Hong Kong Day 4--Susie the Slave Driver

We woke up Friday morning feeling relieved that we had our visas, but I felt that it's our last day to tour so I was a bit pushy. I may be slow getting going in the morning, but once I'm up and ready I'm really ready to go. In my defence we did have quite a few things we wanted to fit in on our last day. Three tourist attractions with our track record of having trouble finding places was going to be a huge feat for one day.

We started the morning at Noah's Ark. It was easy traveling there with one line change on the MTR, catching the bus right outside of the station, and getting off in front of the Noah's Ark welcome center.

It's supposed to be the actual size that Noah's Ark was although I don't think you have to actually have full-size animals. The exhibits were well done with a good mixture of pictures, information, and videos. Everything was done in English; even the movie had English showings, and the staff was very helpful in inviting us in for the English version. The movie was well-done and told the true story of why the flood happened.

The exhibits also talked about the size of the ark and how the construction compares to modern day vessels. They talked about the history of the searches for the ark and information about some of the interesting animals God created. They raised questions that would lead people to think about creation rather than evolution. They also provided historical and cultural information about the life and times of Noah and his family including traditional foods that are still eaten in Turkey (Noah's pudding); legend says that it was the last meal that Noah and his family enjoyed on the ark.

I really only had one disappointment about the park and that was the tie-in with global warming and the environment at the end. I was disappointed that they talked about the true story in the movie but tied taking care of the environment to ward off any future disasters in the final display. I'm not for damaging our environment, but we should take care of the Earth in order to be good stewards not because we think we can change or prevent what God has already said will happen in the last days.

I had read some bad reviews about this place on trip advisor, and I also had the bad review from the Thai lady we met. I think some people don't like it because it's Christian, and I think for the majority of days it's probably not very busy. We went on a holiday, and there were lots of other families visiting so they had all of the displays opened and working. We had a great time!

 I love these pictures of Rusty coming off of the ark with the animals. Pawn saw them and said Rusty is always funny. She had no idea these pictures were my idea. I guess no one expects it out of me.

As we were leaving we noticed the beach had really filled up from the time we arrived. I don't think they could have fit very many more people under the trees in the shade. The few westerners who were there were baking in the sun.

We caught the bus back to the MTR station and continued on to the end of the line to catch the cable cars. Unfortunately when we got there the line was so long we decided to skip it. So note to future travelers, the web is correct when it talks about pre-buying these tickets to avoid long lines. Of course we were also trying this on a national holiday, but I would still pre-buy to be on the safe side.

We made it back into the city and easily found our next destination. This Nan Lian Garden was highly rated on trip advisor, and it's free! We figured it would be a great destination for some great photography, and it did not disappoint. The garden was built by the Chi Lin Nunnery which is housed behind the garden. The layout is an important part of the Chinese culture following the lines of the Tang dynasty. It's the only modern garden where the original layout can be traced back. Hills and rocks, waters, plants and the timber structures follow the rules of the Tang style, and it strives to utilize the local environment making the most of the view of the mountain range as a backdrop.

 The garden has a nice mixture of water, hills, trees, and rocks.

 This water area was full of beautiful fish.

After we left the gardens we found a busy restaurant for a bite of supper. Rusty made the call since I had pushed him so hard all day. Haha! Seriously we were both a bit fatigued and needed some fuel to make it through to the end of the day.

After we got some fuel into our bodies we decided to catch one more glimpse of the night view of the iconic skyline and take the ferry back to the island. Then we decided to take the ding ding (cable car) back to the hotel after we stopped at the Starbucks to get my Hong Kong souvenir mug. Unfortunately we got on the wrong line for the ding ding. I was joking with Rusty that we were the only ones left on the car, and we laughed. Then we realized that we were at the end of the line and were turning around. We ran downstairs and waited for the car to stop so that we could get off. We ended up paying double fare since the car had already turned around, and in the excitement I left my mug on the car.  Rusty was good enough to buy me another mug and told me we'll have a great story to tell about that mug. :) We finally made it back to the hotel and started packing up for our journey home. *Take away from day 4--be thankful when your husband finds a place to eat because it's probably going to be really good food since he noticed all of the people eating there.Also, it's a good idea to read reviews on the internet, but sometimes you have to follow what you're interested in. Noah's Ark was not rated so high, and we liked it. The Nan Lian Garden was rated highly, and we also enjoyed that.