Place: Hong Kong
8:30 am Last day at Hong Kong, and I didn't want to waste it by sleeping in. So come early morning, after buying myself a bread for breakfast, I visited the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens (香港动植物公园) which was really just around the corner from where we were staying.
On my way I saw these dogs playing together. The two humans were Filipino maids. The rich people even have maids to take care of their dogs, heh, go figure.
The park itself is pretty serene. It's full of trees (what else) and the best part is it's kept really clean and beautiful. No wonder I see lots of seniors jogging and practising taichi here. The air is what you would have expected from a well-maintained park, even though it is situated just beside a road, but you would never have notice it. Well, actually the road runs THROUGH the park, essentially dividing the park into two sections. Visitors can go between the park sections via a short tunnel that goes directly under the road.
The park is also a wonderful place for parents to bring their children to on nice weekends.
This is a botanical and zoological garden, so there are many kinds of species of trees and animals here. The trees are all lush and growing strong, while the animals are kept healthy. You'll know because they will be all active and jumping around in their cages, making all sorts of noises. They will NEVER shut up. My poor ears.The garden is divided into sections, generally mammals, reptiles, birds and herbs. There is also a fountain. This garden exists since the English occupation, so it retains influences from the English.
The trees have tags on them so it's like an outdoor Science class.
The aviaries.
The animal cages.
The statue of King George VI, the father of the current Queen Elizabeth II.
An exhibition centre located in the garden. It showcases several mounted animals such as...
...this beautiful leopard, which was once a prized animal in the zoological park;...
...animal skeletons...
and other scientific...stuff. Had a lot of those in high school.
This sign was found inside the park, and thereafter I've found them elsewhere in Central. I'm really curious about this. Why do they need to register slopes? Anyone?
This slope is the road that divides the garden into two. The steepness scares me.
10 am Who goes to Hong Kong and not visit the Hills (太平山)? It's very near to our hotel too (we have the best location). After merely five minutes of a cab ride + stopping for red lights + traffic jam, we got to the tram station that will get us to the top of the hill.And the first person to greet us is Big Brother Jackie Chan. Why, hello there!
Oh. It's just a wax mannequin from Madame Tussoud's Wax Museum, which incidentally is at the top of the hill.
While waiting for the tram, I took a look at the exhibited items put on display. This caught my eye.
Gah. I want it.Here comes the tram, which is a two-compartment tram. Sit by the right side if you want the best view.
What intrigued me most is that you can get off the tram at stations like this. I thought the tram ride is a non-stop ride to the top. It isn't.
And we've reached the tram station at the top of the hill! Let me tell you, it was blazing hot down at sea level, but up there, even when the sun was shining at its brightest, it was refreshingly cool with the breeze blowing in your face. No wonder back in the old days, the rich people loved to travel up there just to escape the heat, like how the rich people in Malaya used to travel to Fraser's Hill or Cameron Highlands.
You can find several shops at the tram station. Most are branded items which are too expensive for my poor wallet, but I had fun window shopping.
This awesome-looking structure is part of EA Games setup at the station. They provide free game-testing for a lot of its titles, but sadly it was closed on the day I visited. I trust my boyfriend would have a helluva time here.
A few attractions on the peak includes Ripley's Believe It Or Not!, and of course Madame Tussoud's Wax Museum. We're only allowed to take photos if we paid for the tickets, but I got away with two photos before one of the workers told me so. Joy!
We paid extra for our tickets to get to the real peak. Those guys really know how to pinch our hard-earned money.
At the top of the station is a small gallery of pictures and a brief history of the peak tram and the hill.
The view from the top. This is the part of Hong Kong which is the most prosperous and famous.
The view on the other side.
In celebrating 100 years of the peak tram, there is a remodeled (I believe) tram from the old days on exhibition. I think it's beautiful.
This is yet another beautiful exhibition/advertisement from Hong Kong local brand, G.O.D. (住好D). Hongkies are known for their quirky creativeness, and the brand supports the adage. These are actually a couple of large rectangular-shaped boxes that have old Hong Kong buildings and double-deckers printed on them. The result is an eye-catching optical illusion that promotes a series of its merchandise successfully.
I happen to own a bag of another series of the brand. This series is a play on the classified ads of a newspaper, using seemingly obscene words as headlines but if you read further, they are all innocent ads. I love the concept!
Just a few meters away from the station is the entrance to Lion Pavilion, Victoria Peak (太平山狮子亭).
The pavilion itself. Apparently there are a few other Lion Pavilion in different areas of Hong Kong.
A view of the tram tracks and the pavilion from atop.
12 pm We took a cab back down to the hotel. The ride down was surprisingly fast, compared to the slow tram ride. After a hectic washing and tidying up (we checked with the hotel earlier for a short extension), we checked out of the hotel.We allocated a lot of hours for shopping at Tung Chung Yat Tung Shopping Centre (東涌逸東商場), a shopping venue comprising of outlets of a lot of brands. This means you can buy a lot of goods (mostly clothing) at slashed prices. Even though the items are last-seasoned in Hong Kong (the reason why they're so cheap), ironically they've not even reached the shores of Malaysia. I remember seeing a few articles at outlet stores there, which I would later find in stores in Malaysia brandished as new stock, months later. Feels kinda cheated when you think about it. No wonder our country is always so slow, fashion-wise.
A few brands found in DongChung: Esprit, Body Shop, Nike, Sketchers...
The shopping centre is a must-go venue for tourists to Hong Kong, and you should arrange it as the last place you should visit as it is very near the airport. Just buy and buy while making sure it all fits in your luggage and head for home! Shopping has never been this liberating.
A quick dinner at the food court, and it was time to say good bye. Our flight was scheduled at 9, although it was delayed for a short while. On board the plane, the pilot wished us Malaysians a warm welcome home, and a Happy Merdeka Day to our beloved country.
Footnote: It took a while for my system to get used to the laid back lifestyle of our country, although I'm still complaining about slow escalator rides here in Malaysia. All in all, I still miss the hectic lifestyle of vibrant Hong Kong. I haven't really experienced the Kowloon lifestyle yet, and I have yet to visit Hong Kong Disneyland and Hong Kong Ocean Park, not to mention the many quaint islands dotting the main island. That said, I will certainly be back. It beckons me.
