The Peak, you realize it really is a major tourist attraction with 7 million annual visitors and 2 shopping centers, with an observation deck. We headed up to the observation deck, which is a paid admission up several flights of escalators. Shelly stayed behind to first use the bathroom. She later came up and joined us and said that was officially the most unpleasant bathroom of the trip.
We actually had MANY conversations about bathrooms on the trip and the different styles. I kept getting confused when I would go into a woman’s stall and find the seat up, EVERY time. I also would see a sign on the door that read, ‘For your safety, please do not squat on the toilet seat.’ I would think, huh? What? Like don’t put my rear end on the toilet? Is that a squat? Or don’t hover over the seat, is that a squat? Well, as it turns out, a regular practice over there is to put both feet on the rim of the toilet seat, squat down and go. The same as you would position yourself if it were just a hole on the floor. I couldn’t even comprehend that people were balancing on toilet rims over here, but toilet after toilet, with the lid up let me know, yes, that’s how they roll over here. I never did try that squatting custom. I was still thinking about my fancy heated toilet back at Mandapa.
Once we were on top of the observation deck, we took in the views and snapped photos from several different vantage points. Amy T was working with me on camera settings and had brought her tripod for longer exposures. She took my favorite shot of the night, the picture of Amy B and me in front of the skyline. It looks like a simple shot, but really this took a lot of set-up to get right, including Shelly as an excellent assistant to the photographer Amy T. I wish I had a picture of Shelly shining two iPhone lights on our faces, vs. using a flash for lighting, which would have blown out the background. Shelly definitely gets the award for best trooper in this production. It was a little cool and damp up there and her cough was getting worse. It was time for all of us to head back down from The Peak.
We passed the long line for The Peak Tram down, that looked like a 1.5 wait and went over to the taxi stand, another long line. We decided to test out Uber at this time and had a little bit of a shuffle figuring out where it was going to pick us up, but we finally figured it out and ran up to a sleek black Mercedes with sleek driver. We zoomed down the mountain and back to our hotel in less than 20 minutes (vs. the 1 hour bus ride up the mountain). It was totally worth about a $10 Uber ride. Both taxis and Ubers are relatively cheap in Hong Kong.
We parted ways with Shelly and Amy T so Shelly could get hopefully a solid night of sleep to recover more quickly. I had also brought some Nyquil capsules on the trip and gave them to her in hopes that it would knock her out overnight.
Amy B and I were a little hungry and went to a noodle bowl place in the hotel complex that served noodles in a spicey and flavorful broth. It was almost 9pm and they closed at 9:30pm. This was about as close to fast food eating as we would get on this trip. It had been a little chilly and damp at The Peak, so this warm bowl of noodles hit the spot. And by chilly, I mean in the low 70’s with dampness. Ha,ha. I guess we were already adjusting to the mid-80’s daytime heat and humidity, which we were told wasn’t as hot as usual. We were all so thankful for that! Still, the humidity, was doing its thing with my hair as the curly bangs show below. Every day I Ieft the hotel with straight hair and came home with curly hair. Curly hair and noodles, quite a combo.
