Fifth Day in Hong Kong

Another 2 fleece + raincoat day - it is just getting colder. After morning latte at Starbuck's we took a cab to the Pier to catch our boat for the morning cruise of Victoria harbor. The harbor, as many other things in Hong Kong, is named after Queen Victoria of England.
Following the cruise we landed at Hong Kong Cultural Center for Dim Sum lunch, which is basically a bunch of steamed slimy stuff. After lunch we boarded a bus to Lantau, one of the many islands in Hong Kong (there are a couple of hundred islands, but only around 20 are populated.)

To get to Lantau we had to drive across Tsing Ma bridge, which is 2.2 km and the world's longest road- and rail suspension bridge. In Lantau we got on the Ngong Ping cable car that took us up in the clouds to the giant buddha. The cable car ride was about 25 minutes, 5.7 km sky rail across the lush terrains of Lantau and the South China Sea.

On top of the Ngong Ping plateu sits the world's tallest seated outdoor bronze buddha. Inside the buddha are 3 floors with paintings and a relic. The relic was a piece of a neck bone. There was also a giant bell from Shanghai as well as a carved wooden buddha made from 600 year old wood from the forbidden city in Beijing. The bus broke down and we had to walk the 256 steps down to the Po Lin monastery. The monastery was founded in 1906 by three monks visiting from Jiangsu and was initially known as "The Big Hut". It was renamed to its present name in 1924. The main temple houses 3 bronze statues of the Buddha representing his past, present and future lives as well as many Buddhist scriptures. Tian Tan Buddha, the giant Buddha statue was completed in 1993,and is an extension of the monastery.

We got a new bus that took us down from the mountain to the historic Tai O fishing village. It is distinguished by its stilt houses in its main creek. It is inhabited mainly by the Tanka people, decendents of Hong Kong's first settlers. This humble village is popular for its dry sea food and traditional life. We walked through the village market where they offered "yummy treats", such as dry fish bladder, dried and salted egg yolk, seahorses, sharks and puffer fish. Mmmmmm! 

We missed the 6 o'clock ferry so we enjoyed McDonald's coffee and french fries while we were waiting. The coffee was awful but a good hand warmer as we were all freezing from being up in the mountain where it was even colder than in Hong Kong. Only around 4 or 5 Celcius - I guess lower 40'sF. Brrr! 

Back on Hong Kong island we took a cab back to the hotel. We had planned to hit the night market on Temple Street, but decided we are too tired. So we will just get some food and stay in!

Fourth Day in Hong Kong

Monday - After our long day yesterday we slept in today. We had no particlar plans other than the fireworks in the evening so we took the MTR (subway) to the Ladies Market again. Today we felt more in the mood for shopping and got some real good bargains!

After several hours of shopping we went to the Peninsula for Afternoon Tea. This is a must when in Hong Kong. The Peninsula is now the oldest hotel in Hong Kong and quite elegant. It is affectionately known as the "Grande Dame of the Far East". We had to wait in line for 40 minutes to be seated for our tea! Anyway, it was a proper British tea with sandwiches, scones and pastries. 

When we had finished our tea, it was time to walk to the waterfront and the fireworks. We first stopped by Starbucks for a latte as we hadn't had any decent coffee all day! Then we made tracks with thousands and thousands of Chinese (and some foreigners) - like a herd of cattle. There were police everywhere controlling and directing the crowds. Amazingly we didn't see any drunks or misbehaving people. It was all very orderly, even in the subway they had crowd control police and things worked remarkably well. We are very impressed with the subway system here. It is efficient and easy to use even for us foreigners as well as being very clean. No food or drink allowed and people actually adhere to that.

The fireworks show started on time and it was great. It lasted for about 20 minutes non stop and was worth the trek!

Third Day in Hong Kong

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year and also Happy Valentines Day!

We started the day with Starbucks of course. At one o'clock we were treated to the lion dance at the hotel. Young men are dressed in lion costumes that look like dragons almost - 2 men in each costume. They jump from one tiny platform to another quite high up and it is amazing that they can do this. All the time a bunch of other men keep beating big drums. This is a traditional dance that they perform every New Year. The decorations for Chinese New Year are beatutiful and you see them everywhere (like our Christmas decorations). Most of the stuff is red and gold, because red keeps away the evil spirits and it also brings you luck. Children (and adults) receive red envelopes often containing money. We each got one envelope with chocolate gold coins, a pretty box with chinese sweets and a stuffed tiger (as this is the year of the tiger) from the hotel. The tiger is the 3rd of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac cicle. The Chinese fortune tellers predict a difficult year but with promise and opportunity for wealth. One Chinese fortune teller says that the world economy will turn around in the next 12 months!

A funny thing with the red envelop tradition we witnessed at Starbucks. A family came in and the little boy, about 4 years old, dressed in a traditional chinese silk suit, with HK$20 (about US$2.50) and his red envelope in his hand, ran up to the counter, pointed to a pastry and screamed: Twenty! That one! He had no idea what it was, all he cared about was that he had a twenty and that was the price for the pastry! Too cute!

