Hong Kong

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Nov 4/5 Hong Kong



We left Calgary as it was starting to snow. The forecast was for 10-20 cm of snow so we were happy to leave early. A typhoon was sitting off shore of HK and we were concerned that there might be flight delays. There were none.

After the typhoon.....rated T1....it was hard to complain about a bit of rain and the odd shower the next day.

Deb and Francis had worked out a couple of places to visit on our 2 days in HK. The first day we went to visit a temple, a garden and nunnery/monastery. We were well away from the hustle and bustle of Kowloon which was nice. We had our fortunes told at the temple.. Next year is suppose to be a lucky year for me and also Jackson, starting in February (which is when we go to Maui). I am also suppose to watch my health for the rest of the year.

The gardens and Chi Lin nunnery were very peaceful and we enjoyed the flowers. It was somewhat strange to be in such a peaceful spot surrounded by 40-50 story hi rise apartments. We did the whole incense thing with the locals.

The hotel, The Madera, was very nice and decent sized rooms especially for HK. Breakfast left a lot to be desired and we went out to a local restaurant the next day. However, the Madera had amazing coffee....Blue Mtn was the house coffee.

Day 2 was Ocean park. It was a bit of wandering around Central to find where to catch the bus. We were in the bus station but which way to go? I finally realized it was better to simply ask a bus driver where to go then to keep wandering and try to find an office!

Ocean Park was crucial to the success and happiness of this trip. Deb had been talking about the Panda's since we started talking about the trip. She and Francis had the whole day planned out....where to go, what to see. I really enjoyed just sitting back and working on getting us from A to B and not deciding what to do.

Success!!! The pandas were out! Pandas spend most of the day sleeping and the risk was they would be sleeping and not out. We saw one panda feeding at the first exhibit and one sleeping on a sleeping on a platform at the second exhibit. Deb's camera was going pretty well non-stop.

We saw a couple of amazing exhibits including jelly fish. i know it sounds strange but the size and variety of jelly fish was amazing. They were is large tanks with colored lighting. They are incredibly graceful as they float around. Ocean Park is a interesting combination of exhibits and amusement park. we took a cable car from the lower part to the amusement park. Amazing views of the ocean and islands.

We had lunch by the aquarium One wall is the aquarium and 2 stories high. we watched sharks and manta rays guild by as we enjoyed lunch. The restaurant wall was better then the aquarium itself since it was not full of people rushing through and pushing. We did not really enjoy the aquarium.

We did one last visit to the 2 Panda exhibits before we left. The first one was a total bust....not a single Panda was out. The second exhibit was a home run.....a Panda was eating about 15 feet from Deb. She took pictures and I alternated between running interference/blocking people from bumping into her and just watching the Pandas. She left one happy girl with about 165 pictures.

We took the Star ferry back to Kowloon and went to Marks and Spencer's to exchange a shirt that Deb had bought the day before. Clothing sizes are very different here.

It was s bit of a hike back to the hotel. A stop for a quick coffee at Pacific coffee revived us.

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