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Published: January 7th 2007
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6:30am - first real day of vacation - Keely and I are out the door by 7:15a… we can’t wait to see Hong Kong. We decide to stop and check out our pool first (supposedly one of the best in HK).. and who do we run into - yes - Karl is up exploring too. He tells us Jay is actually up trying to get some work done - yowza!!! The three of us trapse off to explore the city. We wander over a few blocks and find a place to grab coffee and breakfast - which looks a bit more like a grilled ham and cheese - but its food, coffee, and its good. Back to the hotel - we swoop up Jay and we’re off to explore. Victoria Peak is our ultimate destination. We take our first trip on the MTR (subway) - which is immaculate and fabulous. Note to future travelers - buy an “Octopus” card… good on all mass transit and you can cash in anything you have remaining when you leave town. We jump on the train and head toward Central Station… two quick stops and we’re off.. but WAIT….we’ve had our fist snafu!! When you
exit the MTR station - you have to swipe your card….but Karl’s won’t work!! Is he stuck forever? Will he be arrested?? Oh no.. what will we do????? Oh… Karl.. by the way… your hotel key doesn’t work on the MTR… DOH !!! Classic stooge action and we gaffaw at that for the rest of the day. Guess you had to be there... Karl stuck at the turnstile with 8000 little Chinese men and women waiting behind him.... classic.
Just FYI - Hong Kong is a bit like Minneapolis.. every MTR station and building (it seems) is attached to a huge network of skybridges and shopping malls. We exit the MTR and poof - we’re in a mall. But this is no ordinary mall - this is the mall of very short Philippino women…thousands of them I kid you not. Not a man in sight but Karl and Jay… and every single person is below 5’2”.. even Keely is a giant here. We wiggle and wade our way through the masses of women until we finally find an exit. Still - there are simply thousands of these Philippino women everywhere.. what is going on??? We make our way through
the city and up to the Botanical Garden, where, upon reading we find a page in the Lonely Planet Guide that tells us we’ve decended upon an area of town where, on every Sunday, apparently hoards of Philippino maids spend their days off in the the park gossiping and playing games… and shopping of course! Who knew??
The botanical park is .. well.. “ok” in my opinion.. but the orchid house was very nice. Now we’re off to the Peak Tram.. OHHHHH NOOOOO.. the line is now horrendous!! We jump in line and of course Jay is off to explore. Okay - we’ll forgive him this time because he scores the find. For $10 more, we can go to the front of the line no waiting, only trick is we have to buy a ticket to Madame Tussauds wax museum on the way up!!! What the hell - we’re all game. Two minutes in line and we’re off to the top. The climb is steep and the pictures are fabulous!!! The view of the city from the peak is amazing. We wander around the viewpoint for some incredible pictures then its time for a drink.. of course.. haven’t I
mentioned that we’re all on the eating and drinking tour of SE Asia???? One complaint about Victoria Peak - other than a really nice Chinese restaurant - the only place to get a drink is Bubba Gumps… yes.. the American chain. Oh well - a drink is a drink… so we drink. Two fru fru drinks and a toothache for Jay later.. we head back down.. grab a cab.. and head to the hotel for a swim. Alright - its 73 and chilly - no swimming - but the sauna’s were killer.
What to do - its NYE and where are we going? The concierge sets us up at a traditional Chinese restaurant nearby called Superstar Seafood. Its traditional alright. Jay’s in heaven. The place is nice.. very brightly lit (this seems to be a theme)…the food is moderately priced.. but the menu is out of this world. Jay ate everything from sautéed abalone to a giant sea scallop and beyond. We had some amazing food - and the wine didn’t suck either. By the way - just a note - the Chinese don’t drink much. In the whole restaurant, there was only one other table that had alcohol
other than us..everyone else drank tea. Wow - are we bigger lushes than we realized??
After dinner we’re off to “Green” - a bar recommended by our concierge. The place is hoppin… its salsa night. The hostess finds us a big booth in the back and our waitress is hilarious - a bit of a butchy gal named Arii… but she’s a hoot. We drink.. and drink… if Jay orders us one more Kamikazee I’m going to puke. Suddenly - Karl and Keely look around and realize - this looks like a gay bar!!! Hmmm.. I wonder if the concierge thinks we sit on the other side of the fence because we’re sharing rooms boy/boy.. girl/girl???? Ahh- doesn’t matter because there’s tons of straight folks too.. 5,4,3,2,1…HAPPY NEW YEAR. Okay - pay the bill - drink champagne and we’re outta here!!!!
We stumble (literally) down the street to a pub called The Horse and Groom… go inside only to find its all young Chinese kids (20’s) playing Liar’s Dice. HA! I had just seen this played on Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on the plane!! Drink drink drink..more drinks… and we’re outta there. Keely and Jay are shot..
they jump in a cab and head home (fyi - we were only two blocks away from the hotel - just didn’t know it). Karl and I head to a tequila bar down the street - down a couple of shots and then roam over a block to From Dusk til Dawn.. a rowdy british pub just PACKED with Brits.. go figure. We squeeze our way up to the bar when Karl runs into one of our flight attendants from British Air!!! They start talking and I see where this is leading (think third wheel...not intentionally by Karl, but I did want to give him some space to work) - so I very politely say my goodnights.. walk outside to hail the first cab I see and he shakes his head and rolls his window up on me when I tell him the name of my hotel. Uggg.. walking home in Hong Kong on NYE - this can’t be fun. I walk half a block and realize the bar is literally half a block away from my hotel - no wonder the cabbie thought I was nuts. Two steps later and I’m in the lobby. Gotta love champagne…I’m hitting the hay.
Ps: if any of you know my mom - don’t tell her I walked home on NYE in a strange city - she’ll go nuts!!!
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