Day 18: Good Bye Hong Kong

The day started foggy & rainy, I was pouting cuz it’s my last day & I wanted to go to the Peak. Well, it was still cloudy when I got to the HK side ferry terminal. 

But I was too early for the Peak tram to start running, so I walked over to check out the Midlevel Elevators, huff & puffed since in the mornings the silly things only run down hill. But I had a fun ride coming down! 

I loved this side street. The Flying Pan? Someone has a great sense of humor!

You catch the peak tram from the Star Ferry terminal and I headed up to the top again, this is the only double decker bus I saw that was open. By the time I got on, there was a break in the clouds and I kept praying that it held.

It held long enough to take a few pictures and since I'm flying out tonight, I ran down as soon as I was done taking a few pix, I can't post more because I have to leave soon. Enjoy the pix.

Here's the famous Peak Tram.

It's an awesome view and really changed my view of Hong Kong =D!

I tried to clean it up as best I could, trying to make the colors pop, but it's as good as it's going to get & it doesn't come close to showing the breathtaking beauty of a view from the Peak.

Caught him on his smoking break, I hope he didn't come up dragging someone behind him!

My final ride on the Star Ferry :-[

What a beautiful boat! I'd live it in! I think it's one of the tourist boats that ply the Harbour.

Lots of smells, lots of noise, on the Kowlooon side. I think this is called the Mongkok area. My hotels in the Tsim Sha Tsui area.

I couldn't tell you what it was they were serving, after almost 3 weeks in mainland China, I've had quite enough of mystery meat.

Instead I found a hole in the wall Thai restaurant. I sat down, he couldn't speak English or Mandarin, I couldn't speak Cantonese, so I dredged up my memories of conversational Thai that I had learned when I went to Bangkok and with a lot of pointing and grinning, I got some really good Thai food.

Hong Kong has lots of people, the videos are loud as loud can be. It also has this noise that sounds like tapping, when the light turns green it has a constant tap-tap-tap, but then it counts down and at 10secs left, its a really fast taptaptap. I get it, Nathan Road is a very busy street, buses, trucks, cars and the unbelievable mass of humanity. But the signal is really LOUD!

Then they drive on the left side here in HK. Someone actually grabbed my arm and yanked me back to the curb when I stepped off and was looking the wrong way so I almost got hit by a bus. When I looked back to thank the guy, I smile, he looked at me like I was an idiot, my smile fell and I felt like one.

This is Ladie's Market, the stalls open up in the afternoon and stays open until nighttime, I think. Anyways, the shopkeepers in Stanley Bay were all laid back and practically somnambulant compared with the shopkeepers at Ladies' Market. 

I had finished my shopping so I was just doing a lot of sightseeing. When I shop at places like these, I try not to touch anything, touching it signals the seller that you are really interested. So I just meander about and look. 

I actually got grabbed by the arm, when I tried to haggle on something and decided against buying it, the woman yelled at me as I walked away "You got no money no way." I was so shocked I had to bust out laughing! If only she knew!

I didn't stay, I had a hard time getting a cab when it started to rain hard, but I got one.

Well, it's time for me to leave Hong Kong, get back to Chicago. I will land in Chicago on Thursday, but on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I will still be away from home because I have to attend a business convention that I thought I had gotten out of. But someone else who was supposed to go got this crazy flu so I was volunteered in absentia! No rest for the weary!