Christmas in Hong Kong

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We decided to spend a few days at Christmas in Hong Kong this year. We had a wonderful time and saw a very different part of Asia than mainland China. We flew into Hong Kong on December 23rd and that night we went for a river cruise in Victoria Harbour to see the Symphony of Lights. The buildings put on a light show for 15 minutes every night set to music. We then sailed around the harbor for another hour. The number of skyscrapers that you see from the river is amazing. We thought we had a lot in Shanghai but we have nothing compared to Hong Kong.


The next day we went for a walk in the city to see some of the sites and markets. There are entire streets dedicated to selling one type of item (Electronics Street, Sportswear Street, etc.) There are also a lot of markets. We visited the Mong Kok Flower market, the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden and the Goldfish Market. We were wondering if we have something like this here in Shanghai and are going to look into it. The flower market was incredible. They had any plant and cut flower that you could ever want and the prices were very reasonable. In the afternoon we signed up for a tour of Hong Kong Island. We were staying on the mainland in Kowloon. We first went to the lookout at Victoria Peak where we had a very nice, if a little hazy, view of Kowloon and Victoria Harbour. We had a guide that was very animated and gave us a great amount of information of the history of the various buildings that we could see. We then went to the Aberdeen Fishing Village and took a sampan ride to get much closer to the village and fisherman. The fishing profession is declining very fast in Hong Kong as the new generation of children are looking for work in other professions and not following in their parent’s footsteps. We drove by several beaches and then stopped at Stanley Market and Waterfront. That night we headed out for some dinner and took a walk through the Ladies market. I found a scarf that I liked so that was our one purchase.


Christmas day we spent at Disneyland and then a day of shopping on Saturday. That night we went for an amazing steak dinner at Mortin’s. We had to laugh because the steak dinner cost more that our entire day at Disneyland including tickets, food and the few souvenirs that we bought. It was well worth it and both of us were so full that neither one of us could have eaten one more bite.


Since we have become a little braver with our food choices here in China we decided to try a couple of local restaurants in Hong Kong. We were told that most places spoke English. Not so true when you go local. We have finally picked up enough Mandarin that we can get by in most restaurants here in China but they speak Cantonese in Hong Kong. We just had to laugh when were speaking English and Mandarin to the staff and they would just look at us like “What????”. One meal we had to choose food from carts that were being pushed around the restaurant. Nothing like choosing your food by the way it looked and just hoping it was something you would eat. Anyway, we survived and the meals we had were all good.


We had a half day to wonder around the city on Sunday before we headed to the airport so we took another walk to see the flowers and birds again. The weather was very nice for our trip. In the 70’s the whole time and we saw our first rain on the way to the airport.

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Photos

Bubble on Boardwalk
Jason was able to get this picture at the Stanley Waterfront. You can see the boardwalk shops in the bubble.

Yuen Po Street Bird Garden
Birds out for their daily fresh air

Mong Kok Flower Market
The market covers at least one square block

Interesting...
there seems to be a lot of by the hour hotels.

Hello Kitty
A lot of the shops had pet cats. Makes us miss ours at home.

Pay or Swim
She stopped the boat a little from the dock and asked for our money. Now that is a way to make sure you get paid.

Some things are too funny
One guy holds the boat steady so the other can paint.