Hong Kong Day 3: From the Seas to the Mountaintops

After spending the past two days exploring the northern part of Hong Kong Island and the adjacent mainland, I decided it was time to venture down to Hong Kong Island's southern half. I had heard that the beaches along the south coast were especially nice, though to be honest I wasn't expecting much. I had seen what S. Korea considers a nice beach when I visited the port city of Busan, and I figured Hong Kong's Repulse Bay would be more of the same: over-crowded, nowhere to relax, with waters too frigid to barely poke a toe in.

Thankfully, I was completely wrong. Repulse Bay was, at least when I visited, a gem of a beach. I spent all morning swimming, lounging on the sand, and developing a wicked sunburn that would plague me for the rest of my vacation. It was worth it though, just to escape from the bustle of Hong Kong for a few hours.

Further down south along the coast was Stanley Market, another outdoor market and one that's particularly popular with tourists. I browsed for a little bit, got some lunch, and found a sweet deal on neckties. Six for $10, how could I resist?

I met up with some friends of mine from S. Korea in Stanley Market, and together we headed back to the northern half of the island to check out some of the landmarks. We rode the Central-Mid-Levels escalator, purportedly the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system, which took us from Hong Kong's busy financial district up to the numerous restaurants and cafes of SoHo. Along the way we would hop off the escalator at several exit points, once to locate a famous bakery for some egg-tarts and again to pop into a popular noodle shop to enjoy a quick meal of wonton noodle soup.

That evening we took a bus to the top of the island, to a building succinctly named The Peak, where we could see the best views of the city. It was insanely crowded at The Peak, to the point where I wondered how it was possible to fit so many people on the roof of one building, and the wait in line to get on a trolley back down to the city took several hours, but the whole experience was great. I'll never forget the view of Hong Kong that night, all lit up and stretched out before us.