city escapes

Ahoy,

After a somewhat late start, we hopped aboard a train to hit up the Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery because they are across the street from each other and I love gardens. The RRS was reluctant because of all the things we saw in Japan already, but I dragged him along anyway. This is not a democracy after all. I loved it, he didn't have a lot of objections.

Though Japanese gardens were influenced by Chinese gardens in the beginning of their development, there are differences that evolved. Chinese gardens have more ornate architecture on the buildings and the buildings are usually placed over water. Japanese gardens have much simpler looking buildings that are placed apart from water. Chinese gardens are meant to be viewed from within, as if to look closer at details, but Japanese gardens are meant to be viewed from an exterior point of view as a bigger picture. I took a class about gardens in my youth, only fueling my delight for them.

We hopped aboard one of those minibuses to Stanley, a resort-type of area on the southern side of Hong Kong island. It reminded me a lot of Venice, Italy because of all the restaurants and shops along the waterfront. We sat down for a giant beer amongst all the activity. There was some or 10 different kinds of festivals happening there. The RRS loved the beaches we found here. The water was so clear and calm, white sand. It was really warm so we could have gone into the water had we been dressed. Right on the waterfront were barbeque pits and the RRS was salivating over other peoples' food grilling.

We spent most of the day in places that really didn't feel like we were in a big city. There is such a great diversity of things to do. It's amazing to me how close and far Hong Kong can feel like. We got off the ferry just in time to catch the light show on the HK side. My theory about the light shows is that they are the modern day fireworks. Visibility is too poor to add to it with smoke from fireworks. Light shows can be done without significant detriment to air quality and have better visibility.

beachy keen,
jt