Wet Wednesday in Hong Kong

Wednesday April 3

Raining again in Hong Kong--darn!  We really don't let the weather bother us, although we would like one clear day for a trip up to Victoria Peak.  So far it's been so "socked in" that we can't even see it!

This morning we took a side trip from Hong Kong to the small town of Stanley.  We rode the subway to the central station, then a bus from there, about a 45 minute journey.  The buses in Hong Kong are double deckers, so on the way out we sat "upstairs" right in front.   Once we were out of the city area, it was a narrow winding road, with some pretty views over the harbor.

The small town on Stanley is on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island.  It was once a small fishing village, but now is best know for it's very touristy Stanley Market.  We did take a stroll around the market and enjoyed the lively atmosphere but didn't buy a thing.  We walked down to the waterfront, it's a pretty little spot with nice views out into the bay.  Here we are:

After our short and enjoyable trip to Stanley, we hopped back on the bus for the ride back to central Hong Kong.  We needed to do some banking to change some dollars for Chinese Yuan for our trip to mainland China.  This turned out to be a rather convoluted process involving 4 ATM transactions and two waits in long lines for a teller at the bank--but we got it done!

Our plan for the afternoon was a trip to the old walled village of Kat Hing Wai.  This was another long journey involving several line changes.  After we got off the subway, we walked about a mile to the small town of Yuen Long.

Kat Hing Wai is just outside Yuen Long--here's Yuen Long's main street:

Part of the old wall of Kat Hing Wai,  which dates to about 1650:

The entrance to the village:

As we entered the doorway there were two elderly villagers sitting in a small entry room, as soon as we set foot inside they said "Hello, 3 dollars".  We got a chuckle out of this, and dutifully paid our $3 entrance fee!  They were friendly and welcoming, though.

The village was much smaller than we expected.  No streets, just several small buildings packed together with narrow walkways between them.  There are even some newer 3 story apartments built where original houses once stood.

There are just a few original buildings left, here is the top part of one of them:

At the end of the main passageway we found a very small temple:

There was a nice gentleman just outside the doorway to the temple, and we had the most delighful conversation with him.  He asked where we were from, and when we said U.S., he just beamed!  He told us he was a great fan of our old movies, his favorites are Ben Hur and Giant!  He said he had been to our country, and liked it very much.    He shook our hand as we left, and wished us good health and a pleasant journey.  What a nice man!

Looking outside the main entrance:

Just as we left the village postman pulled up on his bicycle!  We asked if we could take his picture, and he gruffly replied: "No, I very busy, it's raining!"  But he said we could take a picture of his bike!  So this is for John S:

We walked back to the subway/train station and rode back into Hong Kong.  By now it was almost 4 pm, and we'd not had any lunch--so we were starving!  We had a quick bite to eat at a food court restaurant--a bowl of noodles for each of us.

We decided that since it wasn't pouring down rain (at the moment!) we would stroll through the Temple Street Night Market.  It was pretty crazy--lots of people!

Lots of sparkly junk for sale--didn't buy any!

We walked the 3 block length of the market, looking in a few booths.  Some of the vendors are a little aggressive! 

We were both feeling pretty tired by now, so decided to hop on the MTR and head back to our hotel.  We stopped in a small grocery store to buy our dinner--a package of crackers to share!

We hit the sack pretty early--it was a busy travelin' day!

Tomorrow in Hong Kong:  Undecided!