Advertisement
Published: March 16th 2013
HONG KONG SATURDAY - I woke up somewhat refreshed and starting to adjust to the after effects of the long day, shaved, showered and in a change of clothes I headed down to the breakfast buffet which was packaged with my internet access. What a bargain! Expensive breakfast paired with expensive internet equals expensive package but at least a little less than if bought separately. What a buffet it is though. Standard items you would find in most good hotel buffets, but some exotic fruits I hadn’t even heard of or tried before, so I tried some and they were very good. I walked outside of the hotel to check the temperature and plan my day. I decided on a half day tour of Hong Kong Island. I’m starting to realize how big this small territory really is and get a little used to the names of the islands, neighborhoods, etc. I’m actually on Kowloon peninsula, the touristy part of the city. My tour didn’t start until 1:30, so I took off on my own in the hotel neighborhood. Temperature was fine, but it was pretty foggy and my pictures of the scenery were not as good as I wanted. It
was Saturday and the waterfront area was fairly crowded with tourists and families enjoying the area. I found the area I noticed last night on the drive in from the airport with sidewalk restaurants overlooking the bay. Speaking of restaurants, there are a lot and any taste can be satisfied; I’ve seen KFC, McDonald’s, Subways, and even a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Of course Asian and even a few European themed restaurants abound. Many of the British rule characteristics are still found. They still drive on the left here, which causes some problems when the locals drive to nearby China where they drive on the right. I walked on the waterside promenade for a mile or so and then returned to the hotel to prepare for my tour. I must not be dressed very well because I was approached four separate times by men wanting to sell me custom made suits and shirts, almost while you wait. They are good salesmen, but I resisted. Who knows? Maybe in the future.
The fog was starting to burn off when I left the hotel. I was the only resident at my hotel on the bus, but we were going to two other
hotels to pick up others. The next two people were from Rhode Island and the Dominican Republic and the final lady was from Ireland. Only four people, almost like a private tour! The tour guide was an interesting lady who had been in many places in the States and Europe as well as throughout Asia. She was funny and not shy at all. I learned a lot about Hong Kong. She said there are 7.8 million residents and the unemployment rate is 3.4 percent. Impressive, but the annual wages of the under educated hardly meet the demands of a good life style. Traffic was very heavy and our bus driver was very skillful in working through the traffic jams as we headed to the tunnel to get to Hong Kong Island. The first destination was Victoria Peak, the highest spot in Hong Kong with tremendous views of the city. As described in the tour flyer “Victoria Peak is Hong Kong’s premier visitor attraction, providing magnificent harbour and city views from over 500 meters above the sea level”. It is amazing to see the heights of the buildings and understand the logistics of the infrastructure requirements when you get all these
people in a small geographical space. Even as urban as it is, though, 60 % of the land area is green. Because of the mountainous terrain, some areas are uninhabitable, but many expensive homes are built clinging to the mountainside. The next stop was Aberdeen, described as “Home to hundreds of fisher folks who are living on the fishing junks”. We took a ride on a sampan and went around many of these. The people live on the boats and I saw some of the floating restaurants as well. Our bus then passed by Repulse Bay, named after the British warship, the site of “the most popular bathing beach in town” enroute to a jewelry factory and beautiful showroom. No sales to our group, however. Our final stop was at the Stanley Market, a large collection of small retail businesses featuring all sorts of clothing, purses, etc. Then back to the hotel almost five hours later.
I had to try happy hour back at the hotel and then walked to the sidewalk restaurant area for dinner. My pictures don’t do the beauty of Hong Kong at night justice. I’ll try to get better pictures tomorrow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.237s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 41; dbt: 0.0686s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Elly
non-member comment
Wonderful info
I can really get a feel for the area. Your descriptions and pics are wonderful to read to imagine the hustle and bustle of the area. Safe travels.