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| With Art and Val in front of a Chinese Temple |
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| On the Subway |
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| Year of the Rabbit - 1951 |
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| Year of the Dog -1946 |
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| Bamboo scaffolding |
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| Tactile paving for the visually impaired |
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| Noodle making |
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| Hong Kong Light Show |
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| Skinny Bus |
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| Interesting Tree |
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| Tram ride to Victoria Peak |
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| Shopping |
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| How far is it to New York? |
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| I love signage - this had to be one of the best! |
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| People mover |
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| Market |
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| Lunch with Val and Art |
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| Another interesting sign |
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| Chinese Temple |
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| Lanterns inside Chinese Temple |
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| Lots of street markets |
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| Hong Kong street |
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| People praying and making offerings outside Chinese Temple |
Let me start
out by saying that Hong Kong or any Princess excursion wouldn’t have been half
as exciting as the private tour we enjoyed with our friends from Colorado, Art
and Val. Art works here and Val was
visiting this week. What a treat for us!
HK is a
spectacular city. I’ve always been
partial to the NY skyline but I have to say that HK’s runs a very close
second. It is awesome during the day and
even more so at night. It has 8,000
skyscrapers with more than 14 floors, almost double in comparison to that of
NY.
HK has a
humid subtropical climate with distinct seasons. The winters are generally cool and it was
extremely pleasant with temps in the low 70s.
We’ve
learned a great deal about geography and for starters, Hong Kong is comprised
of Hong Kong Island, the New Territories, the Kowloon Peninsula and over 200
islands. Victoria Harbour separates HK
Island and Kowloon. When Britain’s
99-year lease expired in 1997, HK returned to China but there was no way China
would be able to take control of HK after the freedoms the people enjoyed under
British colonial rule. As a result, HK
is one of the “SARs” or Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic
of China, and maintains a different political system, an independent judiciary,
and the citizens enjoy freedom of speech, assembly and trade.
Our ship
docked at the relatively new Kai Tak Cruise Terminal which has to be the most
beautiful cruise terminal I’ve ever seen.
A lot of people complained because “there’s too much walking” but you
have to remember that a lot of people complain when there’s no center staircase
on a ship and they have to walk to either the forward or aft of the ship. There are some people who are never happy no
matter what….but, as I was saying, the new terminal is incredibly clean and has
a garden with trees on the roof where you can stroll or sit for a while. It has several moving walkways (so I’m not
sure what everyone was complaining about) and has the best signage as I’ve seen
in a foreign country. Because English is
one of the two official languages in HK, it’s no wonder that everything is in
Cantonese and English everywhere.
We had been
in touch with Art and Val over the past couple of weeks to coordinate our 2-day
stay in HK and things worked out beautifully.
Art had to leave for work in the late afternoon on Monday but had all
day Tuesday to spend with us and I can’t even imagine how much time he actually
spent getting our “tour” ready for our arrival.
It was amazing how much we saw in a very short time.
A free
shuttle was available to cruise passengers from the terminal to the Plaza
Hollywood Mall so we agreed to meet Art and Val at the Mall as soon as we could
get there. Although there is always an
estimated time of arrival, the ship still has to be cleared for docking, the
gangways lowered, and there’s always a lot of people who want to disembark at
the same time.
DAY ONE
Once we were
given the go ahead, we made our way off the ship and walked through the terminal. We came upon signs that said “remove hat to
check temperature.” Well, I tend to have
tunnel vision a lot of the time and I see straight ahead but don’t see some
things around me. I’m also an incredibly
literal person. I wasn’t wearing a hat
so there was nothing for me to do. The
temperature in the terminal felt fine to me.
Although I saw one young lady where these signs were, I didn’t look to
my right at the young lady with a “gun” who was pointing it at all of our foreheads
to make sure no one had a fever! Michael
told me this after we walked passed them.
I was totally clueless.
