Civilization

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I’m getting sick of writing this - and more so of doing this - I was up way too early again. I didn’t need to be up until 7:00 so when I awoke at 5:45 I was ticked. As always, there was no chance of my getting back to sleep. Yet another six hour night.

I left Ha Noi this morning to depart Vietnam and go to Hong Kong. On my way to the airport - with horns honking all around me, especially from my cab driver - I acknowledged that I will not miss this city at all. If I ever return here, I think I might follow through with what I often thought I’d do on a Sunday morning at my New York City apartment. Many times I was tempted to take a few dozen bricks onto my roof and chuck them at the taxi drivers who impatiently honked below. Though here the volume of bricks needed would be enough to make an exact replica of the Sri Lankan Stupas.

My flight to Hong Kong and the bus ride from the airport went without a problem. That is, until I arrived at the Fortress Hill stop and realized that the stop was not where my directions showed it would be. With some luck I found the main road where I would stay and eventually found numbers that I could use to get me walking in the right direction. I was supposed to be about a block away and ended up several blocks away. Either way, this area is much better to get around than Ha Noi. Pedestrians can actually use the sidewalks.

For the next few hours I went over my plan for Hong Kong for the upcoming three days. Finn and his girlfriend Wendy, who is from Hong Kong, were extremely helpful in giving me all sorts of info on the sights here, how to tackle them and especially on the cuisine (my favorite part). With the amount of food options they gave me I could use a few more days. But if the scale is any indication - there was a scale here I used tonight, showing me at 168, almost 20 pounds lighter than when I left home - I could stand to eat a couple extra meals.

After getting my game plan together, I set out to grab dinner and go to Victoria Peak, Hong Kong Island’s highest point, to see the city at night. I took the subway out, the first time since Kuala Lumpur that I’ve used a subway as public transportation. It felt good to be back in civilization. The motorbikes were fun but that part of the adventure is over. And there aren’t subway workers standing every few feet harassing you to buy a ticket to get on board.

Since I didn’t happen upon much of anything in the Central district as far as food, I made my first stop the peak. I took the tram up - the mode of transportation that has operated there since May 1888 - and worked my way through the mall that greets people at the top. As I was going up one escalator I caught a glimpse of the skyline through some windows to my left; they produced an immediate “whoa”.

The view on the viewing platform was even better. I arrived just in time to see the Symphony of Lights, a show put on at 8:00 each night where different buildings will switch off and on sets of different colors of lights for 15 minutes. Most people view this from nearby Kowloon Island (I’ll do this at some point) but I was lucky I timed it to see it from here, too. On the way out, I waited in a huge cue to get back on the tram. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was there for the light show.

After taking the subway back to the Fortress Hill area, I still couldn’t find a place for dinner. Finally I settled on a sort of Japanese fast food joint called Yoshinoya. It reminded me a lot of a McDonald’s or KFC with different numbered meals and pictures accompanying each but all the food was Japanese. Finn and Wendy had told me about these so I gave it a go. The food was excellent, although as hungry as I was anything would have been good.

I went back to the hostel and got to bed around 11:30, hoping to sleep well until 7:00 am.

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Photos

Tall buildings
Two of the tall buildings in all their nighttime glory.

Tram
The tram that would take us up to the peak.

Skyline at night
The view from the peak.

Fortress Hill
The main road through Fortress Hill, the area on Hong Kong Island where I am staying.

Yoshinoya
The place I ate dinner.

My pack
A picture of my pack without my toiletries and shoes in the bottom.