Hong Kong

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Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong with mixed feelings. We were glad the rolling sea was over and we could walk on land, but sad to say goodbye to Bruce and Brigid. Since we have been here before, we didn’t take a day tour. Fortunately we docked at the best place in all of Hong Kong: The Ocean Terminal in Kowloon, which is right next to the Star Ferry Terminal, and is part of this huge shopping center. We were across the street from the new cultural center and other museums. After taking the ferry across to Hong Kong Island, we walked around and just stared at the beauty of the harbor which bustled with activity from barges to ferries to small fishing boats.

Then we returned to the ship to get ready for our dinner tour which started out to be at the Jumbo Restaurant in Aberdeen, complete with sampan ride to get there, but turned out to be a big disappointment. They told us they had to change venues and we were going to an even better place. NOT! I won’t go into it, but there were six of us who made the best of the bad situation and had a good time in spite of everything.

The next morning we had breakfast with B and B and said our goodbyes. We took our laptop and headed for Starbuck’s where they have wireless connections. We bought a card sat the 7-11 next door($3 for 24 hours) and the guy at Starbuck’s helped us sign on. That’s why I was able to put so many pictures of Bruce’s jungle trip on the blog. We also took our Skype headphones hoping to connect. We were able to talk to Betsy for a few minutes before getting cut off. Somehow we screwed up and couldn’t get back on to call Mark and John. Hopefully, we will have another chance to try Skype before we get home.

We did some shopping, but things have gotten more expensive here, and we thought we’d wait for better “bargains” in other ports to come. We didn’t make it to Stanley Market this time, however. Our sail away was not until 10:30 so we returned to the ship to “rest up.” You know how it is, we old folks can’t take these late nights anymore without a bit of a rest first. We had a wonderful and lively send off as we left this beautiful port and headed for Viet Nam.

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