We exited
the terminal and made our way to the shuttle that would take us to the
Mall. We were one of the first ones to
get on the bus and I noticed that there were two seats on each side and Michael
sat down next to a young man. I thought
it strange but thought he wanted to sit right up front so I passed him
intending to sit right behind him. He
said to me, “sit here,” pointing to the seat next to him. Well, first of all the lighting in the bus
was not the brightest, the seats were black, there were two people sitting
across from him, but on his side were three seats. They were so tiny that I
didn’t even see that Michael was actually sitting in the center seat! I barely balanced myself once the bus got
going. Some pairs of passengers took up
the three seats anyway.
As planned,
Val and Art were exactly where they said they would be and it was wonderful to
see friends half way around the world.
And so our “tour” began by taking a ride on the MTR, HK’s fantastic
subway system. It is so clean, with no
graffiti, orderly and efficient. After
being in the subway for about five minutes, I was able to figure out the
directions and how the system works.
And, of course, the signage was wonderful. Val and Art gave us each an “octopus” card
which is like any Metro card that you swipe when you enter the subway and when
you leave. Although I wasn’t keeping
track because the cards were already paid for, I don’t think the subway cost
more than a few bucks.
By the way,
the currency is the Hong Kong Dollar. To
figure out the cost of anything, you just need to divide the amount by 8 and
you’ve got the cost in US Dollars. So if
something cost 40 HKD, it would be $5 US.
I also
noticed that people where a lot of black here.
(My favorite color clothing.) The
majority of presumably working women wear fashionable skirts or dresses and
have lovely haircuts. Men are dressed
very well also.
I had
previously written Art and told him what our Princess excursion – The Best of
Hong Kong – would include and he creatively came up with his own version of
what our tour should include. I had also
mentioned that I wanted to visit a Chinese temple.
Our first
stop was the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, the largest in HK. We could practically smell the incense the
moment we exited the subway station. It
was truly an incredible sight. We rubbed
the nose and claws of one of the several foot high dragons that adorned the
central walkway for luck. There were
also, I would say, 10’ statues of each of the twelve animals symbolizing each
year in the Chinese calendar. We took a
picture of Michael and Art in front of the “Dog” and of me in front of the
“Rabbit” each of our symbols based on the year of our births. (This year is the Year of the Monkey.) There were hundreds of people – mostly
Chinese - visiting this Temple which encompassed Taoism, Confucianism and
Buddhism. Dozens of people were in a
separate enclosed area kneeling on prayer pads with offerings of oranges or
flowers in front of them with lit incense sticks praying. Many had cups that held little sticks with
numbers on them; they shook the cup until one of the sticks fell to the
ground. I guess the number on the stick
answered the person’s question or prayer. Many people were writing down prayers or
requests on pieces of paper and I was told that these are burned.
There was no
question that the people who were visiting the Temple were extremely serious
about their prayers. We were told the
Chinese are very superstitious so they believe all sorts of things. I know from living in Monterey Park, CA, a
predominantly Chinese community, that lucky numbers are very big in the Chinese
culture as is feng shui. I’ve always
believed that China was a Godless country for any number of reasons but I was
happy to see that people haven’t abandoned their sense of spirituality or
religion whether it be Buddhism, Taoism, or any belief that recognizes that
there is something beyond ourselves.
As we walked
around the Temple, we also saw many, many stalls of “truthsayers” and fortune
tellers who, for whatever price they were asking, would tell your fortune (many
in English) through tarot cards, bumps on your head, or points on your face. None of us partook in having our fortune
read. I had mine read when I was about
13 in Atlantic City – I would live to be 67 and have three children. Well, I have no children and while 67 looked
a very long way away when I was 13, 67 doesn’t look that far away from this 64
year old today. At this point, I’d
rather be surprised than knowing anything for sure.
We went back
to the subway and went to the Mong Kok area of Kowloon where we visited the
“Ladies Market.” Here there are rows and
rows of stalls of souvenirs, cellphone covers, silks, jewelry, CDs, t-shirts,
etc. etc. I went into one actual store
because something in the window caught my eye.
