Australia 2007

Tuesday, November 27th – Hong Kong – day 1

Our wakeup call came at 7:00 and we were down for breakfast by 8:00. It was a beautiful day, and the first we had seen Hong Kong in the light. Our hotel is right on the waterfront of Kowloon, facing Hong Kong Island. As with most cities on harbors, there was lots of boat traffic. We had a huge buffet breakfast overlooking the harbor. The selection was unbelievable, with all the usual items, but also many Chinese selections as well, like Dim Sum. You could get eggs any way you like them, a large selection of sliced fruit, as well as fruit salad. There was rice, noodles, dim sum, and a number of items I didn’t know. They also had waffles, pancakes, pasteries with several flavors of jams, and sweets, like donuts. I could tell we wouldn’t be wanting a lunch today.

Our pickup and guide, Nick, arrived at 9:40 and we got on the bus. There were a few more people to pick up at the Eaton Hotel on Nathan St. When they boarded, we found out that a group of 4 was from Calgary, and the other younger couple were from Stutgart, Germany. The bus headed out for Victoria Peak. Because it was such a lovely day, we could see a long way. We drove through a large tunnel which connects Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. Nick gave us the name of the tunnel, but told us the locals call it the “no excuse” tunnel. He said before the tunnel was built, the only way to get from Kowloon, and the New Territories, where most people live, to Hong Kong Island, where many work, was by boat or helicopter. During the typhoon season, everything would close down – schools, ferries, airports, buses – everything. Many times, people got stuck on Hong Kong Island and had to stay the night, because they couldn’t get home. While there, there was nothing to do at night but go to the pubs. Once the tunnel was built, they had no more excuses for staying away from home during typhoons – hence “no excuse” tunnel. When we got to the top of Victoria Peak, we parked and walked to the viewpoint, which was built as a local Lion’s International club project. It was still quite early and their was a bit of haze hanging over the water, which didn’t allow for pictures being too clear, but I am attaching one here.

"Hong Kong harbor from Victoria Peak"

"Kowloon from Victoria Peak"

After looking around a bit, we walked back to the main building, which housed a number of restaurants and souvenir shops. We were quite surprised to find a Hard Rock Café, so went in and bought a t-shirt for Bob. There is another “City” Hard Rock Café in Kowloon, which we will look for later, as Ina didn’t find a shirt she particularly liked. After leaving Victoria Peak we drove down the mountain and headed for Repulse Bay. This is a popular beach and housing area with lots of expensive housing. Jackie Chan has a big house at Repulse Bay. While on the way, Nick gave us more information about the Hong Kong area. There are about 7 million people in Hong Kong, living in 1100 square kilometers of land. He said that real estate starts at $15K - $20K per square foot. Even though this is in Hong Kong dollars, it is still pretty expensive. He said most of the homes in the Victoria Peak and Repulse Bay areas would sell for several hundred million Hong Kong dollars. Because of the expense, most residents live in small 300 – 400 square foot apartments. We got out at Repulse Bay and walked along parallel to the beach to a small temple where we took a couple pictures.

"temple at Repulse Bay"

"Beach at Repulse Bay"

We also took pictures of the beach and a building with a big hole in the middle of it. Not sure if I had a good angle on the building to show the large hole. Nick said the hole was built because local Chinese legend says that a dragon comes down the valley and into the water at night, so they didn’t want to block the dragon’s access to the water.

"building with Dragon's hole in it"

One of the group asked Nick a question about Hong Kong currency. He wanted to know why there are different sizes and colors of notes of the same denominations. Nick explained that in most countries, the government issues the local currencies. In Hong Kong, there are 3 major banks that issue the currency for the government. That is why the difference. They do their own designs and they change the notes every few years to discourage counterfitting. We all found that quite interesting. Before long we had arrived at Aberdeen, which is a fishing village on the other side of Hong Kong Island. We stopped at a park along the waters edge and watched the Sampan boats scurrying over the water among the large fishing and pleasure boats in the area. Nick asked if we wanted to take a Sampan ride, and we all agreed to the additional charge to get a ride. The Sampan took us under a bridge and into the harbor, past the largest floating Seafood Restaurant in the world. It was massive.

"World's largest floating restaurant at Aberdeen Harbor"

"closer shot of Jumbo Seafood Restaurant"

We also went past many huge pleasure boats, that we could only dream about owning. He went past many fishing boats, where the older fishermen, some with families, actually lived on their boats in the harbor. The entire trip took about 30 minutes and cost us $60 HK dollars per person, or around $8 Cdn. It was fun to see how many of the fishermen live. There were also lots of huge apartment buildings along the waters edge.

"Aberdeen Harbour with its array of boats and modern apartments on the shoreline"

After leaving Aberdeen, we wound our way through the streets to a jewelry factory tour. This was the commercial bit of the trip. We were led into a small area where people made the settings for the gems that were imported from other parts of the world. Nick had told us that Hong Kong does not and never has been a place where you find precious stones or ores. Everything for making jewelry is brought in. The benefit of the factory is being able to buy very good quality jewelry at reasonable prices. He was right about the jewelry, it is very good quality, and is probably a very good price, but it is also high end stuff. We didn’t see much of anything, less than $2000 HK dollars (+/- $300 cdn) and most was in the $5000 HK plus range. We didn’t buy anything but certainly looked around and saw lots we liked.

The jewelry factory was our last stop and on the way back to Kowloon, one of the ladies asked about the “Ladies Market”. Nick said that it is a typical Chinese market that covers several blocks of a narrow street, but actually caters to everyone. He asked if we would like to be dropped there, rather than our hotels. The people from Nathan Road would be able to walk to their hotel from there, but we would have to take a bus or cab. We all agreed anyway, and got dropped off at the market. Everyone kind of went their separate ways, and Ina and I walked down one side of the street and back the other, for about half the market. We made a couple small purchases and then caught a cab back to the hotel, where we went up and had a geezer.

"Ina at Ladies Market in Kowloon"

We got up and got dressed for dinner and went downstairs to the Harbor Grill. The restaurant looks out over the harbor and we could see all the boats going by, and a couple of cruise ships all lit up n the harbor. Many of the boats were decorated with lights and it was hard to believe in this environment, they were Christmas lights. We had a great dinner- Ina had lamb and I had chicken. The dinners came with rolls and a potato of choice, but nothing else, so we ordered a dish of green asparagus to share. When the dinner came, it looked very small, and the asparagus side dish had 2 stocks on it. By the time we finished, we were actually pretty full. I said to Ina that this is the most expensive dinner we have had and probably ever will at $1029 (Hong Kong). After dinner, we went for a walk outside to see what was around the hotel. We got outside at 8:00pm just in time to watch the laser light show that is put on every evening at 8:00pm from about 47 buildings on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The show lasts for about 15 minutes and is made up of building lights that change in color and pattern, as well as laser beams coming off the tops of several buildings. We didn’t have our camera with us, but will try to catch some pictures tomorrow night, when we are hoping to do some night walking in the Kowloon shopping district.

After the light show, we walked to Wampao Market just a few blocks away. It is in the shape of a huge ship and, when we arrived last night, and drove past it, we thought it was a real ship on the water. It has about 4 floors in it and many shops and restaurants. They even have a “$10 always” section, which would be the equivalent of our $1 stores. Ina actually found a couple items in there. After our shopping we headed back to the room and I worked on the blog material and watched TV until 11:00 when we turned out the lights.