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Brace yourselves. This is going to be a long one. In fact, I’m breaking it up into two entries because we can only put 4 pictures on one blog. It’ll still be hard to choose 8 from these two outstanding days in China.
I was prepared not to like Hong Kong. From pictures I’d seen all my life I expected a big, dirty, scary city with people I couldn’t relate to and customs I wouldn’t understand. Instead I found a sparklingly clean, beautiful city full of lovely, youthful gracious people. The water was not filled with junks and men in coolie hats fishing for a living. It was teeming with ferries taking people to and from work and sailboats and cruise ships carrying visitors and tourists.
We were up before dawn for our sail in to Hong Kong harbor. We watched the sky get lighter as we entered our berth and just as they were tying the ship to the dock the big orange morning sun rose over one of the buildings across the bay. There was a collective gasp from the spectators on the deck at this sight and we were all joyous at the realization that we would have a clear, sunny day. After so many rainy dull days the good weather was very welcome and worth the wait.
The Hong Kong skyline rivals New York City in its expansiveness and number of skyscrapers. There are 7,000 people per square kilometer here and people are practically living one on top of the other. The skyline is high rise apartment building after high rise apartment building. We were docked in Kowloon, which is one of the 3 provinces of Hong Kong, the 3 being Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. Kowloon is the shopping and entertainment district, Hong Kong is the financial district and the New Territories are the outlying areas.
We embarked on a tour called The Best of Hong Kong. Driving to our first stop we looked down the side streets and it was an amazing sight. As far as you can see the roads are topped with Chinese signs, lanterns, banners, etc. A closer look at the high rise apartments revealed laundry strung out on lines. Our guide, Polly, explained that almost no one has a clothes dryer because it is too expensive, so they hang their laundry out the window to dry.
Our first stop was the Bird Garden. This is a small space on a side street where people bring their birds in cages and hang them up side by side so the birds can socialize. (I am not making this up!) Apparently most people live in a space too small to have a dog or cat so the Chinese love their birds. We saw many caged birds, some accompanied by their owners and some unaccompanied, getting to know each other. It was kind of a day care for birds.
Right next to the Bird Garden was about 4 square blocks of flower vendors. This is where most of the flowers are prepared for hotels, restaurants, office buildings, etc. and it is a place of beautiful colors and fragrances.
Next stop was the first of the markets, the Jade Hawkers Market. We strolled through one side and out the other and spied another market in the next block that looked intriguing. It was the local residential market and it was really fascinating to see. No one tried to sell us anything because they knew we weren’t buying so it was just easy to walk along and stare at some of the most unusual and unidentifiable food we’d ever seen. Included were grubworms and what we later found out were bird feet, which is a delicacy in China. We were also told later that dogs really are eaten here; it’s not just a myth, but Polly assured us that we wouldn’t be trying any today.
From there we went through the tunnel under the bay to Hong Kong where we visited a tea house and a Taoist temple. The temple was quite busy as it is the beginning of Chinese New Year and people do a lot of worshipping this time of year. They buy about a dozen sticks of incense outside the temple, light it and take it inside. They do some praying over it while gazing at some of the most frightening statues you can imagine, then they leave gifts at the altar, mostly oranges it seemed. There was a man hanging huge coils of incense from wiring on the ceiling so the place was thick with incense smoke and it was hard to breathe.
Onward to the funicular ride which would take us to Victoria Peak with views overlooking the city. The funicular was quite crowded with standing room only and seemed like it rose at about a 45 degree grade. At the top was a very modern shopping center with several restaurants, one of which was our lunch stop, an art deco restaurant with spectacular views of the city. One reason I like cruising is so that I DON’T have to eat off the ship, but we keep taking tours on this trip that include food. I really didn’t want to eat in a Chinese restaurant but I was a captive. Well, it turned out to be delicious. And my favorite dish was the okra. (And I’m not making that up, either!!) Several people were surprised to find they really liked the okra. There was a chicken dish and pasta, too, and it was all very good.
After lunch we made our way to the opposite side of Hong Kong to the famed Stanley Market. This is the market that everyone was looking forward to. And it really was fun. We bought lots of stuff. Polly gave us 1 ½ hours there and that was all we needed. Shopping is such a big deal in Hong Kong that when we returned to the ship, we found two brand new duffel bags on wheels, gifts from Holland America. I guess they assumed we would all need additional bags after our shopping expedition.
That night we met some friends and ventured off the ship for the light show that the city performs every night. Hong Kong has made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running consecutive city light show. At 8PM sharp the music begins and the lights go on. There are lasers flashing and many of the buildings are lit up with different colored and configured lights. It lasted for about 15 minutes. Then we moved on to the notorious night market. This was a lot of fun. Vendor booths were lined up for several blocks, selling all kinds of wares like souvenirs, clothes, household items, electronics, jewelry, toys, you name it. We bought more stuff there but the best part was the people watching.
