DAY 63---HONG KONG, CHINA

AGAIN I RECOMMEND YOU CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM FOR ULTIMATE ENJOYMENT.

Docked at Kowloon,Hong Kong today.  66 degrees this morning as I head out on a tour.  It was a pleasant day during the tour also in mid 70's and sunny.

Historical/Background Info:

        We were here in 2010 & 2013. Hong Kong island is only 30 square miles in size with a mountain on it.  It has the largest number of skyscrapers of any city in the world.  These skyscrapers house the banking industry and many other company offices.  There are many different market areas and interesting things to do.  Hong Kong’s population is 7.5 million and was under British control for 150 years prior to reunification with China as a Special Administrative Region in June of 1997.  It is also one of the most developed cities in the world, with the most expensive housing.  Hong Kong is on a peninsula of mainland China and is comprised of The New Territories, Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, and 266 other small islands. Victoria Harbor separates HK Island from Kowloon.  Kowloon is the shopping mecca and very beautiful skyline at night.  It is truly a beautiful city and neat place to visit. Hated to see there were protests earlier in 2021.

        We will be docking at the new cruise terminal, Kai Tak Cruise Terminal.  It was built on the former Kai Tak airport runway and opened June 12, 2013, just after we were here on March 22^nd & 23^rd, 2013.It has the capacity to berth two of the largest cruise ships at the same time.

LAST EVENNING

                              I liked this South Africa pinotage for my red wine tonight.

         I was surprised as I loved this beef Penang Malaysian style beef style short ribs.  Rebecca had the roasted turkey and loved it.

   Dessert was this molten chocolate cake with ice cream.  I could only eat a couple bites though.

After dinner Rebecca retired to the suite but I went to the Mariner Lounge for a Happy Happy drink.  Well, our three girls were there so got a photo with them with Ronalyn.  I went to hear the comedian and lasted through about half of his show.

TODAY

                 I had alarm set for 6:15 this morning so as to watch our sail in Kowloon Bay.  

                                       Drums and two dancers down on the pier this morning.

Roof of the cruise terminal.  On top of it is a long park.  It was a very long walk from the ship to the to

buses.

My 5 hours tour today.

I was one of the first on the bus and sat on the back row.  There were 34 of us on the tour.

This is going to be a new arena.

The cruise terminal is in the Victoria Harbor on the south end of Kowloon Peninsula.  So we drove through a 1.3 mile tunnel 80 feet under the harbor heading for Hong Kong Island.

 

Lots of high rise apartment buildings as there is no more land to build on.  

This is the Consulate General of the United States building.

This is the Peak Tram with will take us from sea level up 1207 feet to the upper level of HK Island.

More high rise apartments while riding the tram.

Before we left the tram Patrick, our guide, told the women to ignore the shops because they were an illusion.  He did not want any shopping done yet and had to show us the view area first.

                                           Looking down at the tram heading back down.

Great views of HK Island below and Kowloon across Victoria Harbor.  We could not see our ship however.

                    Abby, Pat, and Mary with their private tour guide they hired for the day.

                                            Upper tram station at the bottom of this structure.  

      This is a Starbucks in the tram station.  I bought a sausage roll but it was not very good.

Our bus drove up the mountain and picked us up at the top near the upper tram station.  So now we are heading back down in the bus.

                                              Old style Chinese roof.  Only one left in HK.

Next stop was at HK's largest jewelry store on the 27th floor of a building.  You would never find it unless you had a guide or lived here.  The jewelry was VERY nice and VERY expensive.  I saw one ring priced at $23,000.  HK is a duty free port so good shopping place for tourists.  I took these two photos before I read the "No Photos" sign.

Hard to tell but this was the fish market.  Boats could dock on other side to unload their catch.  It had to be a half mile long market.

Our third stop was at Aberdeen where we boarded sanpans for a tour on Aberdeen Harbor of the fishing village.

                                                               This is one of the sanpans.

This is our guide, Patrick.  He was a very funny man and was much better than the comedian last night in the theater.  Not only funny but very knowledgeable and kept us on time.  Best guide so far.

                            Our sanpan skipper.  There were 10 of us on each sanpan.

                                      Many different types and sizes of vessels in the village.

                              We weaved up and down the alleys for our 30 minute ride.

     A couple fishing boats.  There were many more further down but we turned around prior.

Used to be a floating restaurant years ago but in bad shape now.

                                                                    This part half sunk.

                                                             Apartments everywhere!!

Now heading to our next stop.  This is Deep Water Bay which has a small beach but not pictured.

                                              Only golf course in HK and it is just 9 holes.

                              Our last stop was at Repulse Bay and the largest beach at HK.  

There were two lions (one male and one female as out guide explained how to tell them apart) guarding the entrance to keep evil spirits out.

He said this was not a temple but appeared to be a kind of open air one to me.  I saw incense burning and some gift on alters.

                   He said if you walked across this bridge your life would be extended 3 days.

He said if a woman rubbed this they would have a child.  No one in our group came close to it.  LOL

                       This beach was very nice but is a man made beach.  All the sand hauled in.

                                  Appeared they were being instructed on rescue operations.

                           There was a sort of mall here with small food and other shops.

This was our meeting place at set time to reboard the bus for trip back to the cruise terminal.  What does "WTF" stand for.  Some of you have dirty minds, I think.  Actually says in small print, "Where's the Food".

                                                    Our nice bus  about to head "home".

                    Chinese cemetery.  Now no more room so everyone has to be cremated.

Number one sport in HK is horse racing.  Passing Happy Valley Racecourse.  There is another much larger one elsewhere.  Betting on the horses is big here.

                                                                   No sure what this is.

        We arrived back at the cruise terminal at 1:40.  Another long walk back to the ship so I hot footed it back as La Veranda was to close at 2pm.  I dropped my stuff in suite and washed my hands before heading up to the pool grill.  I ordered a hamburger and got a coke at the pool bar and took them down to the suite to eat.

        It is now 4:30 and I am just now finishing putting captions on all these photos.  Luckily there was a very high speed internet at the Repulse mall so I backed up nearly 80 photos I took on the tour in 3 minutes!  If I waited to do in on the ship it would have taken 3 hours.  Not kidding.  The cruise terminal also has this same internet as mall so the crew members are having a hay-day.  They love free internet.

        Ok, I should get this posted by 5pm as I need to get showered, dressed, ready for the evening.  It was a great day for me as I loved the tour and especially Patrick, our guide.  Rebecca stayed on the ship and did her treadmill time and soap time.

        Cocktails in Mariner Lounge as usual to start with.  Last night I asked Dominic, Prime 7 maitre'd, if he could get us in there this evening.  He said it was full but may have a cancelation so not sure where we will be dining.  We ended up dining in Compass Rose rather than Prime 7.

        We will be sailing at 9pm so we should have a nice view of HK night lights.  I will try to get some photos.  There is a Liar's Club in the Horizon Lounge again at 9:45 the we want to see.  They are always hilarious!!  Also a popcorn movie in the theater, "The Adventures of Priscilla".  Never heard of it and not going anyway.  Tomorrow is a sea day.