Val and I lamented over the fact that the Asian woman are so tiny that
the sizing is absolutely crazy. Val is a
small gal and she wouldn’t fit into a Chinese 1 or 2. I saw something in a size 1 and asked if they
had my size – the gal brought me a size 6!
I ended up not buying the item only because I didn’t care for it on –
not because of the size.
We then made
our way back to the subway and headed down to the Tsim Sha Tsui area and
visited the Peninsula Hotel, HK’s most famous hotel from the British era. It’s one of the hotels that offers “high tea”
in the afternoon. It has 52 Rolls Royces with drivers for use by their patrons
(instead of taxis). Just exquisite.
We walked
over to Harbour City, a huge shopping center with more than 500 shops and had a
Chinese lunch which included vegetables, shrimp, beef, chicken and rice which
was very good.
By that time,
Art needed to get to the airport for work and we needed to get back to
ship. Because we wouldn’t be together
for dinner, Michael and I decided to book a Princess excursion for the “Best of
Hong Kong at Night” which would include a Peking duck dinner, the Symphony of
Lights (which I’ll describe below) and a visit to the “Night Market.” Before we left, Art told me that when we go
to the Market, as with all the various markets in HK, you never pay the price
they’re asking. I said I needed to buy a
magnet for my collection and I would be willing to pay $5 for one or 40 HK
Dollars. He said to be sure and
negotiate.
Art took us
to the Star Ferry terminal where we planned to meet at 9 a.m. the next
day. We said our good-byes and headed
back to the Peninsula Hotel to catch a taxi back to Kai Tak Terminal which cost
only about $10.
We arrived
back at the cruise ship around 3, got cleaned up, Michael took a quick nap, and
we were ready to head back out – and walk the excruciating length of the
terminal for the third time that day…. :)
Our first
stop was the Peking Palace, a really lovely restaurant, with so-so food. Yes, there were 10 courses of this and that,
including various dishes of vegetables, chicken, shrimp, duck and soup. The most fascinating thing, however, was the
demonstration of how noodles are made – when I say noodles I mean the thinness
of angel hair pasta. It starts out as a
very lengthy slab of dough which is stretched and folded, stretch and folded,
dozens of times. It reminded us of the
stretchiness of taffy. The young man repeated
the same thing over and over, twirling it and braiding it, until, almost
miraculously, the dough separated into very, very thin noodles, right before
our eyes. Amazing.
We then
walked down to the Harbour for the “Symphony of Lights.” Hundreds of us stood on a platform
overlooking Victoria Harbour and looking across to the island of Hong
Kong. (We didn’t know it at the time but
Art told us the next day that there are hundreds of people on the other side
looking across the Harbour towards us.) At
8 p.m. the show begins and thirty-three buildings on the island of HK
synchronize their lights to music and lasers are beamed in the sky across the
water way. The show lasts about 15
minutes and is truly magical. As I said
before, the HK skyline is (on both sides of the Harbour) really magnificent and
the show was worth the price of the excursion alone. Michael was able to tape some of the show
which he’ll eventually put on the DVD with other events but I’m sure this show
is available on youtube.
Our bus then
took us to the Night Market where I was able to make my first and only purchase
in HK. My refrigerator magnet. Pretty pathetic, eh? More disappointing is I didn’t follow Art’s
advice – I didn’t negotiate. But could
anyone really negotiate down from 10 HKD?
The magnet cost me about $1.20.
I’ve never paid so little for a magnet and there are over 400 magnets in
our collection. I just couldn’t do
it.
Back to the
ship by 10 p.m. walking the length of the terminal yet another time….
DAY TWO
Tuesday
morning we took a cab to meet Art and Val at the Star Ferry Terminal by 9
a.m. Today we would explore Hong Kong
Island. We boarded the ferry for a very
short ride across Victoria Harbour.
