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Exploring San Francisco From The Bay

Posted on April 8, 2011

There were a couple of things on the agenda for today, both of which are included with the San Francisco City Pass. The first is a cruise on San Francisco Bay and the second is a visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Finally, this evening attending another Couch Surfing event.

San Francisco Bay Cruise

One of the included activities on the San Francisco City Pass was a cruise on San Francisco Bay. The cruise was with Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise Adventure and is a one hour cruise. The bay here is rather large and only so much that you can see in it, but just a few highlights.

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is possibly the main highlight of the tour. Especially getting to see it from a little bit different angle. The biggest challenge in seeing and photographing the bridge this morning was something you cannot see in this photo. There was a rather strong westerly wind, that was extremely cold. I do kind of wish I had taken something like gloves or a scarf, but I made it through.

Alcatraz Island

Even though I got to visit Alcatraz Island yesterday the view of the island today is a little different. As we are approaching from the west, while the approach was from the east yesterday.

Skyline View

There is also a great view of the skyline from the bay as well. It is a little further back than the skyline view I shared yesterday, again a better perspective I think.

Forbes Island

The last thing was a little spot called Forbes Island a restaurant located between Pier 39 and Pier 41 in San Francisco. The island is a floating island and started life as a home, but after some remodelling was opened as a restaurant in 1999.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

I must start out with saying that an art gallery is not one of my primary attractions to visit. However, it was included with the San Francisco City Pass, so I figured it would be worth taking a look. There are no photos of the interior, as it was just to much guess work as to which exhibits you were able to take photographs.

Whether it is the right way to approach viewing a gallery or not, I went in with some expectations as to what I would find. Surprisingly I found that my expectations were quite accurate in the end.

My expectation was to find someone’s interpretation of what art is to them. Which is exactly what I found. I might have preferred to see what I believe is art. But at the same time, not all art is enjoyed by everyone, so to some degree, there need to be variations.

So while I took some time and looked around, I think I would prefer visiting a traditional art gallery. Somewhere with sculptures and paintings that depict something that you can identify what the artist is sharing. Rather than something that is ambiguous. There were some exhibits that I did very much enjoy, but they seemed to be the exception.

CouchSurfing Meetup #2

With my first ever Couch Surfing event last night, I figured why not follow that up with another tonight. In San Francisco, the Couch Surfers have a thing called Thai Food Thursday (TFT). Although I am only here for the one time, I understand that it is something that moves between two different Thai restaurants on a weekly basis.

I was happy to find that it is reasonably close to my hotel and an easy walk. Plus it was good to know a couple of people that were going, but also I got to meet plenty of new people as well. Things went a little bit later tonight, as I continued with a couple of people to another bar after the meet up finished. I find that it is a good experience to get to meet some local people while travelling.

Tomorrow

I am looking forward to a couple of things that I have planned from the City Pass for tomorrow. I hope to be able to fit everything in but will have to see how that goes after the late night today.

Destinations

San Francisco And Alcatraz Visit

Posted on April 7, 2011

I started out yesterday with my friend dropping me to the airport in Seattle. The flight takes around 2 hours from Seattle to San Francisco; then it was onto a shuttle bus to the hotel. In total it made yesterday a rather boring day and so I am kicking things off in San Francisco today.

San Francisco City Pass

San Francisco has a City Pass available very similar to the one I mentioned in Seattle. The price is $69.00, including tax, so there are no surprised. Included in the pass is entrance to San Francisco Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a San Francisco Bay Cruise. Additionally, you can choose between access to the De Young Museum or Legion of Honor and Exploratorium. Plus you also get a seven-day Muni Passport for the public transport. All of this might make no sense to you, but not to worry over the next couple of days hopefully it will all become clear as visit each location.

San Francisco Aquarium

Aquariums seem to be starting to become a little bit of a theme for me in each city. It is one of those things that many of the tourism passes include so I figure I may as well make use of the pass and visit them. But to be honest, most of them are quite fun and have some interesting aspects for sure.

The San Francisco Aquarium very much reminds me of Underwater World on the Sunshine Coast back home. I think it is mostly due to the tunnels where you walk through two different large fish tanks, filled with fish, sharks, rays and other creatures.

The first tank that you come to is quite a range of tropical fish. There are lots of different and colourful fish. But the problem is they do not stay still long enough to get good photos in the dim light.

