This morning dawned beautifully clear and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky and hardly any pollution either. There is a cold surge warning for most of the island but it warmed up into the 70's by midday, which is about as lovely as it can be. We took advantage of the weather and headed to Monkey Mountain.

There's always the worry when you take newbies up there that they won't see any monkeys. The hike is a bit tough - lots of stairs so you gain elevation very quickly - so you want some reward, right? And this is Monkey Mountain, after all, so you want monkeys, right? The Chinese name for the mountain, by the way, is Shoushan, which does not translate to monkeys.

We did, once again, find monkeys to show off to Gavin.

There were not as many as we've seen on some hikes but there were a lot more than usual walking on the boardwalks with us. It's kind of cool, and kind of unnerving, to have a large monkey sauntering along next to as you hike in the jungle. They're barely interested in you, unless of course you open your backpack. I did not bring out any snacks for them to grab away from me, but we did see a woman lose her bag of nuts to a very speedy fellow.

Because the air had cleaned up so nicely the views were quite spectacular. This is looking north, with the ocean peeking out along the left.

This is looking west at a bunch of ships anchored off the coast waiting to come in to the harbor, or whatever it is they're waiting for.

Since we were out and about already we decided to stay out and about and headed down to the harbor. We locked our bikes at the base of the hill and walked up to the former British Consulate and enjoyed the view and a cup of coffee.