Hong Kong Adventures: Hong Kong Day 21 -- Hong Kong Park

Yesterday was a late night, so we slept in this morning. I woke up around 9:30 or 10 and the others woke up around noon. When I woke up it was pretty sunny out, and over the next couple of hours it got a bit cloudy and rained a little bit a couple of times. We went to the Hong Kong cafe for breakfast/lunch. When we walked out it was sprinkling, but wasn't too bad. I got flat noodles with beef and satay sauce. It had veggies and pineapple in it, which tasted really good. After eating, we walked over to Hysan Place and got tea, and then walked around a little bit longer before going back to our apartments. By the time we were done eating and walking around it was just a bit cloudy, and they were pretty high and light clouds.

It was around 2 by the time we got back to the apartment, so it was a little bit late to go do anything far away or that would take a long time. We decided to go to Hong Kong Park because it is pretty close to our apartment and it is pretty easy to spend a lot or a little time there. We took the MTR from Causeway Bay down to the Admiralty station and then walked over to the park. As we were walking from the station to the park, we crossed over one of the main roads (in an overpass/walkway thing). We noticed that police had stopped traffic, so we stopped to see why. We saw a big group of people on the other side of the road with signs, so figured that it was a protest/demonstration about something. A couple of minutes later the police started walking across the street with a green ribbon or tape. They got all the way across both directions and then the group of people started to cross. They had stopped traffic in order to get this group across the street.

Hong Kong Park is really neat, a nice natural area right in the middle of the city. They have fountains and little stream type things running through the park. The park is full of trees and plants, and there are even a couple of ponds. They also have museums, other buildings, a conservatory and an aviary. We walked into the park and went to the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. It has many galleries with a history of tea, directions and tips on how to brew tea, and tea pots and cups on display. They also have a tea class during the week that you can go to learn about the history of tea and how to make it in the best way for each type.

After the museum we kept walking through the park. At one point it started to rain really hard, so we went to the "Olympic Stadium" they have to stay dry. This is an area set up like an auditorium where they can have shows and performances. It was dedicated in 2005, has the Olympic rings on one of the pillars, and has many flagpoles around the edge.

Once the rain stopped, we walked over to the aviary they have in the park. It is a really big aviary, with a wire/mesh roof, and they have over 400 birds inside. It has a lot of neat plants, and some really pretty birds. It was a bit wet and drippy in there because of the rain, so we walked through fairly quickly. Even though we went through quickly I was still able to get some pretty good pictures. I would like to go back if there is time and try to take some more pictures of all of the birds and plants in the aviary and also try to see the conservatory. We also went to the visual and performance arts centre. They had a few galleries of paintings and drawings, some from kids and some from other artists.

After the arts centre, we walked back to where we came in the park and back to the MTR. We took the MTR over to Tsim Sha Tsui to walk around and see what there was over around there. When we got out of the MTR we stopped at KFC to get some egg tarts and a little bit of food for a snack. We got chicken wings, they had Wasabi, Hot Wing, and Tomato flavors. I had a wasabi wing and a "hot wings" flavored wing. The wasabi one was pretty good, the other one was pretty much just a regular fried chicken wing. The egg tart was really good.

We then walked over to find the jade market. Walking through the Temple Street market to get there. We found the jade market, and it was really big. Everyone was starting to close up because it closes at 6, and we were there just a few minutes before 6. I want to try to get back there one day and get a pair of earrings or a necklace or something. After walking through a bit of the jade market we went back to the MTR station and went back to our apartments.

For dinner, Evelyn and I went and got sushi. Ciara had leftovers, Yan was a bit tired from the weekend so she got her own food, and Kathy was hanging out with one of her friends. We went to the same sushi place and I got some of the same stuff I got before, but I also tried some new things. It was all really good, just like it was the other times.