In the past, I have seen many different pictures of jellyfish and many Blue Blubber Jellyfish on the beaches around near home. However, I have never seen any jellyfish quite like these before. They are a Brown Sea Nettle Jellyfish. I can be certain that I would not want to run into one of these in the wild.

The other interesting exhibit is where you have the opportunity to touch baby sharks and rays. The stingers have been removed from these animals. They also make suggestions that the rays are only touched on the top of the wings, and the sharks behind the fin. There is also another tank which includes various Star Fish and other Sea Anemone.

The final exhibit that I visited which did not entirely fit into the theme of the Aquarium but was no less cute. Below is a Chinchilla, it almost does not look real, and the fur did almost look like what you might expect from a plush toy.

Pier 39

After I had finished at the Aquarium, I had some spare time before a booking I had this afternoon. I made use of this time to walk around the area of Pier 39 for a little bit. By and large, almost the whole area is there purely for the tourists with many gift shops and restaurants. I am not a big one for souvenirs and may just pick up one small thing and a couple of postcards.

Towards the end of the pier, you find one of the main free attractions in the area. There are many floating wooden pontoons here, on which you will find a varying number of Sea Lions. It is rather entertaining to watch as many barely get on the pontoons and soon fall into the water. It is worth stopping for a look, but how long you want to stay can depend on the smell.

Alcatraz

Soon it was time to head around the waterfront a little to Pier 33 for my 2.20 pm cruise to the infamous Alcatraz Prison. While the destination is, of course, the main reason to take the cruise here, it also turned out to be my first opportunity to photograph the skyline. However, there will also be another opportunity, later on, to capture this on the San Francisco Bay Cruise.

The Island where Alcatraz Prison resides is rather difficult to miss from anywhere along the San Francisco Waterfront. The island sits just over one mile from shore and looks like a big rock sitting out in the middle of the bay.

The view of the prison from the city is very real and can be seen from many other places beyond just the waterfront. However, once you get to the prison, there are also numerous locations that you can see the city as well. I can imagine it would have been rather difficult being a prisoner here, seeing the city and it being just out of reach so to say.

When you enter the cell house, it is a harrowing experience. The cells are small with a bed, sink, toilet and table; you could not walk more than two or three paces in each direction. The pictures I think will paint the picture, but physically being here does leave its mark.

If you are visiting San Francisco, I would recommend a visit to Alcatraz. But it is something that you must plan in advance especially if you are in the city for peak tourist periods. With more than a million people visiting the island every year bookings are almost essential. That is if you want to be sure to fit in a visit.

CouchSurfing

After such a big day you would think that I might head back to the hotel and find something to eat. But instead, I decided to head along to my first every Couch Surfing Event. I joined Couch Surfing a few months ago with the idea of meeting people while travelling. So going to the event was a great opportunity to do this. There were some people at the event including some locals and some travellers as well.

Today was a long day but a very enjoyable one as well. Tomorrow I am looking to take a cruise on San Francisco Bay and also visit the Museum of Modern Art.

Destinations

Exploring Seattle’s Olympic Peninsula

Posted on April 5, 2011

Seattle, WA is most definitely a great city to visit, this is my second time here. But the best thing is the countryside that surrounds the city, and today that includes a visit to the Olympic Peninsula. I am kind of lucky to be staying with a friend who took some time off work to show me around. Otherwise, there is a good chance that I would not have got to visit this area, especially considering the rather inclement weather today.

Lake Quinault

One of the first areas that we stopped in on the Olympic Peninsula was Lake Quinault. It is around, a three-hour drive from Seattle, some 160 miles, so it does take a little to get here. The rain and cloud give the area a certain gloomy look and feel today. But I can imagine the area on a beautiful sunny day and think it would be a great place in summer. The area has an extensive amount of walking and hiking trails, which would be perfect on a dry day.

Around this area of the state is home to some of the biggest trees of their respective species as well. Unfortunately, with the rain I was far from the right mindset to record details, so cannot recall which species this tree is.

The Lake Quinault Lodge is a beautiful older building which was built in 1926. There are options to stay at the lodge as well as a restaurant and some other large open areas. We stopped in and very much enjoyed drying out a little beside the fireplace.

