I fell asleep to rain last night and woke up to rain this morning. Good god. I really didn’t think the rainy season would be this rainy! I decided not to let a little wetness keep me inside my next to last weekend in Hong Kong. So I headed down to the management office to see if they could tell me how to get to Ap Lei Chan and write a few locations down in Chinese for the cab drivers. Kind William told me that the government was warning everyone to stay inside because of the black rain. Ohhhh! I’d heard of black rain! It’s not actual black rain, but rather part of the governments warning system. Amber, Red and Black. It’s intense, heavy rain that causes flooding and traffic problems. A little black rain never hurt anyone, right? So I pretended to go back to my apartment, but then headed out for the day. Walked outside to find all the stores on one of our blocks completely flooded. Trash and branches littered the streets. Muddy water. And a dead mouse in the street. Ugh.
I made my way to the bus and found one going to Aberdeen, which connects to Ap Lei Chan by a bridge. Yeah! Once there I hopped a cab to Ap Lei Chan and was able to point to the map and get to the right spot. If you knew how bad I was with maps, you'd be so proud of me. Came out and hopped into a cab for the next store. Unfortunately my map and cheat sheet were of no use to my new cab driver. And William hadn't given me the directions in Chinese because who would be out shopping in black rain? The cab driver let me talk on his CB radio to see if anyone knew what I was talking about. It was all I could do to not say “Breaker 1-9, this is Hong Kong Heather looking for Marina Square”. Instead I just sat there saying “Marina Square” slowly into the CB. Nada. Finally, we asked another cab driver who looked at my to-do list for the day “Space Outlet, exercise, presentation, movies”. Nice. Then he said “Prada?” YES! Space is a Prada outlet. 15 minutes later I was there. Walked out empty handed and decided to find lunch.
I made my way to the bus and found one going to Aberdeen, which connects to Ap Lei Chan by a bridge. Yeah! Once there I hopped a cab to Ap Lei Chan and was able to point to the map and get to the right spot. If you knew how bad I was with maps, you'd be so proud of me. Came out and hopped into a cab for the next store. Unfortunately my map and cheat sheet were of no use to my new cab driver. And William hadn't given me the directions in Chinese because who would be out shopping in black rain? The cab driver let me talk on his CB radio to see if anyone knew what I was talking about. It was all I could do to not say “Breaker 1-9, this is Hong Kong Heather looking for Marina Square”. Instead I just sat there saying “Marina Square” slowly into the CB. Nada. Finally, we asked another cab driver who looked at my to-do list for the day “Space Outlet, exercise, presentation, movies”. Nice. Then he said “Prada?” YES! Space is a Prada outlet. 15 minutes later I was there. Walked out empty handed and decided to find lunch.
Oh, I found lunch. McD's was there. Of course. But you know I don't eat there anymore. Then a Chinese restaurant that had some of the menu written in English. Congee - hmm. I've heard of that. Ok. With pig's liver, thousand year egg or fish balls. Gulp. I decided to skip lunch. The bag of gummy bears in my purse would do me just fine. Finally found my way to a bus that went directly from Ap Lei Chan back to Central Hong Kong. If only I’d found that bus this morning…
Here's a photo of the storm around 7pm Saturday night.
Sunday looked overcast, but no sign of rain. So I left my sunglasses, umbrella and bug spray at the apartment and decided to head to Lamma Island. Wouldn't be a day in Hong Kong without a ride on a ferry! Thirty minutes later, I found myself on a dock with colored flags. How festive! Apparently you can walk to the other side of the island and pick up a different ferry home. That sounded good! So I set off. Somehow I got off the trail, but saw a couple in front of me and started following them. 15 minutes later, they were asking me directions. So the three of us kept trying different ways to get to the temple on the other side of the island. It was like we were in a rain forest. Dense vegetation, bugs, noises. Where am I??? Finally we got back on the path and saw many of the same people we'd ridden the ferry with. They apparently took the easier path there. The small hike across the island ended being an hour climb up the mountain. I was dying. Hot, sunny, buggy. But then you get to the top and see a gorgeous view, feel the breeze and it all seems worth it. A few photos below.
Off to Tokyo tomorrow morning!
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