Meeting friends in a foreign city? My new favorite memory of any of our travels. We were so lucky to have Terence with us most of the day with Vincent meeting us for dinner and Winkie meeting us afterwards to explore.
But let’s back up a little…
Jetleg is real, guys. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night, and I was awake by 3:30am (Kevin said he woke up at 5am). For anyone who knows either one of us knows that this is not normal. We were up before our alarm went off at 6am (the alarm we set, assuming maybe we could snooze it until 7 and then start getting up). Instead we were downstairs eating breakfast by 7 and ready to start the day at 8. Breakfast is always interesting in a different country, because in the US breakfast is very standard – bacon, eggs, sausage, etc. I have a hard time eating “non-breakfast” food for breakfast, but I’ve been trying to be more open minded and just try it. So today was fried rice, fried noodles and Dim Sum… plus some British breakfast of potatoes, bacon and beans. I actually didn’t mind the Hong Kong style breakfast which I think goes to show how much I really like fried rice haha.
Our plan was to meet Terence at 11am, so we had at least two hours to kill before we headed into the city to meet him.
We ended up taking the MTR (metro system) to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple. This is a Taoist temple and turned out to be one of the many that we were able to see today. One key indicator in determining the temple is affiliated to Tao is that incense is burned along with an offering (often times the offering is some fruit). There was much hustle and bustle happening there, and it seemed very fragmented. You go to this temple to pray for Wealth. This temple for Luck. This temple for Health. Anyways, the Tao temple had incense with hustle and bustle, but it also had a tranquil garden off it which seemed more Buddhist. It was very peaceful and serene.
We had killed enough time and headed to the MTR to meet with Terence. Boy was it awesome to meet him. He was so nice and patient with us — explaining parts of Hong Kong culture whenever he could. He has lived here all of his life, and you can tell he loves his city. We went to Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden which are both Buddhist affiliated.
For anyone who doesn’t know, there are many religions practiced in China, including Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and Confusionism (In 1997, Hong Kong transitioned from British rule to being a part of China). Other religions have always really intrigued me, and Buddhism is no exception. While I’ve known basic information from studying in college, on our flight from Chicago I learned a lot about Buddhism… how it began, who the Buddha is, and what Buddhism really means. It’s a pretty powerful belief system, and I can honestly see why so many embrace the Buddhist life style. It’s not about worshipping the Buddha (Buddha is not a god at all, but actually a common man), and in reality, you can be Buddhist but also be another religion. Anyways, one thing I requested from Terence is that I see a couple of temples while we were Hong Kong. Even though he is not Buddhist or Taoist, he was so nice to do so.
On our way to lunch we stopped in Temple street — a famous street for shops and markets. It was really interesting to see less of a touristy area, and more of where people live and shop. I ended up buying a scarf, because for some reason we didn’t pack well and decided to wear short sleeves today (it was in the high 50s during the day, but dipped down into the 40s at night). Luckily Vincent let Kevin borrow an extra coat in the evening since he was still walking around in his short sleeves.
Lunch was an interesting experience where Kevin accidentally ordered noodles with tendons — so gross — and of course all three of us laughed about it the rest of the day. He read the menu as saying “Tenderloin” haha.
After lunch we visited a bunch more temples – mostly Tao – full of incense and beautiful red and gold decorations. We also stopped and tried some Hong Kong tea, which was really good – however the point of the stop was to take a rest… we were pretty exhausted, but it was almost time to meet up with the rest of our friends, and so we had to pop on the ferry to Kowloon Island to watch the “sunset”. Unfortunately, there was really no sun due to the clouds and smog, so instead we were just taking pictures of the buildings.
Dinner at Peking Restaurant was really nice with Vincent joining Kevin, Terence and I. They wanted us to experience Beijing food, in particular duck. I’ve never had duck before, but it actually was pretty good. They served it with a sweet sauce on a type of tortilla bread. Appetizers included a cold chicken dish (which neither of us loved, but Terence and Vincent chowed down — I think we had the hardest time with the bones still in it… which you eat!).
Last stop of the evening was Victoria Peak where you can see the entire Hong Kong skyline. Winkie met us on the way there, and we all taxied up to the Peak. The taxi ride was an experience to say the least. Some cars allow four passengers, and some allowed five (because they had the old government license). We had five people, and we squeezed in 🙂
Victoria Peak was beautiful, especially at night. You could see for miles. So many buildings and so many lights. I can absolutely see why Terence says “The ladies love the peak”. By this point it was almost 11pm, so we were all exhausted and ready to head back. We said our goodbyes to my new, Kevin’s old, Hong Kong friends — and headed back to the hotel on the MTR.
We are so grateful to have had such amazing hosts helping us to experience Hong Kong. We can’t wait to come back to see them all again 🙂