Kalaloch

Even with the weather what it was, we did continue north along the Olympic Peninsula to an area known as Kalaloch. A further 40 miles along the road from Lake Quinault we arrived at Kalaloch Lodge. The area is right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean with the beach and forests surrounding the area.

The area does not look at lot different to some beach areas closer to home in Queensland. The biggest difference is a significant amount of debris on the beach. However, if the sun was out, I could easily see plenty of Aussies enjoying the waves here.

Today is the last day that I have in Seattle on this trip, and it was great to see some of the countrysides. Even if the weather was bad, there was still some interesting sights to see, and you can sort of expect a little rain in this part of the country. Overall my time in Seattle exploring with my friend that lives here has been fantastic. However, tomorrow it is time to head onwards for the next stage of my journey. Things will continue tomorrow from San Francisco before I head further south again to San Diego.

Destinations

Exploring Seattle Museum of Flight

Posted on April 4, 2011

Seattle - Boeing 747-8 taking off from Boeing Field

Currently in Seattle staying with a friend and today the plan was to visit The Museum of Flight. The Museum is in Tukwila, which is located just to the south of Seattle. The day started with a little light rain, but the sun was soon shining, and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Museum of Flight

The Museum of Flight is rather extensive. There are plenty of exhibits that cover a whole range of different eras of flight. Starting with some very early exhibits right through to the present day. Covering everything from war planes to passenger planes and a space exhibit.

Outdoor Exhibits

In addition to the main museum, there are a couple of aircraft on display outside. We started our visit at the museum with these aircraft located outside. The first one of interest is a Boeing VC-137B, this aircraft was in fact “Air Force One” from 1959-62. But it remained in service until 1996 as part of the presidential fleet.

The second aircraft we looked at outside was the Concorde. The particular plane that is on display first entered service in 1978 and operated until 2003. It also made the last commercial flight of the Concorde in October 2003.

Inside The Museum

Inside there are some rather extensive exhibits, mainly covering World War I and World War II. It is an eye-opening experience as in the past I have seen exhibits from these wars, but they have predominantly focused on ground warfare. It is very fascinating to see things from this different perspective.

The museum also includes a more general area along with a space area. One of the highlights of the tour was the Lockheed Blackbird M-21. Along with the simulated flight traffic control tower, which uses delayed feeds from the actual control tower at Boeing Field.

As it happens there was an aircraft taking off from Boeing Field, which can be seen from the Museum. The aircraft is a test model of the Boeing 747-8 which is the newest version of the 747. The 747-8 is the third generation of the 747 with redesigned wings, lengthened fuselage and improved efficiency.

The last exhibit that we visited was very interesting. However, it was also an area that photography was not allowed. The exhibit covered details right back to the birth of the aircraft with the Wright Brothers. Going right through to many of Boeing’s early achievements.

Seattle Space Needle

The other interesting stop that we made today is to revisit the Seattle Space Needle at night time. I love getting to the opportunity to see a city from observations decks at multiple times of the day. The only downfall is that I did not have a tripod with me so the image is not quite as sharp as I would like.

Destinations

Exploring Seattle From The Space Needle

Posted on April 3, 2011

Today turned out to be a nice day in Seatle, with the sun shining for most of the day. There was some rain later in the day, but that did not spoil it at all. The Seattle City Pass was the guide for the two activities today, which include the Seattle Space Needle and Pacific Science Center

Seattle Space Needle

The Space Needle is something that I have visited before, but it is also worth another visit. The view from the top today though was much better than last time. Even though it was overcast, on my last visit, there was rain, and it was very windy.

The view was much clearer today without the rain or the wind. Looking north over Lake Union.

With this photo looking to the south of the main CBD of Seattle.

Above is one of the Ferry’s that services between Seattle and Bainbridge Island.

Pacific Science Centre Seattle

The Pacific Science Centre would maybe have not even come up on my radar except for being included in the Seattle City Pass. I do not believe that the entry price is all that good in the value wise. Especially when there were two or three additional exhibits that cost extra. That being said visiting as part of the Seattle City Pass was well worth it with an included IMAX movie.

The Pacific Science centre still does have a reasonable amount of exhibits included in the standard price. There are the dinosaurs that are a little hands on with wheels to open and close their mouths. Plus a couple of other sorts of hands-on displays, it is like going back to being a kid again. There is also a butterfly house that was good for a little photography.

