hong kong part 2

so glad we're spending such a long time (compared to 2 days i guess) in hong kong because there's so much to see in this city. the fact that it's soo busy also kind of wears you out a little bit. thankfully guillermo and i share the same traveling style which is relaxed, hitting the highlights and not cramming your day full of a million things. granted, we probably don't get to see eeeeverthing there is to see, but we see enough and don't feel completely drained at the end of the day which is nice.

anyway yesterday we got up and took the peak tram up to the top of victoria peak which overlooks hong kong island. it was a little bit smoggy/hazy yesterday, but you could see pretty far. hong kong smushes everything up together so it's kind of like the view from taipei 101 with buildings everywhere. pretty though because there's some water and a lot of trees on the hillside.
so we had panini's up there before heading down and making our way to stanley, which is a little town on the coast that's supposed to be good for shopping. it was full of fake silk and chipao dresses (what you think of when you think of traditional chinese dresses) and grandma jammies and postcards. nothing i needed. but guillermo finally found a cheap pair of sandals and threw away his tennis shoes which had far outlived their natural lifespan. i think he feels better without being in socks all the time. and he stubbed his toe the other day and it's been causing quite a bit of pain for him, so maybe it feels better for that too.

after quite a while in stanley, we headed back and had dinner at the globe which is a pub across the street from jane's. i had fish and chips and mushy peas. he had vennison sausage. very delicious, very expensive. filled with white businessmen in suits.. which is actually what the interior of many a restaurant looks like in this part of town. jane lives right in the middle of a neighborhood called central which is quite fancy.

then in the evening we met up with alan and natalie who i had taught with in taiwan. they moved to hong kong a bit after i moved back to the US from taiwan. it was a lot of fun to catch up with them over dessert, hear the gossip from gloria, and they told us a few things we should do in hong kong that we haven't done yet. natalie knew about a shopping street that will hopefully have a dress or two. i haven't bought one piece of clothing this whole trip and i'm beginning to feel like i might go home with nothing but pictures.. which i guess wouldn't be sooo bad, but i'd like a black dress from hong kong to remember the fancy ladies.

we're off to enjoy our last full day here!