Blogs from Kowloon, Hong Kong, Asia - page 5

A couple more museums are on the menu today so we hop on the metro to cross the bay. First stop is the post office. A whole lot of bureaucracy for a poor selection of stamps. No special stamps available, only the everyday variety. Not impressed with the territory's main post office! The tea-ware museum is located in the Flagstaff building, an old British colonial style affair. It was used by the British up to the 1980’s. Since it is currently being refurbished, only half the private collection is on display and entrance fees are waived. A beautiful collection of teapots dating back to the 1500’s. There is also an interesting film on how tea is produced and the rituals around the drinking of tea. The museum is found in a hillside park and there is ... read more

On vacation but don't sleep in due to jet lag. I figured I could catch up while crossing the Pacific Ocean. This hotel also offered free hot breakfast but without the baked beans that are traditional in Québec. Good thing as the air conditioning on the plane isn't that good. Thankfully, returning the rental car was uneventful. A quick hop over the Rockies. Once we had reclaimed our baggage we headed over to the international departure area. Vancouver international Airport is my favourite from around the world. I love its open concept, the panoramic views of the mountains and the native artwork everywhere. Here are some details of Bill Reid's creation myth. Something I had not noticed on other visits was a display of Inuit sculptures. Here is a photo of one piece that perfectly mirrored ... read more

L'arrivée à HK était assez étrange. On a pris un train de nuit Guilin-Shenzhen et étions supposés gagner HK via un métro à Shenzhen. Étant donné le statut spécial dont jouit Hong Kong, le passage n'est pas si évident que cela. Contrôle des passeports et visas, changement de monnaie, on déambule entre les magasins duty free de la station de métro avec l'impression bizarre de se retrouver dans un aéroport. En arrivant dans notre chambre, je constate que ma tablette ne donne plus aucun signe de vie. Génial. Après avoir essayé tout et n'importe quoi, je me décide de commencer l'autopsie au couteau suisse. Tout se passe plutôt bien jusqu'à un léger blocage. Je force et constate que le blocage provient de la carte SD qui est toujours insérée, et qui est en train de se ... read more

We slept like angels. Angels who snore and have to get up in the night to pee. Awake at 5.30am and dozed for a good while before shaking ourselves out of our slightly jet-lagged mode and into 'let's get breakfast' mode. Plenty of variety at the breakfast place. Packed stuff away to have for morning tea, frugal as we are. Cheapskates as we are... Today, somewhere different so on the MTR to Hong Kong , off at the Admiralty stop and on the 260 bus to Stanley Bay. It took about half an hour to travel across the island to a relatively unpopulated and fresh environment on the coast with green-blue seas, golden sand beaches and trade wind-like breezes. The double-decker bus wormed its way around stupidly tight bends high above the water clipping trees on ... read more

Stepping outside into the streets of Hong Kong, huge smiles formed across our faces. We were hit by the bright neon signs and tried to take in the tall buildings that surrounded us. The many pedestrian shoppers, cars and the brightly coloured cabs that created a functioning but chaotic scene on the wide streets. Everything moved; people, traffic, shop sellers, shoppers, people going to and from work. Everything. Everything had a purpose, a direction and we stood there completely out of place trying to take in our surrounds. Wow! We liked the feel of it. The city was alive and it only grew as the day drew into night... ...Before that moment however we arrived in Hong Kong at stupid o'clock in the morning (due to our cheaply booked 2am flight) we quickly exited the huge ... read more