The Seattle City Pass also included one IMAX movie as part of the entry. Due to our timing, there were only a couple of options. So, in the end, we made a choice to see a movie about Lewis and Clark. They are two explored who in the early 1800’s made the first expedition from east to west coast of America.

Dinner and Shopping

For dinner this evening we went to a favourite restaurant of my friends, Pablo Veggie Cuisine. The restaurant is an Indian one offering many vegetarian dishes. I decided to try a meal that included a handmade cheese in a curried sauce, with rice and naan bread. Not being a frequent consumer of Indian food I opted for the mild option.

After dinner on the way to find something for dessert we made a stop at a couple of shops. The first was Ross, a discount clothing store, and the second was Target. I had been looking for another long sleeve shirt, but it looks like mostly summer clothing out now.

Not all that relevant to what I wanted to purchase, but interesting is the difference between Target in Australia and the USA. While some of the looks for the store resembles what some Targets in Australia used to look like, they are different companies. Which is evident once you come to the supermarket section with basically everything you need food wise as well.

Finally time for dessert and a store at Ben and Jerry’s for ice cream. I opted for the chocolate therapy flavour. Must say it was not bad at all.

Coming Up

Today turned out to be a perfect day in Seattle. Even though some late rain came through that did not get in the way of seeing anything. Tomorrow there are another two stops we have planned with the Seattle City Pass. Before coming to Monday which honestly we are still discussing what could be done. So that might be a ltitle bit of a surprise to come.

Destinations

Exploring Seattle And A Harbour Cruise

Posted on April 2, 2011

Today I the first day to explore the city of Seattle with my friend that I am staying with who lives here. Even though the day was a little wet, there is still plenty to see and do.

Seattle City Pass

There were some attractions that I want to see, and most of them were included with the Seattle City Pass. I found that the Seattle City Pass offered for me the best value for money. It included access to just six attractions and saved a reasonable amount on the individual entry prices. But unlike some other attraction passes it just included the attractions I was hoping to visit and not an endless list that you never get to.

The attractions that are included in the pass were The Pacific Science Center, The Seattle Aquarium, Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum, Seattle Space Needle and Argosy Harbour Cruise. The sixth inclusion is a choice between The Museum of Flight or Woodland Park Zoo.

**Update May 2017** The pass inclusions have changed slightly since I visited in 2011. There are now five attractions included with two being an either or choice. The pass as of this update costs $79 (USD) and saves you around 45% off full price entry per adult. For more information visit the Seattle City Pass website.

Argosy Harbour Cruise

The photos of the harbour cruise are not the greatest due to the inclement weather. But it was still a great option being that you are inside on the tour boat and the rain did not hamper seeing most of the sights. The only part that was not all that visible was the city skyline.

Throughout the cruise, we could see many of the ships visiting the harbour in Seattle. These included grain ships, tug boats, icebreakers and container ships. It was possible to head outside to get a photo if there was something of interest to photograph.

Seattle Aquarium

Another great indoor activity for the day turned out to be visiting the Seattle Aquarium. Although this was not on my must visit list, since it was included in the pass it was worth taking a look. From my impression, it is a little smaller than some of the other Aquariums I have visited. With both Melbourne Aquarium and Vancouver Aquarium appearing to be bigger with more displays. But this is just my impression; it might not be right.

There were some interesting exhibits, the first one which caught my eye is a squid they have on display. However, being that it was feeding time, there was a rather large crowd assembled and made it impossible to get a photo. Once feeding time was over it was also not possible due to the location in the tank the squid moved to.

Even though it is a smaller space, there are some great displays. Overall I found the visit quite enjoyable, and it might have been even more so if there were fewer kids. However, with this sort of attraction that is not likely to happen most of the time.

There was some beautiful coral in some of the displays, and I do think that I managed to find Nemo.

Rest of the day

After a busy sort of morning, we made our way to Pike Place for lunch at a restaurant named Lowell’s. Their menu did seem heavily focused on seafood, which I suppose based on the location is no surprise. But I did manage to see the menu had an Angus Beef Cheese Burger which I enjoyed. We even had someone that want to join us for lunch, but a window stopped this from happening thankfully, or we might have lost a few chips.

