Last full day in Hong Kong.

I spent my last full day in Hong Kong doing yet another typically touristy thing, however there was culture involved so I hope that wins me some points. My sister and I took the MTR to Tung Chung and then got onto a cable car up to Ngong Ping, home of the Tian Tian (Giant) Buddha; this is something that a lot of people tend to do on their last day in Hong Kong due to it's close proximity to Hong Kong International Airport.

I have decided that I probably have a tiny fear of heights, not anything that's going to make me freak out but I'm not exactly enthusiastic about being high up and being able to see how far away the ground is. The cable car ride up to Ngong Ping was slightly more settling than the Ocean Park cable car as the cars were much larger and because the ride was 25 minutes, I was able to relax a bit. I don't think I would have had the same opinion if we had opted for the 'Crystal Cabin', a car with a glass bottom, why anyone would happily fork out more for that experience is bewildering to me, much to my sister's disappointment.

Due to also wanting to make the trip to the Tai O stilt village but not really having any knowledge of how to go about it, we opted to go on a coach tour which guided us down to the village as well as giving us a bit of history about the Po Lin monastery and the Tian Tian Buddha once we got back. I would love to go back to Tai O again, just to take more in, it's a really interesting-looking place even if there isn't much in the way of things to do there; there was also a tour operator offering a dolphin seeing tour for $HK20, which I would love to do. The sense of community in Tai O is really felt, as we were being touristy with our group on a bridge, a man came waltzing along with his shirt up wanting to talk to his 'Dai lo' (big brother) and all the women working in the market were chatting away, it's just a very beautiful, undisrupted place, hard to find in somewhere as built-up as Hong Kong.

Everything about the area and what we did today, despite being a 'must-see as a tourist', lacked that touristy-feel which was great because we were in such close proximity to people's homes as well as being on sacred ground. There were a few snap-happy people, myself included, but the atmosphere wasn't as busy and interfering as it has been in other places. The most enjoyable thing about today was the weather, up in the mountains it is much cooler and because of the rain it was even cooler, it was probably still around 28ºC but that's still cool for here and this time of year. The weather was also on our side when it came to visuals, once we walked up to the Buddha we were literally in the clouds!

I'm so proud of myself for making it to the top of the 268 stairs to see the Buddha close up, I think I would have been disappointed in the back of my mind if I hadn't, it's pretty daunting but definitely worth it and not as hard as it seems. Going back down was much worse for me and my legs slightly turned to jelly because I could see how far up we were and how far we still needed to go. (Wuss).
I'm beginning to look forward to going home now and wonder how I'm going to round off my holiday with the free time I have tomorrow. Here are some photos from today.

Just incase you'd forgotten that they really do have Starbucks everywhere.

The prospect of going back to the real world of slobbing-out searching for work all day is not exactly instilling excitement in me, but I've had a well-deserved break and am in the right mind-set to approach it again, kind of hoping that I won't have to return to the Job Centre though.

Victoria Peak & Star Ferry Harbour Tour.

Yesterday was impressive, we were planning on visit the Giant Buddha, but that ended up changing due to my mum's legs being too bad and by that time it being too late in the day once we'd had dim sum. So we dashed our plans and headed to another 'must see' tourist sight in Hong Kong, Victoria Peak ('The Peak').

The view from up there is pretty awesome, it boasts to be the largest viewing platform in Hong Kong, you can see everything, we could even guess where the apartment was!
We got sucked into getting a bundle including Madame Tussauds, which actually turned out to be okay. I quite liked The Peak venue as well, it's got quite a few junky/tourist tat shops that I love (despite them stupidly disallowing photographs), and we were also conveniently able to buy our Disney tickets for tomorrow there - I had to pay with my card so that's probably a dud now due to being slightly out of the ordinary, I hope it's ok, but I won't know until I'm able to access my voicemails when I get back...
We had lunch at Bubba Gump, which was heinously over-priced but otherwise nothing I'd complain about, maybe if they didn't provide so much food, their prices wouldn't have to be so high, the view was pretty damn sweet though.












After going back to the apartment to relax for a couple of hours, we finally did the activity that I've been yammering on about for the last week, a Star Ferry Harbour Tour during 'A Symphony of Lights'! Apparently we should have taken a 'junk ferry', but in my view it was just as good and we missed getting charged extra because the lights begin at 8pm and the boat doesn't depart until 5 past, but we saw everything anyway.
The display didn't disappoint and it was cool to listen to the music from the boat, it was a bit cheesy and 'typically Chinese', but it was so beautiful. People were pretty eager for chairs but we managed to find some in the end. A bonus of the trip was the free fizzy pop and honey cake that was bundled in with the price, I was quite pleased. I'm glad I did it and it was very much worth the wait.








As I mentioned, we're heading to Disneyland tomorrow, our family here - and I do to an extent - think we're mad because we've already been to Florida so many times as well as Paris, but, and I don't care about the repercussions, I love Disney, and that's it, it makes me happy, the rides, the atmosphere, it's lovely. I felt that it was pretty reasonably priced too compared to UK theme park prices. I've heard that it's apparently really small, but that doesn't take away from anything, I'm so excited!
Flickr set.

Ocean Park.

I don't think that I've visited Ocean Park since 1997, which would have been my first and only time anyway. Undoubtedly I should expect that more than a lot has changed since then. I believe that this previous visit would have been in October as well, when it would have been much cooler, I'm looking pretty red in the face from this evening as it goes, because guess who forgot to pack suncream?

Today was probably the first day that I have been outside for the whole day. It's not something that I would recommend in the height of summer in Hong Kong, especially in an environment like a theme park. Queueing is the most un-fun thing to be done in life, ever, in 32°C heat, it seems oh so much worse. My sister and I just went on our own today as it was far too much walking for my mum and most the park is situated on the side of a mountain,not to mention the fact that she isn't interested in rides either, not that we went for the rides. Excluding the cable-car, we only managed one rollercoaster; had I had my way and had the park been empty, we would definitely have rode both water rides that the park has to offer, but it's the summer holidays here and while I wouldn't say the park was that busy, it all comes back to that 'so much effort' issue.

To be perfectly honest, I was happy with just seeing the pandas and going on the cable-car - the most quiet place I have been since coming to Hong Kong, it felt so surreal. We also took in Ocean Park's dolphin show, 'Sea Dreams'. I did enjoy it but I am torn since being so horrified by The Cove last year, it's hard to sort my views out. I just really do hope that these animals are treated well, from what I could see the pandas were, so I don't see why any other animals should be much different. The fact that Ocean Park has won numerous conservation prizes also works in their favour, so until I hear otherwise, I'm pretty much on their side.
We rounded up the day with a meal at 'Neptune's Restaurant', a restaurant situated within the aquarium so you can look over to the 'grand aquarium' and watch rays and sharks while you eat. It was lovely and a pleasant dining experience, although slightly pricey considering we only had 'afternoon tea' and it wasn't even that substantial. It was so wonderful and cool in there, and having had 'mocktails' to accompany my meal, I actually began to feel cold (This was of course immediately shattered the moment the door to outside opened)!















I took a few videos, they do bother me slightly though because my sister just talks and talks and talks right through them, although the one on the cable car is quite nice.



Flickr set
Another busy few days, I'm predicting much less time/want for sitting around typing when I get home, although I'm quite nosey so, despite the fact that it's a bit annoying, out of compulsion, I will probably be able to find some time.