Christmas in Hong Kong

---

The four day Christmas Break finally arrived. No rest for us however, as we were up at 5:00 am Christmas Day to get ready for our 6:00 am pickup by our driver who whisked the four of us off to the Dalian airport. We were off to Hong Kong with Thomas, a teacher from the school, and his wife, Feng-wei, who grew up in China and went to high school in Hong Kong. She trained as a nurse in Britain and met Thomas in Canada! They have traveled all over the world and make awesome travel guides.

We discovered just how good Feng-wei was to travel with even before we left. They had already booked their flights at really reasonable prices. When we looked into it, the prices were ridiculously expensive but we decided to go anyway. We had to pay cash for the tickets and exceeded out daily limits on the cash machine twice trying to get enough RMB to pay for everything.

We were going to fly right into Hong Kong airport which is pretty neat in itself. We gather not as exciting as it used to be before the built the new airport. Thomas and Feng-wei fly to Shenzhen, a “town” just across the border from Hong Kong. It used to be a sleepy fishing village but has grown to over 8 million people since Hong Kong reverted to China. You get off the plane and take a bus to downtown Hong Kong about an hour or so away. The price was incredibly cheaper. Feng-wei made some calls on our behalf and found a travel agent who could match the price they paid so we are able to travel together. You stop at the border, get off the bus to go through “exit China” control then walk a bit and go through “enter Hong Kong” control. Back on the bus for what we thought was the final leg. But no, we had to change buses to go through the tunnel to Victoria Island where “downtown” Hong Kong is located.

The hotel was called the Harbourview and is currently on the waterfront. At the rate they are reclaiming land it won’t be waterfront for long. Even their harbour view may be lost as they build new buildings on the reclaimed land. Thomas had said the rooms were small but they were just fine for what we wanted. Very comfortable, great view and came with a fabulous “western” breakfast. One of the great pleasures of the trip was sitting over breakfast enjoying many cups of coffee and just relaxing. The hotel was actually run by the YMCA and had a big stylized logo on the outside but it wasn’t like any YMCA I had ever seen in North America.

So what does one do in Hong Kong on Christmas Day? Well, the first stop is a transit station to buy an "octopus card" which allows you convenient access to all the buses, ferries and subways. We rode the double-decker trolley across town to where Thomas wanted to order some new glasses. When she found out the prices, Dianne decided to order some new glasses and frames as well as a new pair of over-the-top sunglasses. Very stylish! We wandered back to the hotel area where we found a new restaurant that Feng-wei had heard about from some of her local contacts. It wasn’t our normal turkey with all the trimmings but it was great. The chap we dealt with had some English and we had many laughs during our visit. If we couldn’t be with family, we couldn’t ask for a more enjoyable Christmas dinner.

Boxing Day saw Feng-wei off to their travel agent arranging for their trip over the Winter Holiday. As well as some side-trips, they plan a trip to France! Thomas took us on the MRT (subway) to Kowloon where we walked around looking at the various sites and sights. We visited the Peninsula Hotel where the British had surrendered 67 years ago on Christmas Day. It was remarkable how much it felt like walking into the Empress in Victoria or the Palliser in Calgary… only bigger and even more expensive. We took the ferry back to Victoria Island.

We planned to take a different ferry to Lantau Island to visit the Big Buddha but the next ferry wasn’t leaving for a while. We decided to take a walk and visited one of the largest delis I have ever seen. It sells all kinds of delicious breads, meats and cheeses but the only thing I bought was a two cup Pyrex measuring cup! I have wanted one of these ever since we got here. It makes heating milk for cappuccinos just that much easier and means one less thing to bring back from our Winter Holiday trip to Canada.

We got back to the ferry terminal just in time to board. We got good seats and enjoyed watching the incredible display of buildings along the waterfront. At one point, Dianne asked Thomas the name of the island we were going to visit. He got the strangest little smile on his face before he admitted he had just realized we were on the wrong boat! We were on the ferry to Llama Island. So we had a good view of the south side of Victoria Island before we disembarked on Llama Island for the shortest visit possible. The boat made the return trip to the ferry terminal where we got on the right boat.

Once on the right island, we took a bus trip up the winding road to the top of the mountain where the Big Buddha resides. It is the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha and is locate near the Po Lin monastery. We enjoyed a tour of both then stopped in the new town nearby for a coffee before lining up for the gondola ride back down to the bottom. The line-up was huge and we were looking at up to an hour’s wait to get on. But there was an attendant who, in a combination of limited English and gestures, suggested we could get on almost right away if we wanted to stand. You actually get a better view if you stand. And the view of the new Hong Kong airport was very impressive, especially as the 747s lined up and took off. On the way down we saw the biggest apartment building we had ever seen. Back at sea level we took the MRT back to town to go for dinner. We were somewhat later than we had planned due to the extra ferry trips and line up at the gondola. Feng-wei had almost sent out a search party for us.

On our way to dinner we took the world’s largest outdoor escalator up the side of Victoria Peak. It is just like the escalator in a shopping centre except it is outside. According to Wikipedia “The Mid-levels Escalator consists of 20 escalators and 3 moving pavements. It is 800 metres long, and climbs 135 vertical metres. Total travel time is 20 minutes, but most people walk while the escalator moves to shorten the travel time. Due to its vertical climb, the same distance is equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelled by car. Daily traffic exceeds 35,000 people. It has been operating since 1993 and cost $30 million US to build.” It runs downhill in the morning and up hill at night. Pretty unusual.