The friend I am staying with lives in Issaquah around 15 miles east of Seattle. So to avoid the afternoon commuter traffic we made a stop around the Capitol Hill area for coffee and a good catch up chat. So today turned out to be a great day even with the rain that could have spoiled it. There are some more great stops on the agenda for tomorrow using the Seattle City Pass and look forward to sharing these with you tomorrow.

Destinations

Exploring Seattle And Boeing Factory

Posted on April 1, 2011

Seattle - Red Eagle Sculpture with Space Needle Behind

Seattle was one of the cities that I visited on my last overseas trip. I had just booked a couple of days as a side thought at that time. However, I very much come to enjoy the time, so I thought it would be fun to return and explore a little more. An added benefit I met a friend along the way on my last trip and they invited me to stay.

The timing of arrival was not perfect, and I needed to spend one night in a hotel in the city first. Then my friend would be able to pick me up the following afternoon. I did a little research upon arrival at the hotel and found I could book a tour of the Boeing Factory to fill in some time in the morning.

Boeing Factory Tour

It turns out that Boeing has some facilities around Seattle. Including Boeing Field to the South in Tukwila and a factory in Renton. However, the tour today would take us to the larger facility they have in Everett to the north of Seattle. They produce four different models at this factory including the 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner.

Largest Building In The World

The building in which the factory resides is in fact, the largest building by volume in the world. It has a capacity of 13.3 million cubic meters, more than double the second place on the list. The next closest is the Jean-Luc Lagardère Plant in Toulouse-Blagnac with just 5.6 million cubic meters.

Getting Up Close

The tour takes you inside this massive factory to see just what goes into producing this large aircraft. There are some different viewing decks that you visit above the production lines of all four models. It very much brings home that the very large aircraft that get us between continents are many up of many very small parts. Unfortunately, no camera’s are allowed on the tour, due to one too many incidents of a camera being dropped and causing damage. However, below is some of the aircraft used in transport parts manufactured elsewhere.

Walking Seattle

I filled in the rest of the spare time I had walking around Seattle. I stopped by the Sculpture Park, marked on a map, but was a little disappointed by the lack of sculptures to see. There is one of the sculptures pictured below. In total there was only about a dozen spread over a relatively large area.

Alki Beach

Once my friend had finished work and come to meet me in the City. It was decided a short drive to an area known as Alki Beach would be a great idea. Even though the weather was not the best, it is still a very beautiful area to see. The beaches are much different to what you find back home in Australia, but the climate does not always allow for swimming so much. It is also a great spot to get a look back across the harbour at the skyline of Seattle.

Destinations

Travelling from Brisbane To Seattle

Posted on March 31, 2011

Good Morning from the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean. I arrived in Los Angeles around 6am local time, and continued on this morning to arrive in Seattle just after lunch. The first flight this morning was good with trip time of about 12.5 hours. But even though I got no sleep on the flight I am still feeling pretty good at the moment.

Flying Virgin Australia

The flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles was a first for me having never flown with Virgin before. The first impressions were definetly positive and continued the whole way through the flight. I would not hesitate to recommend a friend to fly with them, or to book again in the future. There is a few reasons for me to say this,

Same service as Qantas, just a better price.
Good Food, 3 choices for lunch, 2 choices at Breakfast and also multiple snacks along the way.
In-flight entertainment system, was one of the better ones I have used, it was fast to load, and the touch screen was good. Only downfall here is a fairly basic route map option.

Unless another option comes along I think Virgin will be my choice for crossing the Pacific in future.

Through the Airport

Once we landed in Los Angeles the process seemd to take a lot longer than last time. But even once I was though the customs interview, I was still waiting for my luggage. The time it took today was no problem as I had booked an afternoon flight for the next flight to Seattle. I wanted to ensure there would be no conflicts if there were any delays.

The onwards flight to Seattle was with Virgin America and I had booked a 3.30pm flight. Since I was flying the same day and did not want to carry my baggage I decided to go and see if I could check it in early. It turns out I had the right booking and asked the right questions and soon had my booking changed to a 9.15 flight.

Virgin America

On my last trip to America the travel agent just gave me the best priced options. But when looking to book this trip I felt a little more comfortable about doing my own bookings for flights. In doing this research I discover some rather good prices for flying First Class with Virgin America.

Making it a short story I could get the flight from Los Angeles to Seattle, a 2 hour 45 minute flight for $250. The price was all inclusive, first class seat, priorty security & boarding, luggage, inflight entertainment & meals. I did not pay much different to this for an economy seat when I visited Melbourne last year.

