Day 3 Hong Kong

Had a wonderful sleep...a good 10 hours...and decided on a leisurely start to the day.  Started off with coffee and a chocolate Danish at Starbucks attached to our hotel. A good start!  Then got train and walked to the mid-level escalators.

..these are escalators that rise up the very steep hill with interesting shopping streets transversing the escalators. We went all the way to the top and then saw a sign for a 20 minute walk to the peak tram....decided that was a good plan.

 Along the way we came upon the Zoological gardens and decided to have a quick look since it was free. The gardens were growing literally out of concrete and not impressive by our standards but we saw cages up the hill so kept walking to see what they had.

A nice surprise....all sorts of monkeys, orangutan, lemur, turtles....etc etc. and no queues, few people and perfect temperature. Thoroughly enjoyed watching the monkeys, taking photos with noone in the way and significant exercise.

After this diversion we got a bit lost, but came upon the government building and eventually the peak tram. Lots of tourists again but didn't have to wait too long.

An enjoyable ride with more good views...though very foggy and a bit chilly at the top.

Had yummy Vietnamese lunch

at the mall next door to the viewing platform. Then decided to bus back to the pier to get a different perspective...and this approach seemed to be working for us.  We got front seats at the top of the double decker bus which gave great views and some hair raising moments on the narrow roads.

Got MTR back to our hotel for a short rest. In warmer clothing we headed back to the pier around 6pm to walk along the promenade and the avenue of the stars. We'd been right near here on day one but missed it all in our haze. Lots of photo opportunities of the city skyline...and lots of people taking them.  

Wandered the whole promenade then back to a good seat on the viewing platform for the nightly laser light show.  It wasn't as grand as we expected, but definitely worth the look. Guess everything has been better than expected so far so we had high expectations.

Caught the bus back along Nathan road intending to get off at temple st....but missed the stop and ended up several stops past our hotel. Crossed the road to head back and decided to have a quick look down the next street. Turns out we'd come upon the ladies market.

Didn't stop to shop but got some buns for dinner and Cam found some green kitkat he was wanting to try. Very happy with our good luck yet again. Another good day and finally we are getting our bearings. Part of our earlier confusion was because we didn't realise the MTR went under the water....it's all obvious now, but the maps were confusing us.  Not so tired tonight, but good to rest the foot. Walked 13.75km today....not a bad effort!