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Many problems with photos today. It was so hot and humid Pam's camera kept fogging up and Hong Kong was covered in misty fog/smog.
Day two arrived and today we have a half-day tour of the area booked covering some of Kowloon and onto HK Island. Our first destination was the fishing village of Aberdeen. An odd name for a district in an Asian city, but Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, when it was given back to China. Aberdeen is the home of the Jumbo Kingdom floating restaurant, and is also one of the wealthiest parts of Hong Kong, there are individual houses here, everywhere else is apartments. We go for a ride on a traditional fishing boat called a Sampan, which means "three pieces of wood" in Cantonese. The skipper is at least a million years old. He didn't speak a word of English but we enjoyed his company none the less. The lilt trip down the river was an eye opener we saw many of the old live aboard boats which are slowly dying out as ownership of the licence is not transferrable and as an owner dies so the family must leave the old
house boat and find a new home and the boat itself disappears, kind of sad really as these house boats have existed there for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands. We continued on to a jewellery manufacturer thinking this is a waste of time as we don’t want any bloody jewellery, says Pam, oh how wrong I was. Pam went nuts as the stuff on sale was very good quality and absolutely stunning in design and ,manufacture. Pam bought truckloads and thrashed the credit card to bits. Onwards to the Stanley Markets, touted as the best markets in Hong Kong, boring boring boring when compared to what we had already seen. Zac bought a hand-woven fedora, and some jackets. These markets are nowhere near as fun as the Ladies market downtown, it is more like a shopping mall than a true marketplace. Victoria peak is next, and to my disappointment, it is just a bloody shopping mall, but this time on top of a mountain, but great views over Kowloon. We had really expensive ice cream, and then rode the cable car down. That took until about 1.30 and we returned to Aberdeen and the Jumbo Kingdom floating restaurant for
lunch, we had a traditional Dim Sum lunch, which was a great feed, and watched the sampans and local boats go by. Then we caught the ferry to Aberdeen Central. There is bugger all here, so we took a cab to the Man Mo Temple, a Buddhist temple in the middle of Hong Kong, a very moving place, with very interesting incense burners hanging from the ceiling, you gotta be careful where you walk. We saw some girls setting fire to paper and throwing it into a fireplace, they told me it was an effigy of money, and they burn it to send it to their recently dead relatives in heaven. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the Wanchai district, with its double-decker trams and numerous foot massage parlours. It is a Buddhist area and full of antique shops. As usual we can’t leave a country without trying their McDonald's 3 bucks for a big mac meal was ok with me. We loved Hong Kong. Even though the heat was nearly unbearable, and it smelled awful it was so much fun I was able to totally overlook the negatives. The people were friendly, the food was fantastic, and it was an incredible experience. Next stop, Turkey!
Tomorrow: 11.05pm Depart on Turkish Airlines TK071 Fri 04 5.25am Arrive Istanbul
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