March 27 & 28 - Hong Kong, SAR, People’s Republic of China

SAR stands for Special Administrative Region.   We’ve spent the last two days docked at the Ocean Terminal right in downtown Kowloon.  How convenient is that?  We have a front row seat to the view of the harbor and Hong Kong Island across the way and easy access to all the shopping, food and excitement of Tsim Sha Tsui, the area closest to the harbor in southern Kowloon.

Hong Kong Island

The Star Ferry terminal

One of the Star ferries  There are two decks - upstairs is first class and downstairs is second class and the fare is less than $1

Hong Kong came under British control after the Opium Wars between 1839  and 1842 when the Chinese were defeated and ceded first Hong Kong Island and then the Kowloon Peninsula in the Convention of Peking. In 1899 the area was further expanded when the British obtained a 99- year lease on the New Territories.  On July 1, 1997 the United Kingdom turned over all of Hong Kong to China with an agreement that China would give the area special status for 50 years.  Promises were made that Hong Kong would retain freedoms that the city and its residents enjoyed under British governance.  Surprise, surprise!  The Chinese didn’t keep their word.  Freedom of the press has been curtailed as has freedom of assembly.  Among the people with whom I spoke  there were very mixed and guarded opinions.  For those who must do business with Chinese manufacturers and get permits from the government, there was cautious optimism that business will still be allowed to operate freely.  For those who are better able to relocate should it become too repressive, there is a much more pessimistic outlook.  I could see some major changes since I last visited prior to the handover.  Obviously there had been an explosion of new buildings rising up around the harbor and everywhere the eye could see.  The more significant change that I saw was that whereas before much of the signage was in both Chinese and English, now it is almost exclusively in Chinese.  Before almost everyone I encountered including taxi drivers spoke some English.  Now that isn’t the case; I rode in two taxis in which the driver spoke not a word of English.  Fortunately I was with someone who could communicate.

The first day we were here I slept late and didn’t go ashore until mid-day.  I was on the hunt for a tailor shop.  Hong Kong in the past was renowned for their tailors who could make custom suits, shirts, and dresses in a matter of days.  I had in fact had a couple of things made many years ago.  I have absolutely no need for a suit, but I had found a photo of a  silk evening caftan which I thought I would like to bring on future cruises.  I found a tailor in another of the vast multi-story malls and spent an hour or so looking at silk swatches and talking with a tailor there.  With some advice from him I selected a lovely fabric and he took my measurements.  We agreed on a price and he is going to make my caftan and ship it to me to arrive after I return home.  I’m not sure I saved any money but that wasn’t really the point anyway.  Instead I want something that’s not long enough for a 5’10” model and instead looks like it was made for me.  I showed him something else I really liked with a silk fabric he didn’t happen to have and we agreed that if he can find that fabric and I like the dress he’s making for me, I’ll order the second dress.  After all, he has my measurements.

When I got back to the mall attached to the cruise terminal I did a little wandering through it’s hundreds of stores and bought a couple of things.  There were a lot of shoppers in there, mainly Asians.  Someone told me that a lot of Malaysians come here to shop.  It wasn’t my impression that there were any real bargains, but I probably would have had to go wandering off on side streets in Kowloon to find them.  I don’t really need anything so I didn’t try that. Many of the stores in the malls were designer brand shops. The mall is somewhat divided into areas by type of merchandise so I walked past one area with nothing but athletic shoes and others with only make-up and beauty products.  The one wing that really got me was an entire section of stores selling designer kids clothes -  Gucci, Armani, Dior etc.  Thinking back on how fast kids outgrow things, I just don’t understand buying Baby Gucci playsets, but clearly there are people who want them.

On our second day I had decided to have lunch ashore in a restaurant my friend Patricia dined in yesterday and highly recommended.  The place was in the mall at Harbour City and had big windows overlooking the harbor and Hong Kong Island.  My friend Claudia and I went and we had an absolutely exquisite lunch.  I’m even putting photos of the food because it was so good.  After lunch we walked a little in the mall to work off the food and did a little more shopping.

A pre-meal snack of pickled mushrooms and celery

Steamed spinach dumplings 

Steamed shrimp dumplings

Wagyu Beef Buns with fried scallion strings (we'd already attacked these before I remembered to take a photo - they were so good!)

Mango custard in the middle surrounded by shredded grapefruit and topped with mango sauce and edible flowers

As I write I realize that it sounds like a pretty dull couple of days because I didn’t take a tour or go wandering around the night market or Wan Chai, but I’d been to Hong Kong a few times before and seen all the major sights.  Lots of things may have changed but not the Peak tram or the big Buddha on Lantau Island, so I didn’t think I needed to go there again.  I had a chance to see the hustle and bustle of the traffic and people on Nathan Road and I ate good food so it was a successful visit.

It’s Friday now as I write this and I have to say that I stayed up pretty late even though I was tired so I could watch first the light show that goes on every night at 8 PM.  The various buildings on both the island and mainland have lasers criss-crossing the skies and changing patterns of lights on their sides.  It’s very neat to watch.  I also wanted to stay up to see us sail away from Hong Kong.  There are lots of pretty spectacular places from which to sail, but I think Hong Kong at night is right up there with the best.  I’ve given up on trying to upload videos, but I’ll upload some pictures of the sights around us.

The first night it was a little foggy over Hong Kong Island and I liked the way the tops of the taller buildings vanished in the mist, especially the next one.

This is the same building as above but on our second night I could see the top.

Two of the colorful junks in the harbor

Now we're sailing to Taiwan where we'll spend the next several days.  I've never been there so it's going to be all new ground It's been a quiet sea day. We had trivia with some new team members and we didn't do very well.  This leg it isn't cumulative so each day's competition stands alone.  Here's today's  final, bonus question: give the day of the week, month, date and year of the battle at Waterloo.  We couldn't believe someone actually knew it and got double points.