Totally a Tourist

I left our apartment this morning around 8am to join a group from Church for a morning hike. I walked a little over a mile west along Kennedy Road until it intersects with Garden Road at the American Consulate. From there I hopped on the Peak Tram and rode it up to Victoria Peak where I met up with the group. Victoria Peak is the prime lookout spot in Hong Kong to get a view of the buildings and general vista. Additionally, it has some sentimental value as we were taken there our first day in Hong Kong as missionaries and again our last night before going home. It is a beautiful view and much cooler and less humid than the oceanfront. I think you increase elevation by over a thousand feet in a very short distance.

We took a hike around the Peak that the senior missionaries had heard about and it was beautiful. We were able to see some amazing views, beautiful trees / rain forest, lots of butterflies, and hear the sounds of nature (which never occurs on the streets of Hong Kong. It was like being in another world and it takes less than a half hour to get there. After the hike I stayed on the Peak to take some more pictures before taking the Tram back down to the Central area (land of tall buildings). After walking all through downtown taking way too many pictures & videos I rode a ferry across Victoria Harbor to the Kowloon side. The ferry exits at the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula and leaves you with an amazing view back to Central and all the tall buildings. After walking around a bit there I rode the ferry to Wan Chai (right by my office) and made my way home with a stop at the grocery store. All together I was out for six hours and took over a gigabyte of pictures and video. Either I’ve got a receding hairline or I burned the top of my forehead a bit because it is ‘tender’ there. Additionally, for the last couple hours of my journeying my knee was doing its best impersonation of ‘Snap, Crackle, and Pop.’ I don’t think its anything too serious but coupled with my barking calf muscle I am going to enjoy a semi day of rest tomorrow.

So I took like a billion pictures today and am not sure how to get them all in the article. I might do another post to fit them in without overloading the system. I really could have been more descriptive in my blog post of the day’s activities/sights but its getting late. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments section and I’ll try to answer them.

I am going to try to do a running description of the pictures: 1) I am sitting at TST on the southern end of the Kowloon Peninsula with the Central/Business District of Hong Kong Island as the background. 2) A waterfall near the Peak that wasn’t running much today but is a real gusher when its raining. The senior couple is Elder and Sister Toone, they are the Asia Area Auditors and help train local leaders throughout Asia. The girl next to me is named Emily and works at the Asia Area Offices. We met yesterday at the American festivities. 3) Pok Fu Lam Reservoir is Hong Kong’s oldest. It was started in the 1850s and is now surrounded by a Country Park so it stays very beautiful. It is located on the SW portion of Hong Kong Island. 4) The Central Business District with a Star Ferry in front of it. The picture was taken as I sat on a Star Ferry going the other way. 5) Some rich guy cruising in style in front of Wan Chai / Admiralty. 6) Me in front of the Lippo Building in Admiralty. It has a unique design. 7) This was the inscription cut into the rock by a member of the party the Elder Matthew Cowley led when he dedicated the land of Hong Kong for the preaching of the gospel. Look for the 7/14/49, the date of dedication. The Church knew that the dedication occurred near the Peak but the exact location was lost to history until my Mission President’s wife found this inscription when they took the new missionaries here one time in 2000. 8) The mountainside along Kennedy Road. Due to the combination of extreme elevation changes and torrential rain, there can be a lot of mudslides in Hong Kong. To prevent that lots of the hillsides are covered in cement or rock to prevent slippage. 9) A park along our hike at the Peak. 10) The Peak Tram that runs from Admiralty to Victoria Peak. 11) See # 1. 12) Elder Toone and I on the Peak with Central and the Kowloon Peninsula in the background. He served in Hong Kong in the 1960s so I wanted a picture with a fellow alum of the mission. 13) A nice view of the north side of Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbor from the Peak. 14) The KowloonCantonRailway Corporation clock-tower in TST. The original rail line that ran from Shanghai to Hong Kong finished right at the clock-tower. They’ve since moved the rail line but kept the clock to mark the spot. 15) Looking westward off of the Peak towards Lantau Island (in the distance) with me in the photo. I served on Lantau for three months and it was probably my favorite area. 16) A school band competition. I stumbled upon as I walked through downtown. 17) HongKong Shanghai Banking Corporation building and the ‘Black Man.’ The statue is of Robert Jackson, who led the then-tiny bank HSBC for 32 years in the late 1800s. Its one of the ten biggest banks in the world now I think. 18) Me and the ‘Black Man.’ We would use the ‘Black Man’ as a meeting point for with fellow missionaries, investigators, or we would come street contacting in this square when working in the International District. 19) Bank of China towers. The smaller, old building in front was the headquarters for Bank of China until they built the newer, shrinking glass building to the left behind the old one. The new BoC building is probably my favorite of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers. 20) Me on the Peak with Central in the background.