Hong Kong Trip III

The timing for the trip to Shenzhen when my host was there last week left a gap of a few days until the start of the workshop in Hong Kong I came for. It's the 2017 Engineering and Computational Mathematics Conference (link). I was OK with that since I have never been to Hong Kong before, so took the time to look around a bit. I was told that shopping was great here, but I haven't seen anything yet that I want that is not cheaper in Vancouver. Maybe I am just a typical straight man, uninterested in shopping. After giving up on shopping, I took the subway a couple of places to some outdoor venues to stretch my legs, since I can barely do that in my hotel room. The first was Victoria Park on Sunday. There were a few quiet spots where I first went, but other areas were full of religious groups of various types (mostly muslim women). There was some variety in how seriously they were taking the religion in the groups, and also some variety in how much fun they were having, with surprisingly little correlation. It's all in the group dynamic. I wish I knew the recipe for how to tilt that to the positive. The only thing I do know is that free food helps. There were interesting trees and a pedestrian overpass to the harbour that gave a good view.

The next day's trip was to Victoria Peak (another Victoria, but since I was born in the city of that same name, I thought it was a bonus). The plan was to take the tram up to the top, but when I got there it was a three hour line-up. I don't have the temperament to wait three hours for anything in the hot sun, unless life were at stake. Anyway, without a cell phone (my provider, Freedom formerly Wind, does not have a partner in Hong Kong or China) how would I entertain myself that long? There was a path leading up alongside the tram cables so I thought I would try hiking up, at least far enough to get a view.

  

How hard could it be? I got some good advice along the way. One guy said he had given up trying to find his way because he did not have cell phone coverage in Hong Kong (d'oh!). Another woman gave the helpful advice "turn right not left at the road". It was in fact helpful advice, but not at the next road, but at the one after that. There were some informative signs to help guide the way:

At some point I did feel like I was making some progress. The view below looked promising, but in the other direction was another building with about thirty floors left to the top.

I did get some actually helpful advice from some construction workers at one of the mountainside estates. I think they were worried about me: when I exercise in the heat I turn a bright red colour that is apparently quite alarming. I did eventually make it to the top. I am not the guy that needs to finish something at any cost, but I do like closure, and the view made the work all worthwhile. I am pretty stiff today, though, not used to that much climbing in the heat.