It's hard for me to grasp the fact that today is Wednesday when I feel like it should be Tuesday still. Last night we got in around 8:30 and took a train to Hong Kong. The airport was pretty easy to get through and Anupam had given us a nice list of directions for finding our way through. The train ride didn't take very long and when we arrived at the station we were only there a couple minutes before Vandita found us and took us to the car where Anupam was at. We drove to the flat and got the tour. The babies were sleeping but I still got to see them and then Peter and I ate a little bit before we feel fast asleep in bed. It was nice to lay out straight and flat after having to sit up for the last 30 hours or so. Vandita and Anupam live at The Peak which is on the highest hill in Hong Kong. Apparently this real-estate is extremely expensive and is the most expensive place to live, not only in Hong Kong but, in the entire world. The company that Anupam works for owns a few pieces of property here so they house their employees on this prime spot while they are living here temporarily. This morning I got up and showered while Peter was still sleeping. I had gotten more sleep than him on the plane so I wasn't near as exhausted as he was. It is pretty foggy here and there isn't too much you can see from the balcony today. Hopefully we will have a
clearer day so that I can get a picture of the view which is amazing. I played with Isha and Divya a bit and waited for Peter to get up so we could have breakfast together. He took a little longer than I would have hoped so I eventually went in to the room to wake him up. I didn't want him to over sleep and then not be able to get to bed tonight when it was time. He got up and took a shower and then we had some omelets looked through the Hong Kong books that Vandita had. There was one really good book that was informative and fun to read so we looked at that one the most. We didn't do too much in the morning, just kind of hung out and tried to decide what things we wanted to get done while we were here. Vandita helped us weed out some of the tourist traps and told us some good pointers on where to shop and what to stay away from. We picked a handful of things we wanted to do then after the babies went down for a nap Vandita took us on a short walk around The Bluff, where they live. Everything is very hilly here and the hills are steep and the roads are narrow. I don't know how far we walked but it was definitely a good workout and I could feel my calves getting worked. We made it back to the house and then we took the car to
Victoria Peak Gardens. Victoria Peak offers a beautiful view of Victoria Harbor and the surrounding islands. Even though it was a bit hazy we could see Lamma Island, Kowloon, and Lantau Island. There were lots of boats out and about it was crazy to see the dense population of Kowloon. The Gardens were beautiful but most of the flowers and trees were the same plants that we have in FL because we are about the same longitude. There were a lot of
different types of birds and butterflies that were really cool to see. Everything in the gardens was kept up very nicely and the smell of the flowers was everywhere. The temperature today called for a high of 84 so it was a bit warm but standing up at the Peak a nice breeze would sweep through and the air felt as cold as if someone had turned the AC on. We walked around the Gardens a bit then we drove over to the HSBC complex that had another nice view. Vandita said it is very nice at night with all the lights so we will have to come back some time when it is dark. We drove past the grocery store and a mall and returned to the house for some lunch. We had refried rice with chicken and Thai green vegetarian curry. After lunch Peter and I sat down for a while and tried to figure out a better schedule in order to make sure everything we really wanted to get done and see would be accomplished. We were able to fill a good 3-4 days but we still have about 3-4 left with nothing in them yet. We played with the babies some more as they took turns waking up from their naps. After an hour or so Vandita drove Peter and I to the mall so we could get see the shops. I got a milkshake from Haagendaz and Peter got a cup of coffee from
Starbucks (I know, we are real adventurous). The mall was about three levels and then another level on the top was a look out where you could see over the land and bay. The idea is the same as a mall you would find anywhere in the US but because land is so limited here and hard to come by the stores were all really cramped. I am use to usually having a stroller with me and I think only on of the stores we went in would actually work with a stroller. The walkways outside of the stores was about half the size, if that, of the normal US mall. There weren't many people around so it didn't seem as small as it could have, I can't imagine what it would be like on a busy day. A lot of the shops were the same and had souvenir type "junk" for tourist. We didn't buy anything there but I did see a couple things that the girls would like. We figured if we didn't find these things somewhere else for less we could always come back here before we leave to pick up a couple trinkets for children. We found a book store and bought a post card for each of the children and a Lonely Planet Book for Hong Kong. When we went to Italy in 2004 my brother bought us the Lonely Planet Book for Sicily so we decided to add to our collection. They had one for all of China but we are hoping we can find one for just Beijing instead. While we were looking at the postcards in the store we found one of The Peak Tower which is a big lookout that has a great view of Hong Kong. I said to Peter, "I've seen lots of pictures of the tower, where is that?" He pointed out the window to the building right next door and says, "Isn't that it?" Uhh, yep. We finished going through the stores and went out to the view on the mall to see the sun setting over the land. It was a bit cloudy but still very pretty to see.
We walked back down and outside of the mall and then went to the Peak Tower to see what they had to offer. There were more stores inside the building so we explored a bit more. Mostly they were the same souvenir shops that we saw in the mall but these ones tended to have bit more clothing than the others did. We took several escalators up to the top of the building but to go out to the view you had to pay money so we decided not to go. Vandita had told us that we shouldn't pay to see a view from anywhere because there were better places to go that were free.
As we were headed back down we found a a little balcony that had a great view of the city which was now full of lights. It was really pretty and amazing to see so many buildings packed so tightly together and all lit up. We don't have anything like that in Florida so this was a new sight for us. We stopped in a Hard Rock shop and Peter bought a hat because he forgot to bring one and would definitely need one for all the sight seeing we had planned. We finished our walk back to the ground floor and went outside. Peter tried to call Vandita on
the cell phone she had given us but the prepaid card was out of minutes so we had to borrow a phone from someone walking by. We could have probably walked back home but we aren't too familiar with the stretch yet and since it was dark we didn't want to get lost in all the hills and roads. On the way back to the house we stopped at the HSBC complex to see the view again at night. It was amazing what you could see, just seemed like a million lights surrounded by hills covered in trees. We walked around to see the view from every side and it was a little windy up there. I was glad that I had brought my jacket with me because I am sure I would have been pretty cold otherwise. We got back to the house and I called mom and tried to set up FaceTime with her but for some reason it wasn't working for us. We were all pretty hungry at
this point so we had dinner of shepherd's pie, pasta, and salad. Vandita's house help prepared the food and made it like she use to make for her last family which were american. We told Vandita that she didn't have to prepare anything different than what she normally cooked for Vandita and Anupam. Anupam came home just as we finished and we all hung out and talked a bit before heading to bed. We did pretty well with the jet-lag. I really didn't have any because I think I had slept just enough on the plane on the way over. Peter got a bit tired right around lunch time but we had previously decided we would push through any tiredness and stay up until the evening. I think we are doing great.
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