Day 3: Um... Can I live here?

December 20th


I slept in and had a caesar salad for breakfast again.

Original - I know. 

While I was sleeping, my dad and his fiance went out to have a suite made for him for their wedding. Cashmere wool. Expected to be done in 3 days. Hand made. Name personally stitched inside. $575. Um... shopping paradise much? 

I think so. 

They also had Starbucks for breakfast at the most epic starbucks ever. I'd know; I saw it while walking along the harbor front promenade yesterday. It really is quite awesome - Directly on the promenade, second floor outdoors with ridiculously comfortable chairs and a fantastic view of the harbor. It is quite possibly the best Starbucks for viewing in the world. Then again, though, I definitely haven't been to every Starbucks in the world which is evident by the fact that there is one practically on every single corner of the city. 

Anyway, we walked down to the Star Ferry and caught a ride across the Harbor, which was pretty cool in itself. The ride only lasted for about five minutes, but it gave us a chance to get a nice view of the areas of the waterfront that you normally can't see because they're kind of "around a corner" as the coast curves. Even though the ferry isn't as fast as the MTR, it's still worth doing at least once, especially considering the fact that you can use your Octopus Card on it. I may have mentioned the OCs earlier - I can't remember - but I'll talk about it just in case. The Octopus Cards are basically little cards that you can load up with trips on the public transportation system. They work for the MTR, the Star Ferry, and the tram up to Victoria Peak (There may be more, but these were the only things I used it for.) and are very handy because they make it so that you don't have to wait in line to buy tickets whenever you want to go anywhere. 

Onward!

From the Star Ferry Terminal in Wan Chai (on HK Island), we took a taxi to Stanley, which is a little town on the other side of the island. It may seem unfortunate, at first glance, that you have to take a taxi to Stanley (The MTR doesn't go over there.), because the road is windy and long, but that opinion doesn't take in to account that the drive is spectacular! Once you get on the other side of the island, the road down to Stanley is one that is high up with a great view of the ocean and Repulse Bay (Nice name - I know.). Actually, there are some damn nice apartments over there I wouldn't mind living in...

The view is no less awesome once you get to Stanley. In fact, I IMPLORE you to have lunch at one of the many restaurants on the little boardwalk (We at at the Boathouse, which, according to my dad, serves the best salad he has ever eaten.). It's a great experience, because the view of the little bay is beautiful; when were there, the sun was shining, there were people on the little beach, and it was a brilliant cloudless day. I could completely see living in Hong Kong and puttering over to the other side to relax away from the chaos of the city. 

That is not to say, though, that there is nothing to do in Stanley. The little town is actually home to a really great market, and I ended up buying two cute bags for three dollars a piece, though there was lots of other cool stuff like there. Over all, I'd say that Stanley Market is better than Temple Street because there is better quality stuff there - besides the typical pashmina shawls, knockoff designer wear, watches, and tourist crap, there are actually some very nice jewelry and clothing stores. 

At around 4 or 5, we took a taxi back to the other side of the island to the bottom of Victoria Peak... to catch the tram up. The actual tram-ing took place after waiting in line FOREVER. It sucked. Balls. We did eventually get in the little red car and proceeded to go up a freakishly steep hill... which included stops at the mid-levels - stops complete with the tram rolling backwards a foot or two before coming to rest. I will remind you that this is an insanely steep hill and that the experience is therefore border-line panic inducing. Fun stuff. 

On the 10 minute ride, we got a tiny inkling of the epic view in store. Soon enough, though, we reached the little tram station which is indoors and could no longer see the skyline. In traditional Hong Kong fashion, you are then herded up a series of escalators past a number of stores until... Oh look! The ticket stand. Apparently, you not only have to buy tickets to take the tram up the mountain, but you also have to pay to go up on the viewing deck. 

Lame? Definitely. Yay capitalism. 

I have to say, though, the view is ONE HUNDRED BILLION TRILLION percent worth it. Like I mentioned last night, Hong Kong has the world's most awesome skyline, and there is apparently no better place to view it than the top of Victoria Peak. It was truly awesome and was made more so by the fact that I timed so that we got up to the top when it was the very end of daylight, so by staying up there for half our or 45 minutes, we got to see the skyline at all levels of light and as all the lights began to turn on. 

So epic. It hurt. It really did. 

The trip to the top isn't just for the view, though; there are many restaurants and entire freaking mall. And for those who don't want to take the tram back down, you can catch a cab, which is actually what we did. Because I am such an amazing genius, I suggested we take a cab down to Aberdeen, which, like Stanley, is another little town on the other side of the Island, because the top of Victoria Peak is in the middle of the island - half way to Aberdeen! I'm a fucking genius.

So, we hopped in the cab and we're off down the mountain... back to the city side of the island. Basically, we had to drive down to HK city and then back around to the other side of the island.

I fail so bad. 

Anyway, the reason we were going to Aberdeen was to eat at the Jumbo Restaurant - The famous floating restaurant of Hong Kong... that doesn't actually float. Sure, you have to take a little boat out to it, but IT DOESN'T FUCKING FLOAT, DAMNIT! I feel jipped. Assholes!

I'm kidding; it's actually totally worth every penny. The exterior and interior may toe the line between extravagant but classy and gaudy/ tacky, but the food is amazing. I had Peking duck for the first time, and it is officially in my top 5 favorite foods of all time. The crispy skin with a little meat on it... wrapped in Chinese pancake... with a little sweet sauce...

Holy fucking (This blog is rated R for language.) hell. Good Lord. Hallelujah. 

Drugs? Sex? Bacon? Killing Sarah Palin? Noooo. Peking - fucking - duck. That is most assuredly the Shit.

Taxi back to the hotel. I don't really remember anything after the duck. It was just that amazing.