Day 7: 11/25/23 - Travel Day to Hong Kong
Hong Kong from the air!
The final bit of hill that we finally surrendered to (from above the following day)
Travel Day
Despite an only 2 hour flight, we ended up having ~7 hours door to door transit from Taipei to our hotel in Hong Kong. After a very pleasant 24 minute (as advertised!) ride from the airport to the central train station, we made the uniformed decision to walk the one mile inland to our hotel. For those unaware of Hong Kong's topography (as we were), that is one mile straight up a hill. We made it about halfway up before throwing in a towel and taking an extremely short cab ride the rest of the way. Our cab driver was quite pleasant but did berate us for not taking a cab sooner, and for calling the cab from the less convenient side of the street.
The botanical gardens next to our hotel; almost every walk to or from the hotel went through them!
The narrowest building we have ever seen. This picture doesn't do it justice.
Evening Exploring
After crashing for a bit and searching for a place for dinner we landed on Lockcha, a dim sum/tea house location in a refurbished prison called Tai Kwun (more on that tomorrow). Wandering towards Tai Kwun, we found ourselves with time to kill and discovered the Central-Mid-Levels escalator(s). A futuristic feeling outdoor escalator passing by a global sampling of cuisines with fantastical billboards flashing around, I couldn't help but remember the universe of Blade Runner 2049 (though wayyyyyy less depressing/rainy, and without the dope soundtrack).
We meandered back towards Tai Kwun (an old prison that is now a lively center with restaurants, a museum, outdoor music performances, and more!), saw signs for an art exhibit that we planned on fitting in the following day, enjoyed a lovely dinner which included a tea-infused-beer sampler, and stumbled back up the hill to bed.