You may have long given up on me actually posting any more about my Hong Kong trip.¹ But I really do have a lot to share, and what’s more, I want to write down at least some of my thoughts while my memory is still relatively clear.⁵ Over the past few weeks, I have spent bits of time here and there sorting through my photos, and making notes on some of my activities. I can’t tell you how many times I started to write about my trip, only to run out of time.⁶

In the interest of saving time and actually getting this ready to post (along with the many other recap posts I’d like to get to), I won’t go into much detail. But please understand that my first day was in no way moderate. I covered a lot of ground, both in walking and by subway. Along the way, I took a lot of photos, a few of which I am sharing below. I have posted quite a few more from on flickr. Before I get to the photos, here is a list of my major activities and movements that first day:

Day 1: Monday, August 15, 2011

• wondered* around near hotel, in the Wan Chai district, in search of breakfast
• took MTR to Kowloon
• went to Hong Kong Museum of History
• walked to vegetarian restaurant for lunch
• took MTR back to Hong Kong island
• stopped by hotel room to get telephoto lens and waffle over plans for the rest of the day
• walked back to MTR station
• 40-minute MTR ride to Lantau Island
• cable car to see the Big Buddha
• took long bus ride back to bottom of island
• had dinner of pastries from a bakery while sitting out in the square
• watched movie in movie theater
• caught MTR back to Kowloon
• swung by Temple Street night market (but didn’t buy anything)
• took MTR back to Wan Chai
• walked back to hotel

And now some photos:

At the History Museum. These lanterns were lowered over the audience at the end of a film about Hong Kong peoples and cultural events. (The museum had many small theaters showing short films that focussed on specific time periods or specific aspects of Hong Kong history. In addition to this one, I saw films on local geology, the Opium War, the Japanese occupation in WWII.)


Walking around after the museum, trying to find a specific restaurant. (I had my camera strap around my head, with my camera hanging near my waist, and was taking photos without looking at the viewer.)

One of the few photos I have of myself in Hong Kong.


A fountain at the square outside the Tung Chung MTR stop on Lantau island.

The cable car ride was really quite dramatic and impressive. The building that the cables are leading to (and from) is not the start of the ride, but a point part way through at which the ride makes a more-or-less 90 degree turn. It’s hard to see in the photo at this resolution, but you can see a couple of cars dangling over the water in the upper right corner of the photo, between the two bridges. You can click here to see a crop of that region.)

At one point, I passed over a beach that was spotted with people. Most of them were digging clams.

I’m not sure whether this pair was involved in the clam-digging, but I did appreciate their shadows. (The glass-bottomed cable car let me take a lot of shots straight down.)

The views of cityscapes (and cloudscapes) were quite impressive.

The cable cars went up into forested mountainous areas. Again, my glass-bottomed car led to some dramatic views. I felt like I was floating above the treetops.

It was very impressive when the Big Buddha came into view. As you can see from the way he towers above the tree tops, he is indeed Quite Big.

I arrived just too late go up the stairs to get a closer view of the Buddha (and to see the building he’s sitting on). The views from below were still beautiful. (I was going to say “impressive” again, but I don’t want to overuse it. But it was impressive.)

When I finally returned to the square outside the MTR station, I saw that there was a movie theater there. I checked the listings, and was happy to see that Wu Xia was playing, a Hong Kong action movie (and one suggested to me by YTSL, Hong Kong film buff extraordinaire, as an option to fulfill the trip goal of seeing a Hong Kong action movie while in Hong Kong.) The movie theater was large and modern, and I was surprised by two things: 1) I had to select my seat when buying my ticket, much like for an airplane and 2) the popcorn choices were buttered or chocolate. (As I am one who is drawn to novel things, I opted for the chocolate.)

So there, in a rather large nutshell, was Day 1. Here are a few things I left out of the nutshell:

• It was super hot and steamy (probably low 90s and 90%+ humidity), even after dark.
• In spite of the ginormous time difference (12-hours!) and the very long travel day of the day(s) before (~28 hours door-to-door), I only felt tired when I was in my hotel room. When I was out and about, I was so excited to be in Hong Kong that I only felt excited to be in Hong Kong
• I did get some blisters on my feet, which I also felt (in additioning to feeling excited to be in Hong Kong).

I really hope I’ll get to post more about my trip soon. (I still really, truly, absolutely owe YTSL at least one post on our excursion and hike together.) Please nag me if I go too long before posting on this again.

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¹ You may have long given up on me actually posting.²
² You may have long given up on me.³
³ You may have long given up.⁴
⁴ You may have long ___. [I’ll let you fill in the blank]
⁵ Um…too late, alejna.
⁶ Well, I can tell you the number of times. It was 5.
* And by “wondered,” I meant “wandered.” But apparently both words fit, so I left my typo. (See comments, below.)