One of the Hong Kongers that David works with arranged a bit of sightseeing for some of the folks here for only a short visit, and we tagged along.
We were to meet at the tram for Victoria Peak at one o'clock, so I took the opportunity to dash over to Mongkok in the morning to look for this --
Filo Kilo in Sai Yee Street, just around the corner from the markets we visited last week (!), and from the Double Knit shop. I may have to ration my HK dollars a little more carefully and come back here again, as there are some very lovely things and priced accordingly....
We had lunch at the Peak Lookout, then walked along Lugard Road to see the views.
The Peak Tower, landmark, tram terminal, home of Madame Tussaud's Hong Kong.
A view of Central and the hills beyond --
and of the eastern side of Victoria Harbour. It was a beautiful day, and not so hot up here, either!
Then we took a pair of taxis across the harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced "chim sha choi"), and went to the Hong Kong Museum of History.
It's a good thing that it was open until seven o'clock and not six as we thought, as we'd gotten there around five, and there was no way that we could have seen much of it in an hour -- jampacked with walk-through exhibits on prehistory, folk culture, the British colonial era, the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, and the handover in 1997.
Even a bit of knitting --
a pair of gloves made by a prisoner of war in the 1940s, out of remnants of old sweaters. It's a very poignant piece of work, beautiful muted colors on the gauntlet cuffs, seed stitch on the back of the hands, all very tidy and meticulous. What a ghastly time that must have been, and yet someone took the time and effort to scrounge bits of wool and make something beautiful.
We were so exhausted from the heat of the day and the walking, and so full from our late lunch, that we decided against dinner after all, and said goodnight to our friends. David and the girls and I walked along the waterfront promenade and watched the city lights -- took the Star Ferry back to Central, and then home.
Such a breathtaking view of Victoria Harbour. The last time I was at the Peak in December a few years back, it was so foggy, we couldn't see a thing. That is a lovely pair of gloves, makes you think about the person who knitted it and how life was at that time.
Posted by: erin | July 11, 2005 at 12:23 AM