Liwan

Becca wanted to visit the Bruce Lee ancestral home (especially since the star walk and Bruce Lee statue was under construction in Hong Kong.)

We traveled to Shamian Island. It was an important port in guangzhou up through the Qing dynasty. It was given as a concession to the British and French after the opium wars which were fights over trade and governance. The term gunboat diplomacy was given to how the problem was handled with naval force. They dug a river on the northern side, creating an island.

From shamian we walked into Liwan to the Bruce Lee home.

As we were headed to Beijing Lu pedestrian area, we decided to walk through Shangxiajiu residential and commercial pedestrian streets.

The residential streets have so many stores and shops.

By the commercial market…

The commercial market had tents with dried fruits and vegetables and another for meats. Of course we bought a bag of assorted dried fruit.

From there we worked our way to a metro stop to go to Beijing lu and found the cultural park. There were small museums explaining the history of Liwan and Shamian and the significance of buildings known as the Thirteen Factories.

At Beijing lu, we walked around the insane number of stores and malls. It is overwhelming and a bit concerning with the level of consumerism.

I took Becca and Ryan to the rebuilt temple.

I was told there was a great vegetarian restaurant inside. When we arrived, they were performing prayer so we walked around and looked at the Buddha statue.

The food was great. All tofu and vegetables… On the left is dim sum. You turn the bun over to place the veggie filling inside. I want to know what it is made of… It is so delicious. On the right is fried seaweed.

Below is tofu (left) and sweet and sour vegetarian meat and dragon fruit.

After the metro ride back, they were tired. Might be an early night…

Hehe… In the elevator…

Sheung Wan street art

A great suggestion (thanks Daniel!) was to visit Sheung Wan in the north west part of Hong Kong island. We took an uber from Wan Chai to there. It was fun to wander around the streets with Ryan and Becca looking for the street art. Many little cafes, bakeries, and eateries. We also stumbled upon antiques. This is one of the coolest and most creative areas of Hong Kong. It is also the place I week most likely stay the next time I travel to Hong Kong.

Here are some of the great street art we found. I know we missed some as we arrive in and out the streets and alleys.

Haha… Hipster…

We found a great Cafe that was vegetarian with gluten free options. Better yet they are sustainable, compost, and are environmentally and socially conscious. Their burgers were great.

There were other noteworthy graffiti…

And the day is not complete without talking about the wild Street food.

Lobster balls

Cuttlefish

Botanical gardens and Hong Kong park

From central Hong Kong to Wan Chai, you can easily get from one place to the other through the botanical gardens and then Hong Kong park. Both were very beautiful and an unexpected way to get around. I was surprised to find that the gardens and zoo were free.

Lemurs

Birds

The monkeys were having quite a bit of fun.

The flowers were quite beautifully arranged through the areas.

On the way to Hong Kong park I saw an interesting religious site.

Hong Kong park seems to be a popular place for weddings.

Walking through Wan Chai we passed through Times Square. There is high end shops here and like other areas was decorated for Christmas.

The street in front of our guest house had Marvin the Martian props for people to enjoy.

We were glad to get such a large walk in (at least 10 miles or 16 km) and we saw the sun rise over Hong Kong! Soon we will checkout of the guest house and will be in the last part of our adventure before we take the train back to Guangzhou!

Victoria Peak

The morning of the 26th, Becca and I took an uber to the peak tram terminus. The peak tram takes people from the bottom of the peak in Central to the mall and observation deck at the terminus. From there you can walk further to the peak. I have been on the tram before. At the outsude of the terminus.

We walked the road to the botanical gardens. This area is like an oasis in a very busy city.

We took paths around the peak from the gardens.

We finally found the highest point we could go. There are towers in restricted areas in the highest points.

On the way down we found the governor’s walk which was our favorite. It was more like a first path.

Trees grow around walls.

We also saw lithe streams and falls.

It was a great way to see the sights of Hong Kong. We used maps to find our way down the rest of the way, eventually passing the start of the peak tram and ending through the botanical gardens and Hong Kong park. We realized we were not too far away from our guest house and we walked back. See the next posts for those images!

Hiking in Hong Kong

On the second day in Hong Kong (Christmas day), we checked out of our first guest house which was very convenient in location for the previous days activities, and headed towards the ferry to go across to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon. The hike we had planned are on the island and staying in a new place allows for us to explore a new area. I had met Daniel, an expat for 30 years in Hong Kong, at a cute little coffee shop and he showed the way to the ferry. Very informative about Hong Kong over the years and persoectives of global life. Good thing he pointed out Elvis, I might have missed that!

The ferry ride was short and we were only a short walk away from the next guest house.

https://youtu.be/j9x7QAnXI24

After charging phones, we took an uber to start the hike at dragon back. What on the map looked like the trail actually ended. We met others on the trail who had done the same thing. We decide to pick up a trail across the road (Hong Kong trail). It went down by the water and around a little village.

It eventually climbed back up (quite a good leg workout), and meet up with the Dragons Back trail. It was getting late in the afternoon and we were sure we would not finish the whole thing so we went up part of the way and made sure we were at a peak before coming back to the road as there was a bus stop there. Beautiful!

On the way back on the trail, we saw the other couple who eventually found the start of the Hong Kong trail just to the right of where we were. Oh well. We still saw some great sights and met wonderful people. This seems to be an expat place to be!

After the bus ride back, it was time to explore a bit more! The plan for the 26th is to hike Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island.

Christmas morning

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! I hope you are centenary with family or friends. So glad my kids are able to be here with me!

It may not be where you are but it is already Christmas here in Hong Kong.

We stared the day with a walk along the water. It is really quiet considering how chaotic it was last night.

I did not think about places closing here for Christmas. We found something to eat at 7 eleven until places open.

Peacefully chilling in the hotel room until places open.

This room is in a guest house. Very clean and no frills. 3 beds close together and a small bathroom with no defined shower space. You shower in the small open area in front of the toilet and sink. That is the end you hold to shower fixed up on the wall.

Funny. For one night it is fine and it was central to everything we wanted to see. Today we are planning to take the ferry across to the island and go to our next hotel. I actually like staying in unconventional places from time to time. Interesting way to meet people and see different things.

Christmas in Guangzhou

As I have been walking around I’ve snapped pictures of Christmas displays which are more evident near my apartment as it is an expat area.

At the Four Seasons…

At our school Christmas party which had the most amazing buffet ever. It was a karaoke party and a few friends and I dressed up as the spice girls:

The athletic trainer was happy to be sporty spice.

Karaoke:

When we left the party, the tree outside had snow blowing around it. It was not quite cold enough for that but was pretty spectacular.

From the lobby of my apartment building :

On the way to the Nike run club, there is a pretty posh mall area where pandora had an outdoor tree display.

Not so close to the expat area:

I joined a cookie exchange and our book club had a gift exchange of a used book. Our school also has secret Santa. Fun!

For Christmas, my kids and I will go to Hong Kong. The lights are to be fabulous and we will be sightseeing and hiking…