The Peak, Protestors and Kung-foo

It's a pretty cool thing to travel halfway across the world and meet up with friends from back home. Especially when it's unexpected! 

I got a message the night before on FB from my friend Adrian saying that he was also in Hong Kong at the moment. Adrian and I used to work at Variety Village in the summers but haven't seen each other in a few years. I was originally going to spend the day being a solo tourist so I loved the idea of touring around with someone I knew!

Lucky for me, Adrian had been to Hong Kong quite a number of times and had some great suggestions. Instead of taking the Peak tram to see the famous view of Hong Kong, we skipped the long queue and jumped in a cab with some Russian tourists (who didn't speak much English but seemed fine with splitting a cab). We went to a HIGHER peak of the "peak" than the regular "stupid" tourists do and had a great hike down and around the mountain. 

The View from the Peak

After the hike and a wander around central we went to the Sogo area to see some of the #OccupyHK and umbrella movement democracy protests. There weren't many protestors there (even protesters have to work on weekdays) but tons of tents, signs and information. I was really glad I was able to see that. Potential history in the making!

The Umbrella Movement

Adrian bought us some fish balls, meat cubes, and sugar-cane water from a street vendor. It's nice to have someone who can order in the native tongue. We also went to a "susan would have never found this" ramen restaurant for a late snack. Luckily even though neither of us could read Chinese, there were pictures to pick from. I really liked the boiled egg that came with it.

Being a good sport, Adrian came with me to the Avenue of Stars even though I know it wasn't a priority for him. The Avenue of Stars is he Cantonese cinema version of the Hollywood walk of fame. I only knew of four stars (Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee) but I still liked reading about Cantonese cinema along the boardwalk. I also posed beside the Bruce Lee statue for a classic white girl attempting Kung foo imitation. 

Hiiiiiii-yah!

After that it was time to say bye to Adrian and I headed home for a mellow night. According to his pedometer, we may have walked 20k that day. Phew! That's a lot for this out-of-shape schlub. Bring on the dim sum to even this out!