Day 1: February 24, 2016. 
Travel from San Jose, Costa Rica to Hong Kong.
On the way to Bali for the Aslan Institute pilgrimage, my friend Leah Evans and I decided to stop over in Hong Kong for 3 days to recover from jet lag prior to beginning the pilgrimage in Bali. After 30 hours of travel, I arrived in Hong Kong at 6 AM on February 26, having crossed the International Date Line. We chose the Shangri-La Hotel based on Leah's experience traveling to Hong Kong on business in past years. The hotel picked me up at the airport and drove me in a big Mercedes to the hotel where I checked in and promptly crashed.


The lobby of the Shangri-La is quite grand.


The room at the Shangri-La was lovely, but after 30 hours of travel, I was only interested in the bed!


The hotel had thoughtfully provided an assortment of fruit, pastries, and tea for my arrival.


Morning in Hong Kong viewed from my hotel window. Was that fog or smog? I was disappointed in my first view of this legendary city.

Day 2: February 27, 2016
Exploring Hong Kong with Leah.
After a day of recovery and sleep, Leah and I met for breakfast and then a hike through Hong Kong to the peak overlooking the city.

Hong Kong is an amazing city of shops, restaurants, and bustling activity on a spectrum from small sidewalk food stalls to chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce limos plying the city streets.

It was cooler in Hong Kong than I had anticipated, so my shopping was limited to one light-weight sweater and one long sleeve shirt. Then we hit the city.

Hong Kong is a congested metropolis with many planned green spaces for citizens to enjoy. There is a trail to the top of the peak, and the trail is punctuated by parks.


Even the turtles get their own corner of green space.


I always seem to find old hospitals when I travel. This one was on the trail up to the peak, an old women's hospital.


Potted loquats decorate the entrance to a building and break up the expanse of stone and concrete that make up Hong Kong. Right, view of the city from the Peak Trail.


We made it to the top! Lots of tourists!


Time for beer and pizza!

Day 3: February 28
Dragon's Back and Dinner in Kowloon


Start of the Dragon's Back trail, voted "Best Urban Hiking Trail" in 2004 by Time Magazine. And a posted warning not to eat wild mushrooms. Thanks! We wouldn't have known!

The trail was well-maintained and busy with lots of local hikers wanting clean air away from the city. Vistas from the trail were spectacular. Above, a suburb of Hong Kong.

Hikers on the trail. That is Leah way ahead of me--not because she's fast (she is) but because I kept stopping to take photos.

This is the top of the Dragon's Back trail: Shek O Peak. It's all downhill from here!

The day we hiked Dragon's Back, there were lots of parasailors. We happened upon one about to launch and watched him go. We were jealous!

Happy Hikers!

We were still "jet-laggy" so we elected to ride the bus back down the hill. At the bottom, we stumbled upon a Chinese Market.

The market was very busy. The produce was beautiful.

Many stalls selling fish, meat, and cooked birds of all varieties. 

And a huge variety of dried fish in all sizes.

This was the most popular stall in the market. Two women were combining dried beans, seeds, nuts, and rice that customers ordered from a large list of ingredients. They then ground the chosen components in a big electric grinder to make a kind of powder or flour that must be used in cooking.

And yes, they're here.....

That evening, we met a former coworker of Leah's for dinner in Kowloon.

Hong Kong from a high-rise restaurant in Kowloon. At 8 PM every night, there is a laser light show. It was beautiful, but I couldn't catch a photo of it.

The food was delicious and spectacularly presented.

Day 4: February 29

Old Hong Kong

Breakfast at the hotel, and finally some spectacular views of the city without smog/fog.

"Old Hong Kong" was described to us as "from the Colonial period." We went there expecting lovely architecture (and we found some) but the "Colonial period" in Hong Kong was the time before 1997 when the British returned possession of the city to China. So it was newer than we expected.

We did come across an old Chinese temple, fully decked out for Chinese New Year.

Inside, attendees were visiting the various shrines and lighting incense and praying. We felt strange taking photos during their religious activities, but they were quite friendly and helpful as we wandered through.

The temple was filled with smoke from incense, so much so that the light in the photos was affected. Too bad to think that the truly devout wind up with emphysema!

Outside the temple, we stumbled across the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science, but it was closed. Too bad. I would have loved learning more about traditional Chinese medicine. The building was interesting anyway.

The adaptability of plants is amazing. There trees planted atop a stone wall found a way to survive and spread, despite their artificial environment.

Last Evening in Hong Kong.

We decided to take the Shangri-La concierge's recommendation for dinner at "The Happy Lobster Place." Not sure if that was in fact the name of the restaurant, or just his description. All the potential dinner items are viewed from the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

With the help of our waiter and the man in charge of the tanks, we made our selection. This is a shrimp, not a lobster! Fresh veggies as side dishes.

Dinner is served! Leah's prawns on the left. I ordered "Lobster in Butter Sauce," which was really lobster in melted butter and cheese. Sort of "Paula Deen Meets Hong Kong." It was delicious!

Satisfied diners at the end of a full day. Tomorrow we fly to Bali to begin the "serious" part of our pilgrimage.