An early start

BJ, Charlie and I headed out at 9:30 am after a strong night out. We once again went to Tsi Shu Tsui- at that point it was like second nature getting there... I felt like a local commuter. Charlie had plans with a friend which left BJ and I to explore until we were to meet up again.

BJ and I walked for what seemed like forever! We saw a bazaar like mall which was filled with stands. It was massive, but pretty grimy, hot and completely unappealing to shop in! We also found a very unimpressive Chinese garden. There were no flowers and pretty lame greenery. There was also a maze made out of shrubs that was less than impressive- perhaps it is geared towards kids.

We met up with Charlie and visited a Mosque. It was nice- but I wasn't wowed.

I would also like to mention that like Thailand it is next to impossible to walk down the street. Vendors hassle you to go into their stores and it gets quite tedious ignoring them all the time. Their favorite phrases are "hello, my friend" and "Ozzie, Ozzie"... I think that is all the English they know. Most of these vendors aren't Chinese though- I think that they are Indian or from Burma.

We headed back to the island and had a very busy afternoon! We took the MTR to Lantau island (which by the way has an incredible outlet mall... but I didn't buy anything). We took a very long gondola ride (think skiing not Venice) to the top of a mountain to visit the Big Buddha statue. After walking up tons of stairs.. we made it. It is absolutely massive and very impressive.

From there we went to the other side of town- finally, to Victoria's peak. It took us about 2 hours to get there from Lantau. We had to take a trolley up the mountain to reach the peak- no walking up for me this time! There was a massive line for the trolley. Unfortunately The peak has totally sold out and it completely commercialized. There is a Madam Trousseau's at the top and the trolley lets you out in a shopping mall.

Side note... about 99% of the time, when you exit an MTR station you are in a shopping mall.

The peak was a bit of a let down. I was more impressed with the Kowloon view and light show. We made it in time to see the light show from the peak, but there was no music so it was less than spectacular. After a 45 minute wait and ride, we made it back down- starving. We found a cheap noodle joint my our hostel and dined on some grub. We were all absolutely knackered from the day. We had been out over 12 hours in the hot and humid day... only one solution... massages.

We found a massage place. It was in a little building that seemed like it could be in the LES of NY. We went through the tiny stairway and up the stairs. The place was tiny, but really cute and well decorated in a industrial/ shabby chic way, if thats possible. The lady had to call some of the girls to come and put on a DVD for us to watch in the mean time. I got an incredible and cheap massage! It was on of the strongest I have ever had though!

Bed.