I was prepared not to like Hong Kong. From pictures I’d seen all my life I expected a big, dirty, scary city with people I couldn’t relate to and customs I wouldn’t understand. Instead I found a sparklingly clean, beautiful city full of lovely, youthful gracious people. The water was not filled with junks and men in coolie hats fishing for a living. It was teeming with ferries taking people to and from work and sailboats and cruise ships carrying visitors and tourists.
We were up before dawn for our sail in to Hong Kong harbor. We watched the sky get lighter as we entered our berth and just as they were tying the ship to the dock the big orange morning sun rose over one of the buildings across the bay. There was a collective gasp from the spectators on the deck at this sight and we were all joyous at the realization that we would have a clear, sunny day. After so many rainy dull days the good weather was very welcome and worth the wait.
The Hong Kong skyline rivals New York City in its expansiveness and number of skyscrapers. There are 7,000 people per square kilometer here and people are practically living one on top of the other. The skyline is high rise apartment building after high rise apartment building. We were docked in Kowloon, which is one of the 3 provinces of Hong Kong, the 3 being Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. Kowloon is the shopping and entertainment district, Hong Kong is the financial district and the New Territories are the outlying areas.
We embarked on a tour called The Best of Hong Kong. Driving to our first stop we looked down the side streets and it was an amazing sight. As far as you can see the roads are topped with Chinese signs, lanterns, banners, etc. A closer look at the high rise apartments revealed laundry strung out on lines. Our guide, Polly, explained that almost no one has a clothes dryer because it is too expensive, so they hang their laundry out the window to dry.
Our first stop was the Bird Garden. This is a small space on a side street where people bring their birds in cages and hang them up side by side so the birds can socialize. (I am not making this up!) Apparently most people live in a space too small to have a dog or cat so the Chinese love their birds. We saw many caged birds, some accompanied by their owners and some unaccompanied, getting to know each other. It was kind of a day care for birds.
Right next to the Bird Garden was about 4 square blocks of flower vendors. This is where most of the flowers are prepared for hotels, restaurants, office buildings, etc. and it is a place of beautiful colors and fragrances.
Next stop was the first of the markets, the Jade Hawkers Market. We strolled through one side and out the other and spied another market in the next block that looked intriguing. It was the local residential market and it was really fascinating to see. No one tried to sell us anything because they knew we weren’t buying so it was just easy to walk along and stare at some of the most unusual and unidentifiable food we’d ever seen. Included were grubworms and what we later found out were bird feet, which is a delicacy in China. We were also told later that dogs really are eaten here; it’s not just a myth, but Polly assured us that we wouldn’t be trying any today.
From there we went through the tunnel under the bay to Hong Kong where we visited a tea house and a Taoist temple. The temple was quite busy as it is the beginning of Chinese New Year and people do a lot of worshipping this time of year. They buy about a dozen sticks of incense outside the temple, light it and take it inside. They do some praying over it while gazing at some of the most frightening statues you can imagine, then they leave gifts at the altar, mostly oranges it seemed. There was a man hanging huge coils of incense from wiring on the ceiling so the place was thick with incense smoke and it was hard to breathe.
Onward to the funicular ride which would take us to Victoria Peak with views overlooking the city. The funicular was quite crowded with standing room only and seemed like it rose at about a 45 degree grade. At the top was a very modern shopping center with several restaurants, one of which was our lunch stop, an art deco restaurant with spectacular views of the city. One reason I like cruising is so that I DON’T have to eat off the ship, but we keep taking tours on this trip that include food. I really didn’t want to eat in a Chinese restaurant but I was a captive. Well, it turned out to be delicious. And my favorite dish was the okra. (And I’m not making that up, either!!) Several people were surprised to find they really liked the okra. There was a chicken dish and pasta, too, and it was all very good.
After lunch we made our way to the opposite side of Hong Kong to the famed Stanley Market. This is the market that everyone was looking forward to. And it really was fun. We bought lots of stuff. Polly gave us 1 ½ hours there and that was all we needed. Shopping is such a big deal in Hong Kong that when we returned to the ship, we found two brand new duffel bags on wheels, gifts from Holland America. I guess they assumed we would all need additional bags after our shopping expedition.
That night we met some friends and ventured off the ship for the light show that the city performs every night. Hong Kong has made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running consecutive city light show. At 8PM sharp the music begins and the lights go on. There are lasers flashing and many of the buildings are lit up with different colored and configured lights. It lasted for about 15 minutes. Then we moved on to the notorious night market. This was a lot of fun. Vendor booths were lined up for several blocks, selling all kinds of wares like souvenirs, clothes, household items, electronics, jewelry, toys, you name it. We bought more stuff there but the best part was the people watching.
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