China – Part 3- Hong Kong

Now that we have finished our tour in China, I can describe the cities kind of like this: Beijing ranking oldest, holding onto ancient secrets and maintaining a vast history; Shanghai, the teenager is young and exuberant, trying to be like other big cities; and now Hong Kong, statuesque, pristine and majestic.  We were very impressed as soon as the shipped docked.  While Hong Kong has a very colorful and unique skyline like Shanghai, it has a different feel.  The first day we took a tour, again to acquaint ourselves to the city layout. We were taken by boat to see the Aberdeen River people who live, work and play on the fishing junks and sampans, some never leave the boat – ever! Next we went to the top of Victoria Peak where the view was spectacular! Remember it’s very hot here and the humidity levels are demonic. But there is a kind of smaze that hangs over the city, filtering what would have been a breathtaking view of Kowloon and the harbor. Next stop was the famous Stanley Market for every kind of real and fake clothes, bags, jewelry, furniture, souvenirs etc. 

                                  

After the tour we had a brief rest back at the ship.  We truly wanted to see the city at night without the drama of the meal problems in Shanghai. We walked through the area near the ship which was beautiful, offering all the designer shops you could imagine.  We really couldn’t settle on a restaurant though we saw many.  Finally, a place like Mortons looked like it would work. But you had to go down lots of stairs.  So we sent the boys while we waited in this other cafe that was cute.  Well, as luck would have it, it was a New York Deli!  Yahoooooo!!!!   After some convincing, Mark agreed not to have some slimy meal and go with the good stuff. It was almost the best meal so far including giant hamburgers, Philly cheesesteak, onion rings the size of a jade bracelet, good wine and 2lb. slice of cheesecake – which we had no room for. After our tummies were full we went to discover the night market – because we just haven’t had enough junk shopping! But this was more than we even imagined!  Alleys upon alleys of umbrella covered goods.  It was so hot and so humid that we could barely stand in one place to barter.  But barter we did until we couldn’t stand anymore.  Then we found the street of little cafes (see pics) where it appeared every local came on a Friday night to meet their friends and chat.  But it was extremely fragrant (not in a good way) as the food was mostly some sort of seafood, pigs feet and fried something else.  Mark wanted to eat again.  But by now it was almost midnight so we settled for a Mexican beer and a seat on the corner and it was fabulous!

                     

Day 2 we planned a little tour of our own with Linda and Burt Blum.  But some others joined us and we all hopped on a bus for the inner workings of Hong Kong.  We attended the Flower Market which was fabulous, the Bird Market – cute but smelly, the Fish Market ( yep… tons of gold fish)  and the Jade Market.  But the highlight of the day was a foot massage.  We had walked the whole morning and our feet were tired!  We saw this sign and followed it upstairs, surprising the kind proprietors as there were 7 of us.  They woke some girls from their siesta and got us all lined up on cushy leather recliners and we all got a wonderful 1 hour massage….AHHHH!!!  After a spicy noodle soup lunch we ended our day at the Jade market and Robin finally found her Jade Dragon and Hank got his jade Buddha! The lights of the city were awesome as we sailed away from this beautiful port! Stay tuned for next stop – Viet Nam.