We stumbled upon a particularly huge celebration involving not only church and outdoor picnics, but also a live concert. It seemed like everyone was having fun so we stuck around for a while and had some ourselves.
Alice and I didn't stay too long before deciding to continue our walk towards the Peak Tram Terminus. We saw lots of advertisements for this Tourism Festival in Central:
A sample of some of the interesting downtown architecture:
As we continued walking, we made an unexpected detour. We found St. John's Cathedral, which is perhaps the most famous cathedral in Hong Kong. Check out the website at http://www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk/home.html and read up on the history. It's extremely interesting, and talks about the history of Anglicanism in Hong Kong.
Walking around the premises really made me feel like I was back in the US, in the heart of my beloved South. Take a look around and see if you can tell any difference here between Hong Kong and Savannah, GA.
Sadly, it was impossible to get a good view of the entire front side:
We listened to a small portion of the service, but didn't understand any of it since the whole thing was in Tagalog (one of the official languages of the Philippines). It was beautiful, though, and we're thinking of coming back another Sunday to hear one of the services in Putonghua.
Not long after our minor excursion to St. John's, we made it to the Peak Tram Terminus. We got a good deal on tickets: HK$200 each for round-trip tram rides, tickets to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and admittance to the Sky Terrace (360 degrees viewing platform at the top of the peak). At the ticket office, we ran into our first wax statue which, if I remember correctly, is of the current Chinese president Hu Jintao. I might be wrong, though.
Waiting for the tram, we realized the extent of Westernization in Hong Kong. Life really is like a box of chocolates...I certainly didn't expect to get this!
Let me explain a little about the Peak Tram, in case anyone has an interest. The tram first opened in 1888, after 3 years of construction. When it was first built, it was very unique to Asia, and thus considered a fantastic feat of engineering. I didn't take a picture of it, but it looks almost exactly like the streetcars you see in New Orleans or San Francisco (both on the inside and the outside).
It took us maybe 8 minutes to ride to the top, and all along the way the mountain was so steep the skyscrapers looked like they were leaning sideways--sometimes approaching 90 degrees! We got to the Peak Tower, though, and stepped straight into the Peak Market:
Neither Alice nor I bought anything because, of course, everything was overpriced. I will say this for the shop-owners, though: the prices were perfect for tourists. Going strictly by exchange rate, the prices on most items seemed like a good deal. There were quite a few exclamations of "Wow, this would cost twice as much back home!" However, I assume these were all the words of tourists fresh off the plane from the US, Europe, or Japan. This is why so many economists prefer using CPI (Consumer Price Index) instead of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a measure of wealth. GDP focuses on income, measured in currency. CPI focuses on purchase power, which closely ties into cost-of-living and income. If you see a beautiful painted canvas fan for the equivalent of US$6, it sounds like a good deal until someone tells you they sell the same thing on Cat Street for US$2. So, long story short, I didn't buy anything.
We saw an advertisement for Hong Kong Disneyland...
...including a Halloween promotion involving Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas:
Another example of over-priced goods: HK$99, really?
From the window we caught our first glance of Victoria Harbour. As you can see, it was raining at the time, which was disheartening because we wanted to take pictures of the city lights once it got dark:
Since it was so rainy outside, it seemed like a good idea to have some indoors fun. We started off at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. You may or may not have heard of these places, but there's several really famous ones across the world. Started in Paris back in the 1700s, this chain of museums has been producing wax portraits of celebrities ever since. As a promotion, the Hong Kong branch had a replica of its native son on display. Here I am kicking butt and taking names with my home-boy, Bruce Lee:
Taiwan's famous R&B singer, Jay Chou. Yes, that is the guy whose concert I didn't hear about in time to go.
Bradgelina:
Nicolas Cage:
I immediately recognized the main character from my favorite Korean drama, Gyeoul Yeonga. The actor's name is Bae Yong Joon. Love it!
Of course, I felt clueless about some of the people featured. I don't know who she is...
...or him:
But I know her! I thought Glenn Close looked especially real. Kind of creepy.
I got my Cantopop on with Aaron Kwok, one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of Cantonese Pop." It bothers me a little that the words "heavenly" and "cantonese" are in the same sentence.
Madame Tussaud's self-portrait is even on display:
Jet Li:
Princess Di:
A glimpse into the future, perhaps?
Hopefully I was able to convey the correct feeling: scrutinizing disapproval.
It could be significantly worse though. A modest example:
A modest man, Mahatma Gandhi. True, he had his streaks of wackiness as well, but I like the man and what he accomplished through civil disobedience instead of violence:
And yet this wax museum seemed to enjoy the compare-and-contrast game...a lot:
Along the way, I met my favorite artist, Pablo Picasso (I favor the Blue Period):
Soon, though, it was straight back to the politicians. I seem to have the cocktail-wife thing going on with Chairman Mao Zedong:
Sun Yat-sen (the "Father of Modern China"), though, was a little rigid:
Even everyone's favorite scientist, Albert Einstein, had a wax body-double:
No explanation needed:
He's no Sean Connery, but I'll take Pierce Brosnan over Daniel Craig any day. Here I am posing with Mr. Bond himself:
Of course, in the suave department, it's difficult to beat Humphrey Bogart:
But that's where Anthony Hopkins comes in. It seems Madame Tussaud wanted to put all the debonair into one room:
Yao-za! Yes, Yao Ming really is that tall...and I really am that short:
Rock 'n' Roll room, anyone? I quickly found the King and the Queen:
It didn't take long for Alice and me to spot her favorite band: the Beatles! We both like Ringo best, by the way.
Michael Jackson:
The wax museum was really fun and everything was so real. By all rights, I should be thoroughly creeped-out. Those of you who know me well enough are aware of my "uncanny valley" issues. However, these wax statues all looked so real that I wasn't bothered. Weird, huh?
Well, it was still raining outside so we ducked into the Peak Galleria, which is a shopping mall. We watched some musicians perform traditional Chinese music while little kids had a grand time dancing to it.
I got my first panoramic shot, but it shows up small on the blog. Notice the Mickey D's sign in the corner. There's just no escape, is there?
A misty, rainy view of the harbor:
Since it was around dinner time, Alice and I decided to head over to Mak's Noodle, the only Michelin restaurant in the vicinity and perhaps the cheapest. We got the same thing: yummy shrimp dumpling and noodle soup!
Sure enough, not long after we finished, the weather had cleared up enough for a beautiful harbor view. We took the elevator up to the Sky Terrace and looked out. I took another panoramic for your viewing pleasure. However, since it's so small, you might want to consider clicking on it for other viewing options:
A close up of the city lights and harbor:
The other side of the terrace:
We started coming back around 7:00pm and, since our noodle soup had come in such a small portion, we were both a little hungry. At Kowloon Tong, we stopped in Arome Bakery and each bought an egg-tart (one of my favorite Hong Kong treats). We got back to school around 8:00pm and went our separate ways.
I actually feel a sense of accomplishment now that I've been to the Peak and back. It's just a good feeling to know you've finally seen the big attraction. Now I can start my week off studying hard for my tests next week and beginning a new book. Since I finished "Fahrenheit 451," I have begun reading "The Peony Pavilion," which is a classic Chinese play. The version I found has English text on the right and Chinese text on the left. Since it's written in Putonghua using simplified characters, I'm going to try to read it in Chinese. If I get stuck, though, I'm glad I've got English to help me.
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