Monday, October 3 – Hong Kong

Hong Kong.  After breakfast and poring over some brochures, our first order of business was to book a city tour. We’d gotten a notice in our room of the typhoon watch, Level 3, but weren’t sure what it meant. Turned out that some things shut down at that level, such as the cable cars, so those attractions are off the table. On the advice of the travel adviser at the hotel, we walked to the nearest metro station and bough Octopus cards, good on all public transit and in some stores ( eg 711). Then we walked to the Star Ferry terminal and rode the ferry to the HK side, walked around, then took the ferry back to Kowloon. The return trip was a bit rough (typhoon??).
After picnicking in our room, we caught the 1pm city tour. Our guide, Luna, was lively and good. She took us first to a Chinese Temple, where she explained the method of worship and the significance of what we saw. We took the tram to the Peak. What a line up!! Luckily, tours get priority. The view was somewhat obscured by mist; it was chilly and windy, but still a great experience.
The Aberdeen Fishing Village was quite astounding and perhaps the high point. We boarded a sampan and cruised past some huge private yachts and the world’s biggest floating restaurant, before coming to the “village” itself – dozens of fishing boats anchored in the harbour with families living aboard. I’m not sure why, maybe taxes, but some never come ashore.
Our last stop was the Stanley Market, and since it was raining a little and chilly we didn’t enjoy it much. Back at the hotel we ate a burger (a great one) in the coffee shop and called it a day. 

Photos 3 Oct