Getting away from the waterfront, we walked a few blocks to one of the
main streets and caught a ride on one of the quaint double decker trams which
move over 230,000 passengers a day.
Before we
arrived at our destination to ride The Peak Tram, we stopped at St. John’s
Cathedral which opened in 1849 and is the second oldest building in HK.
The Peak
Tram is one of the world’s oldest funicular railways at over 120 years old, and
which rises to about 1,800 feet above sea level. It is so steep that the buildings we passed
look like they’re leaning – that’s why I can’t imagine how Val and Art have
walked this on more than one occasion!
Wow! Very little wait time –
there are two trams, each going in the opposite direction. The trip up only takes a few minutes and once
we were on the top, what a view of the city!
Michael hates heights and I was in charge of taking the panoramic views
of the city. In addition to the views,
there were restaurants and a galleria of shops.
The Peak Tower is an architectural icon and landmark in HK. There’s even a Madame Tussaud’s and a doggie
gelato store where you can buy your doggie a scoop of beef or cheese gelato for
18 HKD per scoop.
Down we came
and got in a cab for another truly unique HK experience – the
Central-Mid-Levels Escalator and Walkway system. I only wish Seattle had one of these! It’s a motorized walkway that goes up Jubilee
Street for, I don’t know how many, blocks.
It’s a great system with easy on and off access. I’m sure thousands of people use this daily
and I know that it goes up at certain hours of the day and down at other hours
of the day depending on foot traffic.
We also
visited a “wet market” which went for blocks and blocks of fruit, vegetable,
nut and flower stands. In addition to
taking photos of signs, I love taking pictures of fruits and vegetables
wherever I go because I love the variety and the colors that I don’t generally
see in the States. We saw butchers
preparing all sorts of meats and parts of animals we don’t usually see. Lots of different fish.
We then
enjoyed a wonderful Italian lunch of fresh salad and risotta (me), chicken
(Val) and pasta and sausage (Michael and Art).
With bellies
full – but not too full – we visited the Man Mo Temple, the oldest and most
famous of HK’s temples, dedicated to Man, God of Literature, and Mo, God of
Martial Valor. Unlike at yesterday’s
Temple, I saw people take their little papers of requests or prayers and place
them in one of many cubby holes under a statue of a god. There must have been at least 30 of these
statues representing gods of all sorts.
It’s amazing that people would know which god is which because I didn’t
see any lettering that would’ve identified them. When our eyes started to water/burn from all
the incense being offered to the gods, it was time to leave.
With our
time coming to an end because we needed to be back to the ship by 4 p.m., we
spent a little more time walking through another neighborhood with antique
stores and lots of different stands selling all sorts of things.
We said
good-bye to our wonderful friends, thanked them for an incredible two-day
experience in HK, said we’d see them some time later in the year, and got in a
cab and headed back to the cruise ship.
We’re now on
our way to Vietnam…
Michael’s Observations: For me, HK was a real surprise. I had no idea of the density of these giant
high rise apartment complexes. There are
so many – they look like fields of wheat.
The most unusual thing about these apartments is the variety of laundry
that hangs outside the windows on, what could only be described as, a double
pipe laundry rack. We asked our night
excursion guide, Jupiter, what kind of special hangars are used so the clothes
don’t fall off and she said, “they don’t – and the clothes very often do fall
off the hangars and land on the ledges and street.” I guess if you’re an early bird, you can pick
up an entire wardrobe off the street. As
Leona has already noted, the people in the city are very well dressed and it
reminded me of the folks in Sydney, Australia I saw during my visit in
1999. A lot of black suits with white
shirts scurrying along the streets coming and going to and from work. I found the people to be very friendly and
many speak English including our cab driver who took us back to the ship by
driving under the Victoria Harbour in one of the three underwater tunnels. It was great fun to have our friends, Art and
Val, guide us through this wonderful city.
My only regret is that in all the places we visited, I didn’t buy
anything. It can only mean one thing….I
own too much stuff. When I get home, I’m
going to clean out my closets.
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