We then went back to our room to decide what we wanted to do for the day. We tried out the rooftop pool which was really nice. We skyped with family which was a lot of fun and it was great to see the kids and how much fun they were having. Nick's biggest concern of this trip was making sure that we got a good exchange rate and after much research found that the Bank of China was the best Hong Kong had to offer. We bought some water and then were off to play the part of tourist in the school play. Nick doesn't do well in crowded places and it looked bad when the MTR train pulled up and we had to fight our way onto it because it was so packed. The trains are a bit different then the trains we know. They do have cars like we are familiar with, however, they are not divided inside so you could see from one end of the train to the other. Nick felt much better about the crowds since he was taller than 99% of the people in there. We took the MTR down to the Central district and went to Victoria Peak. On the walk there, one of the taxis had turned but decided that he didn't want to go that way and spent some time trying to back onto the very busy street. One of the traffic wardens was not having that and although we didn't understand what he said, the tone and volume of his voice made it perfectly clear what he was saying. The taxi no longer continued trying to back onto the street and just continued through on his turn. The views from the peak were amazing and it was really neat to see the clouds rolling in off the peak. We had chicken ramen for lunch at a little cafe inside the Tower Peak shopping center. It was really spicy but tasty. Of course, there was plenty of people watching to be had.
After the peak, we went down and took the Star Ferry back across the harbor to Tsim Sha Tsui. At this point, the humidity was killing us. It is really oppressive and makes it a bit hard to breathe. We popped into the Hong Kong Cultural Center to get out of the heat and took a look around. We stopped at the Starbucks and got a cold drink and just sat for a few minutes. The laser light show was set to start in 2 hours so we figured we would find a good seat and just rest. We found great seats on the upper level of the promenade and watched the boats in the harbor. It was a really beautiful evening and the breeze was really welcome!
The laser light show was supposed to be in English on Monday nights so I was really excited to see it. All the reviews said it was excellent. I read one that said don't be disappointed because it's only really big on holidays. Oh how accurate that guy was! It was all of 10 minutes and was neat but not worth sitting on the promenade for 2 hours. Nick said I would have to make it up to him somehow – maybe by taking Manny to the Batman exhibit on Hong Kong Island.
We took the MTR back toward the hotel and had a 9 pm reservation at the Japanese restaurant in our hotel. We were so hot, sweaty, and exhausted that all we wanted to do was sleep. We weren't hungry in the least but decided on a light dessert and a drink. At least we'd be relaxed and hopefully get a good night's sleep. The dessert was amazing! I had a sweet bento box which had a little bit of every dessert (of course!). Nick had a banana, chocolate, and pepper shichimi that looked like a fried egg roll. Really tasty. We both chose a unique sake drink. Nick had something called the purple fantasy that had grape, soda, and sake. I had a “lady.” It was sake, strawberry syrup, lychee syrup, and soda. It was awesome. The little bottle it was in even had a cut out to hold an ice cube to keep it chilled. It was the perfect end to a very long but wonderful day.
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