Hong Kong

Asia » Hong Kong » Hong Kong Island
December 23rd 2007

Published: December 27th 2007

Edit Blog Post

lramz

Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong at 5:45 am on Sunday December 23rd after a 16 hr flight. Yikes!!! So I decided to head to Hong Kong city on a rainy Sunday morning. I did not know what to expect, and soon was presented with a very lively city. Lots of everything, traffic, people, a many, many tall buildings.

I have to say the Hong Kong's skyline is the most impressive I have ever seen and growing by the day thanks to a booming Chinese economy. On my way to Hong Kong island, the train passed many shipyards with thousands and thousands of containers being loaded into ships, so we can get out cheap dollar store goods.

In the afternoon, I took the Star Ferry to the Kowloon peninsula. There I found Kowloon park. This was a good oasis in the middle on a crazy urban environment. It was Sunday so there were a lot of people out just strolling. I noticed that there were lots of people doing Tai-Chi both alone and in groups. In the middle of the park there was a pond with ducks, swans, brightly coloured fish and flamingos!!!!

Nearby, there was this beautiful Mosque

Toronto

Line up at Pearson.

celebrating Eid. Most of the people there were from Indonesia and they were all sitting on the grass having lunch. The most challenging part of this day trip was going into a Chinese restaurant and trying to order food. There were no English menus and the waiter spoke limited English, and I zero Cantonese with the exception of some very questionable phrases that I have learned over the years but not appropriate for this occasion.

It's one of those occasions that you feel that the whole place stops to look at you as you come in. Anyway, I managed to order pork, though I did not know what kind of pork I was getting!!! I ended up with roasted pork and steamed rice for really cheap. As the waiter automatically brought me a knife and fork, I politely asked for chopsticks by making hand gestures. He said 'ok' and proceeded to bring me a pair of chopsticks. He handed them to me and left with a grin on his face. I managed to finish my meal without dropping a morsel of food as he watched from a corner.

I ended up heading back to the airport around 3