Another long, leisurely breakfast was followed by an exploring trip by foot. A visit to a local Dim Sum restaurant preceded another trip to the eye glass place to pick up Thomas’ glasses. Dianne decided to buy another set of glasses, I bought a pair of custom ground reading glasses and Feng-wei felt she should have a new pair too. The place was very happy to see us and hoped we could come back soon! We also enjoyed browsing in a wonderful bookstore that was full of English books. We bought some travel maps, a few kids books, and the final Harry Potter book.

Some more exploring was followed by a cab ride to the bottom of the funicular that takes people to the top of Victoria Peak. Feng-wei and the cab driver had a very animated discussion and it turned out that the line-up was so long it would be at least a two hour wait to take the cable car to the top. He suggested it would be better for him to drive us up there but he did drive us by the line-up to prove his point. I was expecting quite a view and wasn’t disappointed. But I wasn’t prepared for the size of the shopping centre that was built at the top. It was incredible. You could buy almost anything you can imagine up there. I am not sure why you would want to buy household furniture up there but you can. One of the most delightful aspects of our visit was continued by a leisurely coffee break at the Pacific Coffee house. We had been so busy over the past few weeks it was sheer pleasure to just sit and relax.

Thomas suggested we take the double-decker bus down to the bottom and was insistent we wait for the next bus so we would be on first. Yeah, whatever, was my reaction but it was worth the wait. Because we were first on, we got to sit in the front row of the upper deck. The ride down is just like an amusement park ride. Dianne screamed (editorial comment from Dianne - I squealed) most of the way down as did the gal behind us. We stopped at a local restaurant for a late night supper and crashed.

Sunday morning was yet another leisurely breakfast before boarding a bus for the trek back to Shenzhen. This was where having an experienced travel partner helped. The trip back was more complicated that the trip in and I am not sure we would have found the airport without Feng-wei.

We arrived home safe and sound but were pretty tired for the next three days… but as luck would have it, this brought us to New Year’s and another four day weekend. But that is a story for another blog entry. As I write this we are finished the second term and deeply involved in exams and report cards. Dianne is hiring new teachers and preparing schedules for the next term that starts mid-February after the Winter Holiday. No rest for the wicked.

Hope the New Year is treating you well. We are back in Canada soon and hope we can see many of you in the Victoria/Pender area.

---

Photos

Tradition
Having gone to school in Hong Kong, Feng-wei had a lot of traditions. One was stopping at a local restaurant for milky tea as soon as you arrive home. So we did.

Our Hotel
Never seen a Y like this one. Pretty nice. Great rate. Notice the stylized YMCA on the building front. Ok, so just the YM shows but you get the idea.

View from our hotel room
Fabulous view from our 18th floor room. The building on the right of the picture is the new convention centre which is built on reclaimed land. Right in front of the hotel but out of the picture is another new building that will block some view. And more land is being reclaimed all the time.

Relaxing
This is what we spent a lot of time doing this trip. Relaxing. Just what the doctor ordered.

Christmas everywhere
It was quite a surprise to see how much Christmas is in evidence in China. Mostly the commercial side with a heavy emphasis on Santa but this wasn't common just a few years ago. This display was located in the lobby by the elevators.

O, Christmas Tree
Lobby of the hotel. They're everywhere!

Very Chinese pose
Dianne doing her best to imitate the way the students pose for pictures. We were amazed the way this display and many like it line the streets. In many areas of Canada displays in a downtown area would be vandalized.

Hong Kong or Europe?
During one of our walks we encountered this street which made us feel we were walking in some Mediterranean country. One of the Italian restaurants we passed had a beautiful display of masks.

Peninsula Hotel
A beautiful hotel, even grander than the Empress in Victoria. Like so many other locations in Hong Kong, it used to be waterfront like the Empress but now reclaimed land has moved it back!

A ferry nice boat
Even though there is a tunnel and a rapid transit under the harbour between Kowloon and Hong Kong, there are still ferries that ply the waters between the two. Lots of fun and the boats made us realize some of the BC Ferries aren't that old!

Big Buddha
The visit to the statue and monastery was very interesting. Lots of people there due to the Christmas break. Didn't expect the crowds because we didn't think Christmas was that big a celebration. We were wrong.

View from the gondola
The ride down was pretty interesting. I was glad we bussed up and took the gondola down. Watching the 747s take off was neat. Our pictures didn't turn out so we'll have to come back.

Apartment building
We saw this building as we were on our way down. One thing we noticed in HK was the number of really large apartment buildings. I probably wouldn't have mentioned it but we were talking about the gondola ride with some colleagues and, before we mentioned it, they asked me if I had seen the gigantic apartment. So I guess it is big!

We had our ups and downs
But only ups in this case as it was in the evening. Pretty weird going up an outdoor escalator. There is a cover but in a driving rain storm it is definitely outside. I wouldn't want to work the wrong shift and have to go up when it is coming down.

Street scene
A typical scene on our stroll around town. Interesting mix of Pizza Hut, KFC and many other stores. And lots of people! But amazingly orderly. And no honking cars. A real treat after five months in the PRC.

Compact quarters?
Right about the street scene - you see all kinds of things. Including washing hung out to dry over the busy traffic. This was such a common occurrence I had to wonder how much laundry goes missing.

Take a peak at this
We didn't have our tripod with us so pictures from the top of Victoria Peak at night were a bit tricky. But the view is fabulous. Yet another reason to return - both for a daytime and night time view. Cappuccino at Pacific Coffee is great!