Slept until 9:00. McDonald;s for breakfast--pancakes! They tasted good. Then errands and chores--take laundry, take dry cleaning, get some bread, etc. It rains almost all day--sometimes pretty hard. We really need it. It was getting pretty dry. An easy and lazy Saturday. Ahhhhhhhhh.
Sun:
More of the same. I am still feeling less than 100%. More rain today.
Mon:
Feeling a little better, but I am getting frustrated with the way this thing is lingering. I search on the internet for Hong Kong Doctors, and get a website of the HK medical association that allows me to search for doctors by specialty and location. I find a family practitioner nearby and call his office. I assume that I will have to get an appointment for maybe in the next day or two if I am lucky. However, the nurse asks me, "are you coming now?" to which I respond "yes, if it is OK with you". And so at about 12:45 I walk a couple blocks to the office of Dr. Wong Pak-Hoi, who according to the internet info was trained in Australia. After checking in with reception and filling-out a short form I am ushered into the doctor's office. He is wearing a business suit, and the nurse is there with us. Under his direction she takes my temperature, and he checks my pulse, blood pressure, and listens to my chest. He tells me that I have the flu, that it is going away slowly, but he will give me some prescriptions to help it leave more quickly. A few minutes later I am leaving the doctor's office with my medicine. Total cost $190HK, or about $25.00! Wow! Amazing! Now if the medicine works I will really be happy!
Later in the afternoon I return to the doctor's office with the Typhoid vaccine that I had gotten in Evanston but had never taken, and it was now too old and had not been stored properly. The doctor said he would check to see if he could get it for me. Later he called me and said that yes, he could get it in a couple days, and the cost would be about $180HK.
The rest of the day I continue to rest. And, by evening the weather has really changed. Instead of humid and light rain, it is now much cooler, and the sky is clear. There is a bright full moon! If I had more energy I would go to the Peak tonight. Oh well, I will have to wait.
Feeling a bit better, more energy. Not 100%, but about 80% which is pretty good compared to where I was. Still took it easy all morning. In afternoon finally get up and out. Walk directly north from the apartment to Quarry Bay Park, found the walkway that takes you over the highway to the waterfront. Wow! What a nice place, and what a beautiful day. Sunny, clear, cool. If this is winter in HK then I'm glad to be here for the winter!
I walked east along the waterfront. There were several runners and walkers on the walkway, and at one point a group of runners (apparently very experienced based on their fast pace) whooshed past going the other way. Along the retaining wall several people were fishing, but I did not see any evidence of fish actually caught. About 500 meters east there was a park café, serving drinks and snacks. Outside there were a few groups of older men hunched over some sort of game (checkers, or something similar, I did not actually see it). Soon after the park ended, but the sidewalk continued along the waterside. To my right was a quiet street, and on the other side of the street were several open air restaurants and coffee shops. What a pleasant environment! I will have to come here for lunch or dinner someday.
As I was walking in front of the restaurants I saw a ferry boat approaching, and I followed it to a nearby ferry terminal. The ferry went directly north across the bay to Lei Yue Mun. I asked about the price, $4.80HK each way, and I decided that it was a nice day for a boat ride. So I paid my money and boarded. We soon pulled-away from the dock and headed across the bay. The ferry had a lower and upper deck, and I went upstairs. There were only 5 or 6 other people on board. The ride was quiet, and it was nice to breathe in the fresh air and watch the boats go by. As we approached the other side I saw that we were nearing a small fishing village along the water. The ferry terminal was a smallish building just east of an industrial area where a crane was loading scrap metal onto a barge. To the west of the ferry was a waterway leading into a marina area, and along the waterway were several fishing boats tied-up to the back-side of what appeared to be homes. On the land side of these homes was a street, and on the other side of the street I could see restaurants, presumably seafood ones. Maybe one day I will come back and explore more, but today I decide to just enjoy the boat ride. So I stay on the boat and ride back to where I started.
After disembarking (and paying another one-way fare for my return trip) I walked further east, but the sidewalk soon ended at the construction site of another high rise apartment. So I turned around and headed back to the west, retracing my steps along the waterfront. When I reached the spot where I had started I kept going west. The park continued along for another 500 meters or so, until it ended at a wire fence. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted! I walked back towards my building.
This was one of the first times I had actually walked around the neighborhood at street level. I have spent a lot of time going to and from the MTR and in and thru the Cityplaza mall. Now I knew that I was a short 2 blocks from the water! I will need to do some walking next week! I went back to the apartment and relaxed. Later that evening, after I had dinner in the mall, I walked back to the waterfront. It was really very beautiful. A full moon, the bright lights from the buildings across the bay. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me! Ouch!
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