HongKong

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We are off the ship after 33 glorious days
Hong Kong
Day One, Saturday, April 18th, 2009
We disembarked at 9 this morning after a 5:15 to 7 am sail in to Victoria Harbour between Mainland Kowloon and Hong Kong Island; the sky is grey. We grabbed a cab to our hotel (no view) the Regal Kowloon. We could not get into our room but were able to leave our 7 pieces of luggage with the concierge and off we went to explore Hong Kong.
We could not see the top of Victoria Peak so we opted to walk the Avenue of Stars on the water front between Hong Kong Island and Mainland Kowloon- where we are staying. There were many tourists with us all taking pictures. We reached the Star Ferry terminal to Central and paid our 2.50 HK$ to cross the water. (1CDN $= 6.3 HK $)
We then found our way to the subway wicket where we purchased 2 “Elder” passes and travelled to Lantau Island to ride the Ngong Ping 360° cable car in great winds to see the world’s biggest sitting Tian Tan Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. I wanted to walk the Wisdom path but Terry was only wearing a golf shirt, it was windy, raining and cool, so we headed for the noodle shop and warmed up. We came back to our hotel at 4 and are having a break before we go back out tonight.
We met Barb and Dave at 6 in the 28th floor bar of the Peninsula Hotel, Ron and Jean joined us and we left as T & I were no appropriately dressed: I had my gold crocs and T had sport sandals. We moseyed over to the Intercontinental Hotel lounge ground floor harbour view bar at 6:45 in the teaming rain (reason for sandals and crocs) and we enjoyed the sail out of the tired old Volendam from Victoria Harbour, lovely. We then sailed over the harbour at 8 from 8:01 to 8:08 and enjoyed the 8 to 8:13 light show emitted from buildings on both sides of the harbor. We then walked to a fancy restaurant in Hong Kong and ate a lovely Chinese meal with our cruising friends; it was a fancy place with 2 sets of chopsticks each: one to serve yourself from the dish and the other to eat with yourself, very proper and hygienic.
Home to bed by 11
Day 2, Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Wake at 8:30, breakfast included at the hotel till 10 and out by 11, slow start!
We walked to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station and made our way to Central Station to go on the Peak Tram to climb Victoria Peak. BUT, still overcast, hot and humid and we could not see the top of the mountain (include pollution in that and reat smog here, also, we cannot drink the water at our hotel. Plan B: We rode the # 6 bus from Admiralty MTR Station to Stanley and the Stanley Street Market in the south east of Hong Kong Island. We met en ex-pat who lives on Victoria Peak who directed us to the right bus but only if we sat on the top deck of the bus, which of course we did. It was akin to our ride in Amalfi on the eastern Italian coast south of Napoli. We drove up and down and by Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay on the southern part of the island and reached the market where which strolled through for a while and then enjoyed a bit of the town scenery: Buddha on the hill, Murray House (1846) and he Blake Pier.
Next we rode bus #73 to Aberdeen (south east) where we boarded the free shuttle to the floating group of huge, ornate and colourful Jumbo Kingdom Restaurants, aquarium and historic photo museum. We did not eat there; it was too complicated to order so we took pictures and returned to Hong Kong Island via a different free ferry provided by the restaurant. On to bus # 75, we came back to downtown, saw a peoples demonstration against big banks, had a bowl of noodles which we paid for with our bus pass, the Octopus card. We are now home, tired and resting until the night market tonight (Temple Street Market) 4 to midnight and the plan is for more noodles.
Back from the market and full of a dinner on the street.
We went back to the night market at Temple Street tonight. The fake watch market is ight, I had to purchase a real yellow gold Chaoraya for 16.10 HK$, no Gucci for 5 $ CDN his time Not here at least. Terry did not find his watch. We had dinner at a sidewalk café, fried oysters, fried bbqed pork dumplings and meshy fried rolls, lovely with 2 different Chinese beers. Home and in bed by 10. Burping fat and beer all night.
Many markets and a peak to conquer tomorrow.
Day 3, Monday, April 20th, 2009, last full day in Hong Kong and we have to see all the markets: jade, bird, flowers, ladies, goldfish, Western and Hollywood Road.
Up at 8, breakfast and out by 10; sun is shining, Victoria peak is almost visible- lots of pollution from China. We headed to the peak tram by subway and boarded the tram which travels sometimes at a 27° angle up the mountain over 1.4 km. We travelled up and down the escalators in the new building at the top and made our way around the peak on a circle path 2.8 km trail; we saw the lovely view all around Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island (remember from Saturday), Kowloon and if it had been clear, we would have seen the New Territories and China. There are so many tall buildings around Hong Kong Island and the higher the people live, the cooler it is- as cool as a tropical rain forest can be and the more expensive the real estate: a luxurious condo here is 4 to 5 Million US $. There are so many rules about behaviour here: don’t spit or a 500 HK$ penalty, pick up dog poop or you are minus 1000 HK$, etc. Big town, 7 million people with an efficient transportation system, nice to explore.
We then headed for our market tour and we were lucky to find more than I had planned (minus 2 that I had planned). We first headed towards Hollywood Road and Antique Market area; to get to it, we had to go up a covered outdoor escalator that went on and on over many streets and intersections, a new experience for both of us. We first stopped at the Man Po Shrine, I was as shrouded in incense as HK is with pollution, we then walked one street over to Upper Lascar Row also known as Cat Street where we found not cats but Mao memorabilia: I bought a Little Red Book, part 2 only, with his philosophy on women, studying and discipline, Terry still in watch fetish mode bought a Mao waving watch, it still works after being in my purse for 4 hours, I also found a lovely jade look alike bracelet for very little $.
After this, we made our way by subway to Kowloon, the side of the harbor that our hotel is on and visited the busy markets around Mong Kok and Prince Edward Roads. We first saw the Aquarium Fish market with many different colour and size fish, same for turtles and a few iguanas; there were even a few birds in lovely little cages hanging from store fronts. A few blocs further, we passed through a vibrant Ladies Market patronized by the locals. We were really looking for the Flower Market which was nearby and where we walked through rows of orchids of all sizes, colours and description. We then headed to the Yuen Po Street and its huge Bird Market and Garden: lovely cages, many birds of different sizes, colours and types all stacked in their individual square cages or hanging from decorative lacquered bamboo cages. The music (sounds) from the Bird Garden were welcomed because they overpowered the city noises. We were done and looking forward to getting home but happened on the local smelly fish market, so we walked around it and kept on walking to the subway. Again, we made an unexpected stop at the Jockey Club (betting) and inquired as to whether we could attend a race but lucky for me, none tonight! We made our way home and are now resting before our final outing: 8 pm light show on the harbor and another bowl of rice or noodles probably.

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