Nov 1st
Jess and I slept in today which was wonderful. We got up at 11am, by far the latest we’ve slept all trip. We showered and got ourselves put together then decided to get going. We were both quite hungry and decided to grab lunch before getting on the subway to start on our daily adventures. We both were impressed how great the sushi was the night before and despite our efforts to try something new we somehow ended up back at the same restaurant, Sushi One. I enjoyed salmon, tuna, mango, and of course the caviar! It was equally as delicious as the day before!
(Salmon and Mango with Caviar)
We then hopped on the subway and started our journey to Lantau Island is which a small island right outside of Hong Kong that can easily be assessed by the subway. As we stepped on the train Jess and I both noticed this giant looking westerner. He happened to be with a couple of other guys. We were standing only about 5 feet away from them so Jess and I exchanged looks letting each other know that we were both curious about these boys. We listen to them talk amongst themselves for a few minutes and it wasn’t long before the giant one (he was 6’7 ¾ we’d later find out- huge compared to the small Asians) stuck up a conversation with us. They ended up being 5 guys ages 20-24 that were in the military and all on the same Navy boat (usually docked in Japan, but they were in Hong Kong for a few days and had some times off). They were heading to the same place as we were, so the 7 of us quickly became friends and we ended up enjoying each other company the whole day long. We arrived on Lantau Island and decided to do the famous Ngong Ping 360 cable cars to the top of the mountain. The cable cars reminded me of a gondola like the ones I take skiing, this particular one had a glass bottom which was a lot of fun. Our new Navy friends took lots of pictures pretending that they were falling, it was funny.
(we spotted buddha from the cable cars)
(long hike to get to the buddha)
(All the stairs we hiked)
(with our new friends)
From there Jess and I were determined to go to Tai O, a small fishing village nearby known as the “Venice of the East” which is on the South China Sea and is home to pink dolphins. At this point we were pressed for time, only have about 3 hours before the last cable car went down for the evening. We invited our Navy friends to come along and they seemed excited about the pink dolphins, they hadn’t heard about them before. We jumped on a bus for less than $2USD and went on fifteen minute fast and windy ride down to Tai O. We we’re all pretty sure that we were all going to die at some point on the ride as we weaved around people on bikes, mopeds, and even an ox or two, but we arrived safely. As soon as we got off the bus there were people wanting to sign us up for the pink dolphin tour, so we paid the $3USD and got in line. The boat sat 12 people, so it was fun that our group was all together and a majority of the boat. The ride was only about 20 minutes but I loved every second of it. We drove around the small water village where many of the houses over the water on stilts.
We passed lots of cute little markets and saw the locals going about their daily lives. Next we headed to the open sea. The boat ride was exhilarating as we bounced up and down flying over waves. I decided at that moment that I HAVE TO own a boat at some point in my life. I hope my name somehow miraculously moves up on the list and I get my dock slip in Perkins Cove sooner than later! We stopped about 1000 feet from shore and were shocked as the pink dolphins popped up right near our boat. We got to watch them for about five minutes. They were beautiful! A couple of times they even jumped out of the water, doing tricks for us! It was definitely the highlight of my day! After our boat ride we decided to explore the markets and walked around looking at all of the local foods.
It was a great day and although there was still some tourists around it definitely wasn’t as busy as the cable car area, it was nice to get away. We then attempted to grab the bus back to the cable cars only to find out that we had missed the last bus. We had less than an hour at this point before the last cable car went down for the night, so Jess and I started to get a little worried. We tried to get the locals to call a taxi for us, but no one seemed to want to. About 10 minutes later one finally came. We tried to pay him extra to let all 7 of us in at once, but he refused. Jess and I and two of the guys jumped in and headed back to the cable cars. The taxi driver ended up going back for the other 3 guys so we grabbed a drink and waited for them to arrive.
The 7 of us took the glass bottom cable car back down the mountain. At this point it was dark out so we got a nice view of the lights which was fun.
We were all getting hungry and ready for some drinks at this point. They boys had a curfew and needed to be back on the boat by 10:30pm so we didn’t have much time. We headed to LFK again to the same bars we were at the night before. We had some appetizers and grabbed some drinks. We chatted some more then decided to relocate to dance away our last few hours. The bars were a ton of fun! They weren’t as packed as the night before which was nice because we could actually move. There were a lot more westerns (or perhaps maybe the same amount as the night before with far far far less locals). The Navy boys were crazy dancers, Jess and I enjoyed watching their break dancing moves and dancing with them as the threw us all around the dance floor swinging us and twirling us. It was easily one of my favorite days of the whole trip! We gave them our email addresses and contact information, I hope they stay in touch. We said our goodbyes to the Navy boys and headed back to the hotel. I spent the rest of the night trying to get caught up with my blog and uploading pictures.
That’s all for now.
Love,
Katie
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