Hong Kong Day 3

Once again Anne had to work and left me on my own. Having decided on previous trips that it is much more fun to take a half day tour than to watch TV in the hotel room all day, I set up a tour of the city.

Before the tour actually began we stopped at the Golden Bauhinia Square. The Golden Bauhinia was a gift to Hong Kong from Mainland China. It was here that the tour buses come to divvy out people for the various tours throughout the Island.

The first stop of the tour was the Man Mo Temple. It was built in 1847 and is dedicated to the gods of literature (Man) and martial arts (Mo). The temple is almost hazy due to the large amount of incense that is burned there. The coil looking things are large coils of incense.

The next stop on the tour was once again Victoria’s Peak. It was nice feeling like a local for a couple of minutes and showing people around. I also took some of the time others were using to sight see to enjoy lunch. I added another notch into my fork with a stop to McDonalds. The local food item was fish sandwiches with wasabi and clam chowder. I can honestly say it was the best view I have ever had at McDonalds.

We then went to Aberdeen fishing village. Aberdeen is a bay on the south end of Hong Kong Island. It is a typhoon shelter where many people live and work on their boats. It is also home to the Jumbo Kingdom. The Jumbo Kingdom is basically a huge floating tourist trap with a couple restaurants. It was at this point that we enjoyed a sampan boat ride of the area. It was a very interest ride and it was very similar to an ocean parking lot.

We were then taken to a jewelry factory. This was our mandatory stop were you are informed what good jewelry is and how it is made. You then have to stand around for at least ½ hour to make sure you had plenty of time to buy something.

After our fun at the jewelry factory we drove by Repulse Bay. This is the most visited beach on the southern part of Hong Kong. It is also the home of Jackie Chan. Unfortunately, his home was on too big of a slope for me to see it but, I was able to get a picture of his house address.

The last stop on the tour was the Stanley Market. This is a street market where you can buy a variety of clothes, toys, and Chinese items. Not being much of a shopper I made my way through the maze of shops to the beach. It was very pretty and much more relaxing than the chaos of the street market.