World Cup Fever

Momentum for this year's World Cup has been building up in HK for months now. To generate buzz for the event there have been from TV specials travel shows to Brazil, McDonalds serving burgers from the competing countries, and most recently a meet-and-greet event with former English footballer Michael Owen.

The event at East Point City earlier this afternoon started with media interviews (Photo: CathC)

To be honest I don't really follow the sport. But all of this hype is bringing out some very interesting displays to celebrate the upcoming tournament. Like Christopher Tan's nanoblock exhibition on the World Cup, which features a spectacular depiction of Rio de Janeiro. I love how colourful the display is and was really impressed by the number of different buildings and iconic sights that are represented.

Look at all those colourful buildings! (Photo: CathC)

A cute representation of the stadium (Photo: CharK)

The World Cup starts this Thursday, I wonder if anyone will be trying to catch the games at work? I remember a World Cup tournament took place while I was in graduate school. My labmates set up a projector/screen to stream the tournament from online tv stations. It was a fun time because even our supervisor joined in to watch!

A different view from the Peak

A friend from Toronto is in town for a visit and he was keen to checking out the hiking trails in HK. So we decided to take him to Victoria Peak Garden and hiked out way down the Hong Kong Trail Section 1 towards The University of Hong Kong.

Most tourists tend to gravity towards the Peak Tower as there are spectacular views of the Hong Kong skyline from here. But there actually is a higher lookout from further up the Peak, at Victoria Peak Garden. The view from here is out towards Pok Fu Lam Country Park and you can even see the outlines of Cheung Chau and Lamma Island. Our hike to Victoria Peak Garden from the Peak Tower took about 30 mnutes and along the way we came across what I think is the city most tranquil children's playground at Mount Austin Road Playground.

All the palm trees and greenery make this park almost resort-like; even the washrooms seem nice (Photo: CathC)

We passed by the Gate Lodge of the Former Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of HK's Governor. The Gate Lodge is a Declared Monument in HK and was built in the 1900s. The Mountain Lodge was demolished in 1946 according the a government website, and reported to be designed as a Scottish style lodge. The Gate Lodge was constructed in a Renaissance Style.

We must have passed by at least 5 or 6 different gazebos along the Governor's walk to Victoria Peak Garden. Each were located in separate areas of the spacious and picturesque garden.

Today we saw three different bride and grooms having their photos taken here. (Photo: CathC)

The view from the Victoria Peak Garden was spectacular. I was amazed that even on a hazy day like today, I could see so far--to Cheung Chau. Even though it was the long weekend, there were only a handful of people here enjoying the view. This is my new favourite spot on the Peak.

Panoramic photos were invented for views like this. (Photo: CathC)

There's even a small snack shop up here. (Photo: CharK)

The hike down from the Peak Garden led to some interesting finds, like this hole in the mountain--a possible remnant from the war?

We took a short break once we reached the crossroads at Lugard and Hatton roads to take some more photos. There was even a man selling dried fruits and nuts here.

The hike down the Peak had some amazing views of the surrounding areas like the Tsing Ma Bridge.

The last part of our hike Lung Fu Shan into the University of Hong Kong felt the toughest because it had a tons of stairs and the paths were more rocky than the previously paved sections. But still there were many locals running through this part of the trails. There was also a small waterfall in the middle of the trail. The water looked pretty clear too.

Photo: CharK

The combination of the amazing city views and challenging path makes this my favourite hiking trails so far. So now I can say I've hiked both up and down Victoria Peak!