After the lion dance we took the trolley to the Midlevels escalator. Yes, escalator. It happens to be the world's longest outdoor covered escalator, 800 meters long. Travelling the whole length takes about 20 minutes with many opportunities to get off for shops and eateries. Mind you, the escalator runs uphill and you have to walk all the way down! Not for bad knees, but mine held up!

Once we got up there was really nothing there so we started to climb down. We stopped about halfways down, at Hollywood Road, and went to the Man Mo temple. It is one of the first traditional style temples built during the colonial era. Some random local guy, decided to be our personal guide through the temple and told us all about it and what to do once inside. We banged the drum and the bell (three times on each) and had to tell our names and age for good fortune (a toll free call to the gods). Then we burnt incense to pay homage to the Taoist gods. The temple was filled with people and smoke. Kim's hair still stinks.

From there we hopped on the subway to Kowloon where the New Year's Parade was to take place. First we explored the markets and then found ourselves completely exhausted and hungry and stopped to eat at California Pizza! We also found out that we were in the wrong place for the parade, so once again we took the subway to the proper parade location. This year (I experienced it once before) the parade was a complete dud. We did not get a good spot and on top of that the parade started late and was booooring. So we left early, back on the subway and trolley and went to bed.

Second day in Hong Kong

Woke up to a grey day here in Hong Kong. We had a rather late start but hadn't planned much anyway. Yesterday we had been looking for a Starbucks and stupidly thought that we would have to cross the water to Kowloon to find one :-) Well, as it turned out we had a Starbucks just across the street from our hotel! After a breakfast of fresh fruit, blueberry scones and latte we took the bus to Stanley for shopping.

We made out pretty well. I bought 2 very nice cashmere shawls, 2 linen blouses and a fleece (it's cold here) adding to my 2 T-shirts from yesterday. All dirt cheap! Kim got a beautiful silk top, 5 silk handbags, some other silk purses and yesterday T-shirts and some little fishes. We also got some gifts. By the time we finished shopping it had started to rain and we took the bus back to the hotel. Unfortunately we got off far too early and ended up having to walk quite a distance in the rain. Made a pit stop for some Starbucks along the way :-)

We haven't decided yet what to do for dinner. Will let you know.

We ended up going to dinner at a Japanese restaurant which was located within a shopping complex adjacent to the Marriott, which meant we didn't have to go outside where it is still raining and cold. They say that this weather is coming from mainland China and that it is snowing there. Luckily it is not that cold here, but cold enough!

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year - the year of the tiger. Too bad that it is going to be raining. Nevertheless a lot of stuff is going to be happening and I will report about it tomorrow.

First day in Hong Kong

Arrived in Hong Kong on time after more than 14 hours fly time from San Francisco. First Class on Cathay Pacific was absolutely wonderful. The nuts were not warm on this flight, but nevertheless very good! For starters we could have had caviar which we declined. But there was a lot of other food stuff, but I actually think that the food on American is a tad better! We decided to take the Sky Bus to the hotel. Oh, btw, one of my suitcases got left behind in San Francisco. They are supposed to deliver it to the hotel tonight. Luckily it was the suit case that was packed for Phuket and not the one for Hong Kong.

We have now arrived at the J.W. Marriott. Unfortunately, we have to pay for internet access, which I refuse to do, so this blog will be updated daily but may not be published every day. I have had a shower and Kim is next. Then we will go out to find something to do. Will report later!

A few hours later.
I actually broke down and decided to pay for internet after all - $600HK for a week! Absolutely ridiculous. We spent the afternoon taking a guided bus tour of Hong Kong island. First we made a stop at Victoria Peak, then there was a short tour at the fishing village by boat -quite chilly -and after that a stop at a jewelry factory. No, we didn't buy anything even if the temptation was great. On the bus again, past Repulse Bay and on to Stanley for a short shopping tour - only 30 minutes! So we are going back tomorrow :-)

My bag just arrived and I am so tired I am almost cross eyed!

Arrived in San Francisco

Well, we made it out of Boston a little bit late, but still arrived in San Francisco on time. And yes, warm nuts again :-) and champagne, but I settled for OJ. Then we got a salad, prosciutto with cantaloupe sauce and bread, Main course was beef tenderloin for me and 4-cheese ravioli for Kim. Dessert was ice cream sunday - mine with hot fudge, whipped cream and nuts. Kim choose strawberry topping, Even though we were in 1st class, it was not very comfortable. The seats did not go back very far, we didn't have our own little screens for the movie so I got a stiff neck from watching. We saw 2 movies: This is it - Michael Jackson and some comedy about lying. Not so great.

After de-planing it was a long walk to the international terminal where we now is in the British Airways First Class Lounge. Not terribly impressive.

Next post from Hong Kong!

Trip to Hong Kong

Well, today Kim and I are leaving for Hong Kong and then to Phuket, Thailand. I am going to try to write something every day about our adventures. Hopefully we get out on time. There is a snowstorm coming and our plane leaves Boston for San Francisco about 6 pm, which is when the storm is going to be the worst!!

The dogs are on vacation in Belmont, and they don't even know that I am going away as well. Well, Macintosh probably suspects it, but both he and Willie feel happy with the Sclafanis :-)

If I get connection I will write from the airport Boston or San Francisco.