I didn't sleep great last night, probably because my body has no idea which time zone it should be on. I thought I would be fine because I was pretty exhausted when I laid down last night, but the silver lining was that I was awake early and could get an early start on the day. I rolled into the hotel breakfast buffet right when they opened at 7 AM and loaded up. The last meal I had was a small breakfast yesterday evening when we were landing, and I knew today would be a lot of walking and I wanted to fuel up. By 7:30 I was walking out of the hotel and headed to Victoria Peak. The sun was trying to break through the morning clouds and the city was quiet, but starting to come alive. I took the peak tram from Central Hong Kong to the observation area. It's a really old funicular, and I had heard it was steep, but when I saw the track ahead of us, I literally said "you've got to be kidding." It reminded me of a similar tram in Switzerland, this thing was going at a 45° angle up the mountain, it felt like a roller coaster clicking to the top where we would go over and start doing loop-the-loops. At the top, there was a panoramic view back across all the skyscrapers, a jungle of high rise apartments and businesses. I decided to take a walking trail that circles around the peak and within 10 minutes I was looking at a different type of jungle; lush tropical plants and ferns with Banyan tree roots growing into the mountainside replaced the concrete chaos, and the view looked out on more rolling green mountains and islands in the distance. As I circled around to where I had started back on the city side of things, I decided to walk the Old Peak Road back down to the bottom, but first I bought a famous Hong Kong pineapple bun to snack on. Pineapple is not actually an ingredient, it's more like a Dutch crust roll, but the top of the bun has the same appearance that pineapple skin does. I cannot believe how many people were walking UP the road to go to the top, brutal! On the way down, my route took me through the botanical and zoological gardens, basically a free zoo with all types of manicured greenery. There were exotic birds and monkeys and reptiles, and some schools having field trips. It was a nice tropical oasis in the middle of the high-rise buildings. I liked it so much that I did it twice. Well not intentionally. I'm finding that even with Google maps and a guidebook, navigating the city is more difficult than you would think. Somehow, I made my way through the zoo, exited at the bottom and thought that I was meandering my way through the streets and making progress until I literally found myself back at the top entrance of the zoo. Fortunately, my second escape attempt was successful, and I made my way to the Ladder Streets. This is a neighborhood with shops and Buddhist monasteries set up on tiered streets on the lower sloping hillside of Victoria Peak. I visited the Man Mo Temple, an ancient looking, Buddhist temple, completely dwarfed by the buildings around it. They gave you three incense sticks that you could light and place at any of the various shrines, so I figured I would assign them to Ryker, Ridley, and Emma and placed them at the most badass looking Buddha I could find. They also had giant spiral slinky-looking incense hanging from the ceiling that can burn for weeks. As I wandered the shops I saw a guy that looked very familiar… normal British 28 year old (which you don't see many of in China). I immediately got my Instagram out and pulled up the profile I was thinking of, walked over and excused myself for the interruption, but asked if that was him. I was gonna feel real dumb if I was wrong, but luckily he had posted on his Instagram story the day before that he was in Hong Kong so I was pretty certain I was not gonna be an idiot. I've followed him for years. He does adventure travel excursions, but trips that make me look pretty basic (leading small groups into remote Afghanistan and Pakistan, as an example). It was a very strange, small world moment. From there, I started making my way home, passing through the dried seafood street. This area has probably 40 shops all next to each other selling the exact same barrels of dried jerky fish specimens, with a smell to match the looks. It didn't look like anyone was buying anything, seems like five stores would be enough fish jerky for the low demand, but it was interesting to walk into one and try to guess all the different creatures. My favorite (to look at, not eat) was the dried sea slugs and squids. I really tried to find a local restaurant serving authentic food for lunch, but every one I found either didn't have a menu in English or had a really long line so I caved and went to McDonald's. The "Prosperity Chicken Sandwich" still felt a little exotic with its flashy name and chicken thigh meat in a tangy teriyaki sauce, but I will do better. I retreated to the hotel to rest my feet and recharge. For the afternoon and evening, I strolled along the waterfront promenade scouting possible photo locations, before having dinner. I got closer this time… Vietnamese food. I swear I had the best intentions and even picked out a Chinese restaurant to go back to, but when I did, the line was off the hook. The restaurant location was perfect though, it was in the same building as the rooftop terrace I had planned on watching the Symphony of Lights show from. After the show, just to cap off the day, I took the subway over to the Mong Kok Night Market. This was similar to the Temple Street Market from last night, but bigger, and missing the odd smell. I browsed the cheap knick knacks and bought a souvenir for Emma before heading home. As I write this, my feet ache and I can't believe I've only been here for one day basically; it feels like I have been up and down and all across the city. I checked my phone and it says 38,000 steps… according to A.I. that is about 17.6 miles for someone my height. And tomorrow is supposed to be my big hiking day, hah!
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