Hong Kong Park

Today was a gorgeous day. A shorts and t-shirt day. So in celebration of the cancellation of my afternoon class and a productive morning of Chinese class and work on a paper, I decided to go to the Hong Kong Park on Hong Kong Island. After transferring to the red line at Mei Foo, I got off at Admiralty and started to venture in search of the park with my trusty map. Then I just might have maybe perhaps gotten quite a bit lost and ended up in an area surrounded by business people in suits while I was standing there with my map, jean shorts, polka dot shirt, and flip flops. Needless to say, I scurried out of there and somehow found my way into a really upscale shopping mall called Pacific Place where I finally saw a sign for the park. I took the escalator up and finally ended up in the park.

It was absolutely gorgeous! There were flowers, fountains, and green everywhere. I headed in the direction of the Tea Ware Museum and found it pretty easily (a relief after my recent escapade). The museum is located in Flagstaff House, a historical site built by the British between 1844 and 1846 to serve as the office and residence of the Commander of the British Forces. It is now the oldest domestic building in Greek Revival style in Hong Kong (according to the brochure). It was converted into the Museum for Tea Ware in 1984 and is a branch of the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The museum is very nice and informative with lots of beautiful ceramics. I wasn't supposed to take pictures in there, but I sneaked a few anyway.

Museum of Tea Ware

Leaving the museum, I wondered in search of the Aviary. It was an enclosed area with many different kinds of birds. It was quite beautiful and not what I expected (although I'm not really sure what I did expect).

After admiring the birds, I wondered back through the park and stumbled into an area called the Tai Chi Garden where I saw one woman doing Tai Chi and climbed a spiral observation tower. There were 105 narrow steps to the top. I definitely got my work out for the day. And no, I didn't count. There was a plaque at the entrance telling me how many steps there were. I was not sure if I wanted to know this information because then I dreaded climbing them. But once reaching the top, the view made up for all those dreadful steps.

Meandering back to the entrance of the park, I saw a man practicing martial arts in a giant amphitheater and many couples taking wedding photographs. I stopped to sit by the pond for a while with the book I had brought with me. My friend sent me The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho in the mail and has been insisting I read it. So I took it along for my adventure to the park and started reading it on the subway. I continued reading it at the park and it was so good that I kept reading it on the subway and walk back to my hostel that by the time I walked through the entrance of my university I had finished it. It is not a long book and the writing is very easy to read considering the concepts that the author talks about. I'm still a bit boggled by the book and I am not sure I could discuss it with anyone now. I think I need to reread it. It was a beautiful book and I highly recommend it to those who have not picked it up. It may start out slow, but persevere. It is very worth it.

Dolphin trashcan!

After reading for a bit, I decided to find my way back to the MTR because my stomach was growling and I did not want to buy food out (I'm in a money saving period right now). I ended up getting lost in another two upscale malls. Let me tell you, I am so sick of malls. They are EVERYWHERE here. I mean everywhere you go there is a place to go shopping, to buy, to consume. It is definitely not that way where I am from. Plus I was lost in places where I was surrounded by fashionable women in high heels and lots of make up while I was frump girl in my t-shirt and shorts. Finally, I found the metro station and made my way back to school. After today's frustration of getting lost, I am not feeling to positive about venturing out later in the week as I had previously planned. I guess we'll see once I calm down.