Yeah, we landed! The flight from Manila to Hong Kong was probably the bumpiest flight I can recall I have been on! And that includes flying with Brad Varnum in Hurricane Gordon! Not to mention we did a circle for some reason over the water and a jig-jag pattern when coming into Hong Kong airport.
We stayed at the Shangri-La Kowloon and a driver picked us up at the airport in a NICE Mercedes. The driver was great in pointing out various sites along the way – including the new suspension bridge that takes drivers to mainland China or to the New Territories. Buildings are VERY high and many are apartments! It is amazing that an area that is impacted by so many natural disasters – typhoons & earthquakes – has so many people and high rise structures! Hong Kong Island alone has over 7 million people! And it is only 51.5 sq km!
I have never had much interest in the Asian culture – to come visit, food, etc – like I have for Europe. But that has changed after visiting Hong Kong. What an amazing city!!!!! Granted, my thought on the food has NOT changed; if nothing else it confirmed my lack of interest. Street vendors selling all kinds of fried stuff – from shark fin, octopus, snails, liver, stomach, etc – even breathing through your mouth you could still taste/smell it. YUCK!!!!!!! Ironically, there were large crowds of people waiting to buy this stuff like Americans at a fair wanting to get funnel cake!
Our whirl-wind tour of Hong Kong was lead by my cousin Ryan who had been there for a couple of days before us. He already had the layout of the subway system and how to quickly get to various places. So a new nickname for him – Julie our cruise director! J We had already established some places we wanted to check out and did pretty good at hitting the majority of them.
I was amazed by the signs, lights, and number of people! There are bright signs hanging everywhere competing for attention. The subways are incredibly clean! Later we learned they do not allow food or beverages on the subway. There is an entire underground system that makes it very convenient to walk everywhere. However it is very misleading when you think “Oh next stop” then have to walk almost a mile through the underground maze to your exit. The most interesting thing I noticed is how quiet it is – even when walking through during rush hour – no one is talking. All you hear are the footprints and the wind as the trains pushes through.
The “Ladies Market” which has nothing to do with being specifically for ladies. So I am not sure how it got that name. The knock offs are all over the place. However those in Manila are much better quality!!! Coach bags that have the “C” all over it as the pattern had either “G” or “O” not believable at all!!!! For the “better quality” you had a laminated sheet to look at and then could go around back to a dark alley and purchase there. Yeah, we passed on that idea! But Ryan was saying these items are regulated, so I guess the “better” knock offs are more undercover.
The flower and bird markets were next on track. The flowers were amazing! So many I would love to take home, but I think customs might frown upon that. I had never seen orchids so big!! They were BEAUTIFUL!!!!! The bird market was interesting. We followed a man who was carrying a little cage with a small finch looking bird inside. It started off with a couple small cages hanging and as we got to the actual market there were shops of all kinds – selling empty cages, grasshoppers, millet, and food along with other items that I could not identify. Ryan was hilarious with one of the birds. He was making noises at it and the thing poofed up and they were rocking back and forth at each other. We didn’t know if Ryan made some random mating call noises to it or what happened. But that bird was going crazy! In the pictures, you will see the white bird with the giant eye – that is who he was talking with. I think Melissa got it on video too!! Will let you know if it ends up on YouTube!! Hehee
The Night Market followed – they had many items like the Ladies Market did. But there were merchants selling replicas of paintings. Ryan purchased one, and Melissa & Russell came home with 3 for their new home.
Now if you go to Hong Kong, you hear people say that you must go along the Harbor and see the light spectacular that starts at 8:00pm. Yeah, well…. Ryan had warned us that it was nothing spectacular but if we wanted to see it he would understand. We should have listened to him. It was really bad!! And for a city like this, with all their technology and bells & whistles one would think Disney may even get involved to make an impressive laser show. Not so much. But do go to the Harbor side to look at Hong Kong Island at night. That is a spectacular sight itself. They do have a statue of Jackie Chan in their Walk of Hollywood Stars – which we only recognized a couple of these stars.
It was a LONG day for us; we came right from work, so three of us were on only 2 hours of sleep. Sunday was going to be another jam-packed day!
The albums –
Flight - http://picasaweb.google.com/dnole2/GoingToHongKongTheHotel
Day 1 around Kowloon - http://picasaweb.google.com/dnole2/AroundKowloonHongKongDay1InHongKong
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