Chuseok 2017, Day 5: Hong Kong--Big Bus Tour 2 (6. Oct.)

Today was the second of my 2-day Big Bus Tour. I rode along the red (Hong Kong Island) and blue (Kowloon) routes yesterday. I have one more left: the green (Aberdeen & Stanley) route.

Let's go.

My alarm at Comfort Hostel chose to sleep in, apparently.

The beginning of the green route is the same as the beginning of the green route. So back to the Central Pier for me.

Where you pug your earphones and language choices.

We were taken to the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. It was the opposite of the busy, cosmopolitan, global coast in the north. This was laid-back, natural, and with a much more "local" feel.

Ocean Park is on those mountains.

Those of us who sat on the left side of the bus were constantly warned about getting hit by branches and told to keep out arms and heads inside the bus. We were not told this at all in the red route.
I quickly understood why.

Here is why. There were others that were closer still.

This resort reminds me of Atlantis in The Bahamas.

It was really hard to get a good picture on the bus. The sun was in my eyes and my phone's screen was dark so I couldn't see if I took a picture or what I took a picture of. Having that in mind, I am pleasantly surprised with the following 3 pictures.

Nothing like Victoria Harbor, right?

I was mostly blind when I took this shot. Can you tell?

Too bad I couldn't spend some time here.

Next, the opportunity to use my last free ticket: for the Sampan (boat) tour in Aberdeen.

Just as a reference, the people handling the tourists there don't have uniforms or anything; just being near the signage. I didn't know this when the old lady of the group starting yanking my ticket and I yanked back. She got upset. I just didn't know she was part of the entourage. How was I to know? Anyone can pretend. Anywho, perhaps that was simply a moment of bad judgment from my part.

You are at the Big Bus Sampan Tour.

Our captain.

Looking out from deep inside the sampan.

Other sampans from the same big bus sampan tour.

A boating community we weaved through for about 5 minutes.

The Jumbo Floating Restaurant (or part of it)

A little better view of the main entrance.

The apex to the Jumbo Kingdom.

A better close-up of said apex.

Returning to the dock to end the tour.

Panorama of the dock/waterside promenade.

If you can't see the images on the glass, just look at the shadows.

Whoa, a sampan boat tour in Hebrew?! Cool!

Nice apartments. Must be prohibitively expensive.

I like this place.

When the big bus finally came by (we waited more than the claimed 30 minutes that it comes around), I rode it all the way back to where we started (that was the next stop, anyway).

From there, I decided to take bus 15 up Victoria Peak for the views of Hong Kong.

panorama of everything on Victoria Peak.

The Peak Tower

I could not see how overpriced these egg-waffle ice cream cones were.

Yeah, this view was worth the trip.

Stairs inside the Peak Tower, leading to the ground floor.

Peak Tower & Peak Tram tracks.

A free nearby observatory point I opted for instead of the Sky Terrace

Pretty good view, if you ask me.

I asked another tourist if she went up the Sky Terrace. When she said that she did, I asked her what was the difference between the view up there and from this point. She said not much, just being a few feet (meters) higher.

Ironic as it may be, I decided to skip on paying for this Sky Terrace.

Artists selling their artwork near the Peak Tower.

There's a mall right there, just meters from the Peak Tower. I went in looking for a free toilet and almost-free meal (that wasn't going to happen, but I could try anyway).

Well, lookee here.

Oh, that's clever.

Yes, the bus back was PACKED--and it still picked up more passengers on the way.

Alright, so I had done just about everything I wanted to do. I had half a day left tomorrow (on Saturday) and I had to catch the ferry back to Macau.

What could I do for the rest of the afternoon/early evening?

Let's go to the Hong Kong/Shenzhen, China border! You could easily get there by MTR. You have a choice of two stations: Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau.
I didn't care which one I would go to, but I ended up taking the train to Lok Ma Chau.

I arrived just as it was starting to get dark, but I could see Shenzhen. I thought that was pretty cool.

Panorama at Lok Ma Chau Station. Can you make out Shenzhen?

From the platform, take the stairs or escalator down one floor, and you will arrive to immigration (basically).

This was as close as I'd dare take this picture. Tons of people crossing over.

I had my passport on me (unlike when I was at the Macau/China border), but I still couldn't legally enter China. I realized there were no stairs going back up to the platform. Apparently, this was a one-way kind of route/procedure. The feeling I got at this realization lead me to where I took the next picture.

As an American, I was surprised to NOT see a toilet seat.

Thank you, Korea, for teaching me how to squat/hover over toilets without sitting on or touching anything.

Anyway, I thought of walking up the stairs I came down from, but they were clearly marked only for going down. No climbing up.
So I asked a lady who was waiting for customers near her business (convenience store? bakery? I don't even remember) what I should do to return to the platform. She said just to use the elevators.
Yes, I was aware of them. I just wanted to honestly have someone to blame if I was caught and questioned. No joke.

At her suggestion and with timid faith, I went over to the elevator, got in, and returned to the platform. Luckily, there was a train that was about to leave back to Hong Kong (this is the last stop for any train coming from Hong Kong), so I quickly got in, got a seat, and breathed a sigh of relief as the train returned towards my hostel in Hong Kong.

Alright, enough adventures. Now it's time to rest. The next day is the final full day of this Macau-Hong Kong adventure.