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Published: January 16th 2011
Hello family and friends! We begin our blog for 2011 in Hong Kong!
After an overnight in Vancouver, we boarded a 13 hour flight to Hong Kong at 11:30 a.m. local time. The trip didn't seem too bad as we were flying during our daytime so sleeping wasn't an issue. Air Canada's service was great. It was somewhat strange skipping ahead a day arriving in Hong Kong on Wed. @ 5:30 p.m. when it was still 4 in the morning at home! We easily manouvered through the enormous, efficient and ultra modern Hong Kong airport and hailed a cab arriving at our hotel in Kowloon within an hour!
Kowloon is an area on the mainland and part of the densley populated city/country of Hong Kong (population 7 million). We couldn't believe the amazing infrastructure and number of tall beautiful modern highrises! We hardly saw an old building in Hong Kong. There are so many tall thin buildings it almost looks like they are stuck together from a distance. We have never seen anything like it! For those of you who have been will know what we mean!
Our hotel was in a perfect location (carefully researched!) for sight
Our Closet Sized Room
Clean and Comfortable!seeing, eating, shopping and walking. Our room was the size of a closet but very clean an convenient. On the next street was the famous Temple Street Night Market which comes alive every evening with clothing, food and souvenir stalls.
The Hong Kong people were very friendly and willing to tell you about their city. It seems there are mixed feelings about being part of China since 1997 but life carries on and it appears the standard of living is high. We never say any signs of poverty. The buildings, streets and markets are spotless and they say it is a very safe city with a low crime rate.
Each day we would walk down Nathan Rd. (which is similar to the Magnificent Mile shopping mecca in Chicago only much longer). As well, right behind the busy street is a beautiful park to stroll through. Quite the contrast! The south end of the street brings you to the harbour with a spectacular view of Hong Kong's islands and skyline. Unfortunately, the frist day was a little smoggy and foggy so our pictures don't do justice to it. Obviously, the pollution and such is a drawback as are many
places in the world today. Every night at 8 p.m. there was a laser light show across the harbour shown from all the sky scrapers. Quite a sight!
The food in Hong Kong was great. Of course we ate Chinese enjoying Din Sum, noodle soup and the most delicious wan ton soup I have ever tasted. (All quite different from the Chinese food at home). Relatively speaking, Hong Kong is very expensive for accommodation and clothing but we found the food quite a good deal.
We either ferried over or took the MTR (underground subway) to the island a few times. We had a lot of fun buzzing around on the MTR - the rapid flow of the train and hoards of people coming and going was crazy! One day we took a tram to the top of the island peak. Quite the elevation! Once at the top, there was a stunning view of the skyline. As well we walked 13 km around the peak through a beautiful, lush and tropical path.
I haven't mentioned the weather in Hong Kong. They are having a cold spell but the last few days was okay. It was pleasant
Hong Kong At Night
Lots of bright lights everywhere!! but certainly not warm. It ranged from 15 to 19 degrees. We were kind of getting tired of wearing our one and only cool weather outfit! (Well at least I was!) However, it was fine for all our walking tours which is pretty much what we did!! We certainly got our exercise.
We had a few hours to kill before we headed for the airport and were lucky to have an interesting conversation with a young waiter at the hotel about modern day life in Hong Kong. Most people speak English well.
We got the surprise of our life when we boarded an Emerite Airlines A380 plane for Bangkok (currently the largest passenger plane going) What a flight! Emerite Airlines certainly aims to please. Fine dining and drinks all complementary on a two hour flight. The comfort and service was amazing. The flight attendants are dressed to the nines and among them speak 9 languages.
That's it for now. Will continue later from Bangkok. Hope all is well.
Mallory and Warren
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Sheila
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The buildings are amazing. What a contrast to the beautiful hiking scenery!