It was a rather good deal for the flight. The fact that I had booked this ticket for first class also helped to get the flight change on the day. If I had booked economy I would have had to pay extra to change the flight. Very happy to not have to spend around six hours waiting for my original flight.

I have booked another two flights with Virgin America in First Class over the next two weeks. While I would like to say that it is something I could get used to, I think it is more a current deal on the prices. Looking at some other flights it was looking much more expensive.

In Seattle

It was good to arrive into Seattle a bit earlier than expected. I was able to get a number of things done that I had been planning to do in the morning. After getting checked into the hotel I got some credit for my US sim card. Before making use of the Couch Surfing website to meet a local for coffee. There were not to many useful pictures today, but will try and have some ready for your tomorrow.

Destinations

Exploring Kowloon Park, Hong Kong

Posted on November 18, 2010

Hong Kong - Kowloon Park Reflection Pool

I have enjoyed my time in Hong Kong, but today is the last day for in Hong Kong and for my trip. I slept in a little this morning to try and help with being awake later tonight to board the flight home. In the end, I did not push myself too much today instead grabbing the last souvenirs and gifts I wanted for people. Before heading to Kowloon Park for a walk and some photos.

Harbour City

Although I found plenty of souvenir shops and was able to quickly pick up what I wanted. Well, not exactly what I wanted, but there was enough choice to find something suitable. But that is not a problem as they worked out much cheaper than I expected as well.

The next stop was the Harbour City Shopping Centre. I had found a great bookstore here called PageOne. While they do compare to some bookstores at home, they seem to stock a more interesting range of books. That did not translate into them having the specific books I wanted. However, I did find a couple of books that were of some interest. But I did have to keep in mind the weight limit for the flight home, so purchased less than I may have.

Kowloon Park

One of the last spots in the city that I knew I wanted to visit was Kowloon Park. The closest comparison to Kowloon Park in Brisbane would be the City Botanic Gardens. Although Kowloon Park is a little small at around 33 acres (City Botanic Gardens Brisbane is 49 acres). But even though the size is smaller they seem to have fit a lot more into make a great green space in this city of concrete.

Not only are many different areas of the park with different types and varieties of plants. There are also some different wildlife habitats, for both birds and fish.

Another feature in Kowloon Park is a Bird enclosure and they do have a few different and interesting birds in this enclosure, one of them being the Rhinoceros Hornbill.

Another interesting feature that I found in Kowloon Park is the variety of sculptures. Along one walkway, in particular, I found 15 along each side. But there are also many others placed individually around the park as well.

Another beautiful feature of the park is the ponds and waterfalls. They very much help to add to the tranquillity of the park. Something very much needed when you consider how busy and concrete the surrounding city is.

Filling In Time

At this point, it was at that time where it was a little too early to go to the airport. But at the same time, it was too late to get into exploring much further. I found my way back to the shopping centre for a drink and a bite to eat. Where I also found myself capturing the setting sun over the cruise ship in port today, Star Aquarius.

I also came across another sculpture; I just seem to be attracted to them today. Located in the Harbour City shopping centre, this rock sculpture appears to depict two warriors.

Soon enough though I decided to head back towards the hotel to collect my luggage. Before heading onwards to the airport for the final leg of this journey back home to Brisbane. The flight turned out to be rather uneventful, which is how you hope every flight turns out I suppose.

With my arrival home in Brisbane, this brings to a close a fantastic 39-day adventure. If you would like to read more about any part of the trip you can find a summary of Trip 2 – Round The World

Destinations

Hong Kong The Land Between Tour

Posted on November 15, 2010

Hong Kong - Sam Mun Tsai Fishing Village

Today I had booked another tour, which I would have cancelled after the experience of the tour yesterday. However, this particular tour had been recommended to me by a family member that lives in Hong Kong. So I had some level of comfort that it would have some value.

The Land Between Tour

The tour leaves the city behind and heads into an area known as the New Territories. The idea is to see the real Hong Kong, that there is more to the area than just Skyscrapers. Having completed the tour now, it is a total black & white difference between the tour around the city and this tour. Yesterday almost the whole tour was trying to sell something, while today there was not one sales pitch.

