Hong Kong Island and more...

Hullo... I have to say, the delay in posting is NOT my fault!! Mama has been beary busy and we have had technical difficulties with getting sufficient wifi access. But we are in Bangkok now, blogging about Hong Kong. Oy...

Botanical Gardens

 We took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon. I wanted to ride up front where you get an awesome view but... Mama's tummy doesn't do all that well with up and down sea motion... so Mama's partner took me up front for a quick photo and then...

 I got a whole seat all to myself!! Practically the whole boat... Notice the "star" in the seat bottom. These benches have probably been around for decades and decades!

After we got off the ferry, we went to the Botanical and Zoological Garden (after the humans had some Dim Sum). The garden was free!! Which is always great.

 There were all sorts of flowers - like this hibiscus... they grow outside here!

 And cats... Mama says no one is going to buy that this is a real cat... but... the zoological part of the garden definitely needed some real cats.

 There were birds (which cats would like to watch). The birds were behind wire though and the photos didn't turn out... So this is a plaque of one of the birds we saw.

 There were hugemungous goldfish (which cats would love to swat at).

 And there were turtles... or rather... turtles and tortoises... These ones were both on land and in water so not sure which ones they were (cats would love to stalk them though... in slow motion!)

This little one was beary cute. Oh... and there were monkeys (very unphotogenic) and one solitary, lonely, lost, little raccoon!

The botanical part of the garden was beary nice - lots of palm trees of various shapes and sizes.

 And orchids!! Tonnes and tonnes of orchids.

 Mama told me to show my eyes to the camera... but my new hat really shades my face... I think this new look could be my sailor outfit!

 And there was even a desert-plant section - not sure why as Hong Kong is beary much NOT a desert. It was a great park to visit as was the neighbouring Hong Kong Park. But we had technical difficulties there with the camera - batteries ran out and someone hadn't brought any spares!!

Victoria Peak

We also took a funicular tram up to Victoria Peak. This green one is an old retired one. It was a great little trip with the tram going up at a sharp angle.

 The views were awesome! Except for the smog... which got thicker as the day went on.

 There was an interesting display of double-decker buses...

 This one is called "God 7"... why I have no idea.

 Doesn't it look like I am part of the picture??? Beary cool!

There was even a nice trail that you could walk around the peak - there were waterfalls...

And lots of weird trees that I've only heard about or seen in books. The Peak was definitely worthwhile although highly commercialized. We went up at 7 am on the first tram and that was great - although none of the shops or restaurants were open (except my favourite hot chocolate place)!

Kowloon - 10,000 Buddhas Monastery

We were back in Kowloon the next day and took a long trip on the Metro to 10,000 Buddha's monastery. The steps up to the monastery were lined with many, many (MANY) buddhas!

They were very serene and friendly.

 This god looks more Hindu than Buddhist but Mama says that Buddhism started in India so they probably kept some of those traditions.

 There were big ferocious lions guarding the place... but my favourite was...

The blue lion!!! Doesn't he look great?

Kowloon Walled City

 We also went to Kowloon Walled City - it was a part of Hong Kong that remained under Chinese rule due to a technical glitch (of some sort) while the rest of Hong Kong was British. It was a den of vice for many decades even after it came under British rule. Finally it was torn down and they made a park out of it.

It was beary peaceful here...

And the stone pathways were very nice...

This is my favourite picture!! Little bonsai trees everywhere...

And then we caught a double-decker bus back to our place. Hong Kong has a lot of British influences - like the buses. On the Metro a British sounding lady says "Mind the Gap" which is just like the Tube in London! Oh... and their "eggs and ham" is really "eggs and spam"... apparently another British influence.

Look at all those people!!! This was on Nathan Road, the main road in Kowloon and it was pretty much always like this - hence our retreat to parks, mountains, monasteries and gardens! Hong Kong was beary pretty and it was good to mix up a variety of things. There was (of course) even more to see, like some of the outer island but we only had 3 days so... we saw what we could... and now... off to Bangkok!