The highs and lows of Hong Kong

So we decided yesterday that we will teach our daughter proper English and how to not start sentences with 'so.' a little early morning Hong Kong humor.

Sorry we are watching a classic movie about love, marriage, and competing careers..."Mr. and Mrs. Smith"

Anyway that is not what you care about, is it?

Yesterday we took another nice ride across to Hong Kong Island on the Star Ferry. After a stroll through Central, we had to follow a nice man from South Africa who has two adopted boys from China (now 19 and 20)to get us back on the right path.

His directions took us right to the tram to the top of Victoria Peak. The ride was really fun, especially when we were at a 45 degree incline and the buildings were all at an odd angle (okay, Phil found it was really cool...Ann kept thinking of the angle of repose and geomorphology).

The view from the top was spectacular. Well actually, the viewing deck is not at the highest point, there are houses at least a 100 meters further up the slope. Ann the planner notes that once Hong Kong ran low on developable land, they started to build on the Peak before they created new land by dredging and filling (like they do in New York and Chicago). Okay, that is enough of an urban planning lesson for now.

We strolled down one of the paths for a bit, then checked out the view from the Lions Gate (which was actually built for the Lions Club...yes, that one). Okay, we have officially been married too long...Ann is finishing these sentences for me as I type since I am speaking the words outloud as I type.

After we got down from the Peak, we were walking to the MTR (Hong Kong subway) when we spotted a sign for an exhibit called "Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery". Of course both of us being urban planning geeks (Ann formally trained), we had to visit. Afterward we headed back to Kowloon since Phil really wanted to get to the Hong Kong Space Museum.

Instead, we started off with a walk through Kowloon Park and then went back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Then, we walked down to SOGO the really cool department store that was having their 18th anniversary sale (guess who wanted to go...note we had still not gotten to the Space Museum). Anyway Ann bought a really cool coat and sweater and scarf.

Then we finally got to the SpaceMuseum, which Ann insists I mention was open until 9pm. It was very cool, including a gyroscope chair and a manned maneuvering unit chair.

Then we finally went to get dinner. It was not really that bad--okay Ann insists it was. We went to go to this Italian place Phil had passed by the other night, but since there was a 30 min wait, we ended up at the bakery next door. Thus ended our run of good meals.

Let's see, we asked them to take away the tap water they served lest we accidentally drink it (most natives don't drink the tap water here in China). Then the waiter could not understand that we wanted the soup, bread, and tea, to go with the pizza that Phil wanted, so we both got the pizza and the honey ginger tea. That should be "pizza" since it was rather tasteless and not made with pizza dough. At least the tea was good, even if it was served in a French press. Ann says the food on United Airlines was better.

One more full day in Hong Kong (we are planning to go to the markets in Stanley on the south side of Hong Kong Island after breakfast) and then off to Guangzhou tomorrow to meet Maya.