Yuen Yuen Institute

The temple complex at the Yuen Yuen Institute is dedicated to the three most prominent religions in Hong Kong. These religions are Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The area the temple is located in is a rather beautiful area. However, the temple while surrounded by green is still rather close to the city. But when you consider the area of the country (2,755 km²) and population (7.3 million people) the city is never far away.

You might be able to see the city from here, but you cannot hear it. The peace and quiet here are incredible compared to the noise of the city when we boarded the bus not 30 minutes earlier.

Tai Mo Shan Lookout

After departing the temple, the tour made a stop at a lookout on the slopes of Hong Kong’s Highest Peak. Tai Mo Shan stands at a height of 957m above sea level, with the lookout around 800m above sea level.

The view from here looks out over the town of Tsuen Wan, which you can make out through the haze. If you were to strain your eyes, you could almost see some of the buildings in Kowloon. Or maybe we were just hoping we could.

Fanling Village

The next stop was Fanling Village, which is a walled village that is almost 400 years old. Until recently the village only had one entrance (pictured below) at the front of the village. The entrance had the ability to be secure, restricting access to the entire village.

The houses and buildings within the village are built rather tightly together as you can see in the image below.

Luk Keng Road

There was a roadside stop on the road named Luk Keng Road. Before arriving here, we had passed reasonably close to the border between China and Hong Kong. From this roadside stop, we were able to see some things. The first is an island which at the right time of year is a place where many birds next. Second is the green hills around this more open countryside.

Also from here, it was possible for the guide to point out specific places across the Chinese Border. So this is technically the closest I have been to China at this point. Who knows I will likely visit China at some time in the future.

Bride’s Pool Falls

Before the tour today most of my impression of what I would expect to see in Hong Kong was the city. I had not even considered that I might get to see waterfalls. Bride’s Pool Falls is a series of pools and waterfalls and is just a beautiful place to walk around just off the road. While some of the trees are different, I feel almost like I could be standing in Australia in the photo below.

Floating Fishing Village

The final stop on the tour before lunch was at a lookout to see a small floating fishing village. The residents of this village though don’t just catch the fish they breed them in submerged cages below the village. The area looks nice and calm today, but some of the village has had damage from typhoons recently. Unfortunately, the village could have a limited life span with development looking to encroach. The area here is earmarked for a marina, which will be attached to a nearby high-end residential development.

Lunch

Included with the tour is a traditional Chinese lunch at a local restaurant. The lunch was served banquet style with six main dishes with rice as an accompaniment, and seasonal fruit at the end. The tour guide explained that this might be a little different to meals you might get elsewhere. Everything was cooked int he traditional way that locals eat, and there was no changes or enhancement to suit western expectations. The fact is emphasised through the restaurant being substantial in size with what seemed to be hundreds of locals also eating lunch.

Evening

The tour today was a rather eye opening experience, and something I would recommend any visitor to Hong Kong does. You very much get a different insight into that Hong Kong is more than just a city.

To finish off the day I did some walking around a shopping area near to the hotel. The centre is called Harbour City and covers almost 2 million square feet of space. There are some 700 shops, including 50 restaurants, two cinema complexes and is connected to three hotels. The experience is entirely different with a mixture of high-end brand names alongside small unique one-off stores.

Overall today has been one of the highlights of my trip, which is almost coming to an end.

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San Francisco Bay Cruise

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz Island

Skyline View

Forbes Island

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

CouchSurfing Meetup #2

Tomorrow

San Francisco City Pass

San Francisco Aquarium

Pier 39

Alcatraz

CouchSurfing

Lake Quinault

Kalaloch

Museum of Flight

Outdoor Exhibits

Inside The Museum

Seattle Space Needle

Seattle Space Needle

Pacific Science Centre Seattle

Dinner and Shopping

Coming Up

Seattle City Pass

Argosy Harbour Cruise

Seattle Aquarium

Rest of the day

Boeing Factory Tour

Largest Building In The World

Getting Up Close

Walking Seattle

Alki Beach

Flying Virgin Australia

Through the Airport

Virgin America

In Seattle

Harbour City

Kowloon Park

Filling In Time

The Land Between Tour

Yuen Yuen Institute

Tai Mo Shan Lookout

Fanling Village

Luk Keng Road

Bride’s Pool Falls

Floating Fishing Village

Lunch

Evening

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