In the morning we were mesmerized by the solar eclipse, which took place between eight and nine-thirty a.m. This was a bit of a problem because, as usual, our day was pre-scheduled and sitting and watching the eclipse was not part of the itinerary. But, due to our excitement our tour guide, Jack, finally decided to give in and take us to the beach to view the phenomenon. Fortunately, we had purchased eclipse glasses from the crazy eclipse chasers on our Yangtze cruise. We arrived at Repulse Beach, which was picturesque enough on its own without the eclipse, and watched as 75% of the sun was covered by the moon. It cracked us up that we were totally into it after having laughed at the excitement of the eclipse chasers on the cruise.
We trucked on down to Aberdeen, a floating fishing village that will be eliminated within five years, and enjoyed a ride on a sampan (small boat). It was very interesting to see this community up close and marvel at how they live on their house boats.
After the sampan ride we drove up to Victoria Peak, which is the highest place on Hong Kong island. Apparently, it is usually hazy and hard to see much, but due to the typhoon a couple of days before, the skies were clear and blue and afforded us amazing views of Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. We rode a tram down the mountain that was a steep 27 degrees.
We came back to the hotel and had super yummy dim sum at a restaurant in the mall that is connected to our hotel (talk about handy!). That was a dream come true for Val, to have dim sum in Hong Kong. We took a nap and then wandered around the mall checking out what Hong Kong folks are into and had some Boba tea, which was also super yummy. Then, we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and had McDonald’s for dinner, talk about getting immersed in the local culture :).
RSS Feed
