3/3 Hong Kong Day2

3/3/2013: I had a couple of initial plans that fell through because I tried to book things too late. First, I saw that there were bike tours of the "New Territories" that sounded fun. (The New Territories are the section of Hong Kong that are on the China Mainland, across the bay from the main city). They only run those tours on Saturdays and Wednesdays (3/3 was Sunday), so that was out. Then I thought I'd go on a "pink dolphin" tour, where you go out on a boat and try to spot the endangered pink dolphins. Having stayed out so late, I slept in too late and missed that. I think a hangover on a boat is a bad idea anyway. So I was left to Plan C, which was to go on a hike on Lamma Island, a short ferry ride away from the Central Station. I first tried to go do some laundry because I had tried in Seoul but didn't know how to operate the washing machine because all the buttons were in Korean. So whatever setting I selected didn't seem to work because half the detergent was still in the little dispenser in the machine. Also, my room in Seoul smelled awful, and laying my wet, half-washed clothes out to dry in that room seemed to just result in my clothes absorbing that awful smell. I thought I could smell my clothes in my new room in Hong Kong, which I thought was a bad sign. I later concluded that my new room just smelled and my clothes weren't that bad. Anyway…the laundry place was closed. I was starving, so I went to find some food, but stupidly ordered a rice dish with prawns and corn and leeks and some odd translucent goo on top of all of it (I don't know why I thought that sounded good). I followed it up with some Froyo with brownie and graham cracker which was much better. I forget what else I did, but somehow I didn't get on a ferry to Lamma Island until 4pm. I arrived at the island at 4:30 and speed-walked out into the port town. Not much happening there, just small shops selling souvenirs and local food like dried fish and live fish. The main street was narrow, probably wide enough for one car. The shops along either side were small shacks connected to each other, and were open to the street. I had only a few hours before it got dark, and was trying to follow the trail across the island to the other ferry port that goes back to Central. I cruised out of the town and into the forest. It was pretty tropical - lots of green, with vines and big palms. I took a detour up to a lookout point that is also the site of a lone wind turbine. It's a popular site for tourists, where they can learn about the advantages of wind power and watch a real-time tally of energy produced and greenhouse gases avoided, but any optimism gleaned from this display is quickly crushed by the view of the massive power plant on the northeast side of the island that serves Hong Kong City.

Strangling tree - not sure if it is visible. Mostly just trying out the embedded photo feature

I rejoined the trail and continued heading east, passing a beach and then climbing up into some hills. The ocean was always in view as I was passing through the narrowest part of the island. Crossing down towards the town, I passed by a tree with a plaque that pointed out a "strangling" tree. I looked closer and saw that the "strangler" tree had enveloped another tree and was using it for support. It was pretty eerie to look at, like it was a disease slowly spreading. I passed through some wetlands, and then past some houses on stilts, and reached the ferry port in time to catch the 6:35 ferry back to Central.

I thought that Rosy had invited me for dinner that night, so I raced to her apartment only to find out that she had said Monday. I was embarrassed but she said I should come in anyway and that she was just going to serve the same thing Monday night so it didn't really matter. Because of dietary restrictions after Andy's surgery, they've pretty much been exclusively eating soup, so she warmed up some soup for me. Rosy, Andy, Jenny (Andy's mom) and I played "Settlers of Katan," which is the game that they had learned the day before when Andy's friends came over to visit. It was an interesting game, despite it sounding like a nerdy fantasy game like Dungeons and Dragons. Jenny won and Rosy and Andy accused me of helping her (which isn't true). Andy helped me do some planning for my Taiwan trip, and then I headed back to my hostel.