Hong Kong

Our trip back on the ferry was smooth although it was quite cloudy, so we didn’t get to see Hong Kong very clearly on our approach.  Suddenly there were tall buildings all around us, and we realized we were at the end of the journey.  We took a few pictures, and disembarked, then easily found our way from the station toward our hotel.  We were pretty tired at check in, but were happy to find the hotel right away and it was an easy walk from the ferry terminal under covered walkways with escalators, so no lugging our bags up stairs.  The walkways were crowded with thousands of women, all sitting together in groups playing cards, talking, and seeming to enjoy themselves a lot.  At the hotel, I asked what was going on, and the desk clerk informed us that on Sundays, the house maids in Hong Kong all get the day off, and spend the afternoon together just relaxing and having fun.  What an interesting site to see.

Very foggy coming in on the Ferry, but still a magnificent city

Ferries run constantly.  I thought it was cool this one is "Boeing"

House Maids holiday on Sunday afternoons and evening

When we saw our accommodations, we were really blown away.  The hotel is the nicest I ever stayed at, for sure.  It had come highly recommended in forums on the internet, so I figured it would be nice, but didn’t realize it was so luxurious.  It is the Mandarin Oriental.  I had a view of the most famous building in Hong Kong, directly across the square, and also looking down on an old colonial building which turned out to be related to HSBC, one of the three major banks in Hong Kong, each of which issue their own currency!  So there are three different currencies, all accepted equally, with the same values, and issued by private banks.  One is HSBC, another is Standard Chartered Bank, and the third, I forget…  But, back to the hotel…  It pretty much had every luxury you can imagine.  It was SO fancy that they don’t even have an iron in the room.  They would not deem the client to do his own ironing!  Growing up I remember seeing my first hotel room that HAD an iron, and thinking this was a sign of a real hotel.  Before that I guess I just had stayed in some small motels where they didn’t even have that.  So it is funny that now I found that TRUE luxury also has no iron.  Hahaha

The room was also nice in that all the electronics worked seamlessly.  Usually, hotel rooms in nice hotels will have these elaborate electronics setup, and half of it doesn’t work right.  But in this one, everything was flawless.  Little remotes by the beds controlled reading lamps, mood settings, everything imaginable.  The bathroom had a TV embedded in a rotatable mirror so you could watch from the shower or bath.  There were little electronic shades allowing the bathroom to see the view, or have privacy.  Really swank!

View from the hotel room!

Swankiest hotel room I've ever seen!  Electronic blinds close for the bathroom but can open to allow you to enjoy the view too.

British Empire era building in the view from the room

Electronics worked flawlessly, and the phone even said my name!

Beautiful plant in the foyer of rooms

So, after we enjoyed the hotel for a while, we decided to head out to the city.  We got some shots from our room, which were spectacular in themselves, but we knew Hong Kong is a big place, with a lot to see.  My friend Yinn, herself from Hong Kong, suggested visiting a famous park on the “Avenue of the Stars” in Kowloon, across the water, so we boarded the MTR train and in a flash, we were there.  We exited into a world of a million lighted signs, hawkers selling “Rolex” and “Gucci” everywhere we turned, and thousands of people moving in every direction.  It was a sight to behold.  We walked, as it turned out, in the wrong direction, at first, but nothing was lost, since everywhere we turned, there was something interesting to see.  It was similar to Times Square in New York City, but also very different.  I think there were more signs by far, and more small shops, and more people.  We found a beautiful park, which we thought was the one we needed.  But in the end, it was not.  We still enjoyed strolling through it.  Finally, we realized we were not heading toward the intended destination, so we fired up the GPS on my Windows Phone, and quickly found where we needed to head.  In a few more minutes, we made it to the water, and the view was absolutely spectacular.  There was a heavy cloud cover, in fact, but not so much that it obscured the view.  Rather, it seemed to capture all the stray light and reflect it back.  It was quite a wonderland, even making Singapore seem small.  We just sat for about 40 minutes, enjoying the sights and sounds, watching the people who were all having a good time, and taking many pictures.

At the night market

Map of Asia in the granite, a cool meridian marked here

Ok, we stopped at Mickey D's.  We would not be proper American tourists otherwise if we didn't at least once or twice!  hahaha

Finally we left, and on the way back, found another interesting site, the site where an old tower would drop a large ball from a high point each day at a specific time, so ships in the harbor could synchronize their clocks, and then be able to calculate their longitude accurately in subsequent journeys.  We walked through this, and the beautiful environment around there, too.

Eventually we made our way back to the MTR, and were whisked back to the hotel.  We stayed up as late as possible.  As usual, I was able to stay up quite a bit later, and spent the time working on these blog posts, and checking things on the internet for the rest of our journey, etc.  Finally at around 2:30am I went to bed.  We slept late and got up to enjoy a great breakfast at the hotel.

After breakfast on our second day, we set out to explore Hong Kong island.  It was cool and comfortable, but within minutes of setting out, it began to drizzle.  It continued throughout the day, sometimes going from drizzle to full on downpour!  But our spirits were not daunted.  We got a $5 umbrella to protect the camera bag, and enjoyed the coolness of the rain to keep us from overheating, as the weather got quite warm at times, especially trekking up the literal mountainside on which the city rests.  We considered taking the “Peak Tram”, which goes to the top of the mountain, but in fact, since the cloud cover was so thick this day, we decided against it.  Most likely, we would have seen nothing but cloud at the top, and that didn’t seem very interesting.  So instead, we thoroughly explored the beautiful Hong Kong Park, its exotic aviary, and ponds, waterfalls with a tunnel going behind them, and lots of little surprises.  It is as beautiful as any city park I have ever seen, for sure.  Then we also walked through some of the tunnels and walkways that interconnect the whole downtown, in a labyrinth that makes even Singapore seem quaint.  There must be hundreds of miles of these interconnected paths.  We found our way into several beautiful buildings and shopping centers, walked past the Supreme Court building, and took many pictures.  We were so full from the huge breakfast at the hotel, we couldn’t even think of eating all day.

Cool robot buildings!

Stream through the aviary - beautiful

Cool shot of the tallest building from a little park

David checking out the stream in the little park

Anglican Church from colonial era

Our hotel is in the middle.  Mandarin Oriental is the best hotel I ever stayed at!

In Hong Kong Park - we finally picked up a little $5 umbrella to keep the camera bag from getting wet.

Terapins (turtles) in Hong Kong Park

A cool cave behind a waterfall in the park.  Awesome!

Panoramic view from behind waterfall in the cave.

Contemplative pose!  hahaha

Beware of speeding turtles!

Memorial to the Winnipeg regiment who fought bravely during the war - the hometown of our new friend Christine from Canada!

The hotel was kind enough to let us come back for a complimentary room to get ready for our 12:30am flight, so we got showers and were able to dress in dry clothes, dry out our wet clothes, and get ready for the long haul overnight flight to London.  We spent a good hour or so there before we headed out for the airport.  We made the express train smoothly and soon were at the airport and through security.  The lounge in Hong Kong was really nice too, good food, and had some time to check emails and get caught up a bit, and then we were ready to board for our next big step, on to Rome via London!

Beautiful relief at one entrance to the hotel

Super hi-tech Hong Kong airport