Last Day of Orientation- Visit to The Peak, Stanley Market & Avenue of Stars

Yesterday was the last official day of orientation for the IASP (International Asian Studies Programme) I'm in at CUHK for this semester. The entire day was supposed to be a field trip of sorts to various must see locations in Hong Kong. Our first stop of course had to be The Peak on Hong Kong Island.

The Peak Tower at Victoria Peak 太平山. 

Lunch at the top of The Peak at Tsui Wah Restaurant 翠華餐廳.  

The view from the top of The Peak.

Victoria Peak 太平山 is the tallest mountain on the island and offers the best views of Hong Kong island. It was indeed a sight to behold, but I was told by several people that it's even more beautiful at night. The bus ride was a bit bumpy on the way down from The Peak. There were two lanes, one up and on down, although ideally, nobody in their right mind would drive two big tour buses next to each other. Although several times, that is precisely what our bus driver had to maneuver around- another tour bus on the very narrow road going down a steep mountain. Our next stop was to Stanley, which is a town on Hong Kong island by the water.

The waterfront at Stanley.

Blake Pier at Stanley.

The water was pretty clean and there were people fishing all around the edges of the water. You could even see the little fish swimming in the water if you're close enough.

After visiting Stanley Market, we walked around the area some more and the views were stunning because the sun was starting to set.

The third and last stop on our tour was to see the Avenue of Stars at Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙咀. The Avenue of Stars is like the Hollywood Walk of Fame in California but featuring people from the Chinese film industry. But the moment I got there, the skyline was obviously the main attraction for me. I was so captivated by the views, I don't even remember seeing any names of famous people on the floor or anywhere else.

Anywhere you go in Hong Kong, there are many, many people. 香港有很多人.

After dinner, we decided we should get some dessert at Hui Lau Shan 許留山. I shared this dish of mangoes and black glutinous rice in coconut and mango juice with someone. It was absolutely divine.

This was the first time at this place for most of the people in the group I was with, we just had to introduce them to this magnificent place! Hui Lau Shan has quickly become one of my favorite dessert places in HK. They feature mango in most of their dishes, but not all. The flavors they offer are also very Asian, such as red bean, glutinous rice, coconut, black sesame and taro. So many of these flavors I would choose in an instant over chocolate or caramel. I didn't even know I was that big a fan of Asian desserts until I got here. But it's like these Hong Kong eateries know exactly what I want to eat and what flavor combinations I want. I could gain weight so easily here if I wanted to.