Shatin and the Heritage Museum

I woke up Friday morning not sure of how I was going to spend my day. My original thought was to head to Victoria Peak, which provides great views of the Hong Kong skyline from above. However, with all of the haze that I saw yesterday, the Peak would likely be a disappointment.

Last night Ray had suggested that I visit the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, located in Shatin. I had visited Shatin 10 years ago, but at that time it required a train ride outside of the well-marked MTR subway system. I wasn't sure I was up for that sort of adventure today. When I checked the museum's web site to see what other transportation options I might have, I was excited to find that the MTR had been extended up to Shatin and beyond. I would be visiting the Heritage Museum today.

I used an MTR iPhone app to plot my subway trip. It is very well-designed; NYC's MTA should take lessons from the MTR app designers. The trip required me to change trains 3 times during my journey, yet it took me less than a half hour. (i don't know how they do it, but I've never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a train on the MTR. On the MTA, if you've timed things badly, you could wait as long as 15-20 minutes.)

I got to the station closest to the Heritage Museum easily, and an online map had given me a good idea of where I'd have to walk to get there. My stomach was reminding me that I hadn't had anything to eat yet. A stop at the station's 7-11 for a chicken salad sandwich shut it up real quickly.

I spent about 3 hours wandering among the museum's exhibits, and found it interesting. It helped that there was a variety of subjects to explore: calligraphy, painting, Cantonese opera history, city planning, ancient artwork... The multimedia presentations alternated between Chinese and English, and I took advantage of these to rest a bit.

As I finished up the museum tour, my stomach started complaining again. I had two choices: I could head back to a more familiar area to find some food, or I could see what I could find in Shatin. Since the day had gone so well so far, I decided to be adventurous and find something local. I followed signs to the Town Centre (note the British spelling) and came upon a decent-sized mall attached to a couple of upscale hotels. The mall had a number of restaurants, the trick was finding one that allowed me to easily select and order food. I hit pay dirt on my fourth try: I found a Thai restaurant with a menu that had both photos and English descriptions. Chicken with green curry sauce and rice, along with a lime soda, and my stomach was happy again.

My evening was uneventful as well. I retraced my subway trip and easily returned to Mongkok. I went back to the room to rest and wait for Daniel to return from China. Resting turned into passing out, which was just as well because Daniel arrived much later than originally planned. We grabbed some late-night noodles at Daniel's brother's store, followed by dessert at my favorite Hong Kong dessert place (I love a fruit bowl with coconut milk and mango ice cream!), and called it a night.