Valentine's on the Peak!

Monday, February 13th was turning out to be a normal day. I had just finished my two classes of the day, and went home to Skype with my brother. As usual, he was being clown. After our conversation, I was sitting in my room, thinking of what I was going to do in the immediate future, when my phone rang.

Melody: Hello?
Jordan: Hey, how's it going?
Melody: Good! How you?
Jordan: Good. Um, hey, do you have dress clothes?
Melody: Uh...yes. I brought a summer dress thing...
Jordan: Ok, good. And what kind of shoes?
Melody: Well...I have a pair of heels and my flats.
Jordan: Oh ok!

So it appears that my boyfriend suddenly developed an interest in women's apparel.
Maybe I should ask him what pair of shoes I should wear to match my blue, green and yellow summer dress? I'm just kidding. I know that Jordan did not suddenly develop an interest women's clothing...I know something was up. He said he would pick me up in half an hour and with that, we both started to get ready!

We met up a while later, with Jordan looking extra fancy in his new, crisp dress shirt! He joked around, saying that we were going to the cafeteria to eat, but I knew that wasn't it because Jordan usually has something special brewing when he become secretive like this. We walk the usual path to the bus stop to get on our path to the ultimate surprise!

I bothered Jordan throughout the trip by constantly asking him "Where we going' and 'What is it?' (meaning what is the surpirse). He must have gotten used to my nagging by now, because he kept saying 'You'll see' without cracking down a bit or giving a hint. Damn. But it was all good; I guess a surprise does mean one party has to be kept in the dark...hmph.

Although Jordan's plan did not go as smoothly as planned, due to us getting lost for a little bit, I must give him props for navigating us throughout a unknown city that speaks mainly Cantonese, some Mandarin, and a tad bit of English if you are lucky. We finally arrived at our destination, and it was...(are you ready for it)...a trip on the tram, up to The Peak, which is the highest point on Hong Kong Island!

I was indeed very surprised. I suspected Jordan would take me to a Taiwanese restaurant for dinner, around Mong Kok or some other area, since I was pretty much drooling while looking at pictures of Taiwanese food a few days ago. I feel quite bad for the next person using the computer I was using in the computer lab. The thought of going to the peak was very exciting for me since I heard lots of grand stories about The Peak but did not have the chance to go up there yet. We were both surprised by the line that was there - although it was a weekday night, there was still a lot of people. We waited for a bit in the line and eventually the line moved forward...although it seemed like we were a pack of hungry farm animals waiting to get fed some grains. It's funny how people are so pushy and eager to get to the next phase of the waiting process, even if the next phase consists of waiting 3 feet from where they originally were anyways...

"The next tram will arrive in 3 minutes." said the voice over the PA system. Excitement rose inside of me...we were almost there! We were let through to phase 2 of the waiting game, meaning we got to stand beside the track, so we can board soon. Yay! Soon enough, we were on the tram. Jordan and I attempted to take some pictures of the tram and the view outside, but it was simply too dark. Some of the picture I took were of the blurry reflection of Jordan on the window, and also the back of the head of the guy sitting in front of us. Hmm, profile picture worthy?

The tram ride was short and sweet. It wasn't too scenic; it was more for the experience of riding the tram that was developed in the 1920s. What surprised me was how many apartments and residences we passed by on the way...imagine living right beside a funicular railway! I would look outside the window and see a bunch of tourists looking back at me...and think, oh dang, they're snapping so many pictures...

As Jordan mentioned later on during the night, this place was definitely the more touristy place we have yet to visit so far. There was a market selling souvenir trinkets as soon as we got off the tram and entered the Peak Tower. We rode up the many escalators in the dim purple, set-the-mood lighting and made our way up to the top.

The view was simply breath-taking. The last time I remember being this high up, higher than the skyscrapers in the city, was in Taiwan, in the Taipei 101. That day in Taiwan was very cloudy though, so we did not get too great of a view. But this time, we had the perfect view. It was clear, but there was a layer of cloud in the sky that brightly reflected the many city lights below it. Shine, dazzle, shine - everywhere we turned. We saw so much of the city, yet we were so far away from the hustle bustle of everyday city life. We leaned on the terrace railing, and felt the cool mountain breeze sweep across on our faces, playing with our hair. It was wonderfully refreshing and calming. 

 Melody Spying on residents

 The view!

 Bubba Gump Shrimp Company!

 Night scenery

Happy Valentine's Day 2012!

Of course, the camera came out. Jordan experimented with some long exposure shots, and we took turns taking pictures of each other with the city lights in the background. We discovered a more practical use of the coin-operated binoculars - a place to rest the camera to take pictures! So we got to take some couple shots, and we scoffs at the tourists that paid $100 to get their picture taken by the 'professional' photographers! Ok, we didn't really scoff, but we thought it was pretty expensive...

Two and a half hours went by in a whim - we took more pictures, peered more intently at some buildings below us (with and without a monocular), walked around the entire terrace, read about some of the history of the tram and the Peak, and enjoyed the wind.

To be continued...