HONG KONG, CHINA – March 5 TO 8
HONG KONG -
Part 1
(Written by
Steve)
I don’t even
know how to start to describe this place. If you took Manhattan,
Rio and Sydney Harbour and
put them all together, maybe that would give you some sort of idea of the size.
Then take a thousand boats of every size and tell them to cross the harbour as fast as they can, and then light up every
skyscraper with lighting from Times Square and then you might just have half of
Hong Kong Harbour. It’s
gigantic, crazy, smelly, all night, crowded, wonderful and fantastic all at the
same time, if that makes any sense.
We came into
the Harbour just as the sun was setting but had a
hard time seeing the shoreline due to the heavy smog. When we docked at around
8 at night, the light show from the buildings was spectacular. We got off the
ship around 9 pm and headed up to the Night Market, which turned out to be
around a 25 minute walk. If you can imagine a 10 block stretch of closed street,
lined with thousands of stands that take up the entire width and length of the
street. The stands sell everything from pirated DVD’s, Nintendo games,
clothing, watches, toys, every kind of electronic gadget you can think of. The
place is packed and if you have small kids with you, you had better get them up
on your shoulders to keep them out of the crowd. If someone in front of you
stops to look at something, don’t think it will stop the person behind you. I
really like it here, it’s all business and people just want to keep moving.
It’s so funny to watch the Westerners deal with this type of attitude,
they give the dirty looks, and the head shaking. The people here could care
less about what happens in a crowd, they are on the move and just keep on
going.
When our
family found out we were coming close to Hong Kong
they all told us to be so careful because of the SARS, Avian Flu and any other
diseases they could think of. The funny thing is, before we could leave the
ship we all had our temperatures taken and if we were not in the normal range
we were sent back. I found it quite funny that the Chinese were as terrified
about us bringing in diseases as we were about getting them here. I come from Vancouver, Canada
and in the last few years our city has had SARS, Avian Flu, Mad Cow and who
knows how many more. SARS and the Avian flu flooded
the news last year in Canada
and people were terrified of Canadian Travelers, but on the news we were told
to watch out for Asian travelers. I guess it all just depends what side of the
fence you are on.
On a side
note, my Sister gave me the heads up on another thing my father was real
concerned about. I guess I talk about Father O’Shea a bit when I write these
stories, and it has my father a little worried. He is wondering if I am
becoming Catholic, and I am still smiling about that comment. I really miss my Dad, and its comments like that one that makes him so much
fun. You see, I sit right beside Ray (Father O’Shea) every night at dinner and
have a great time. I don’t think of him as a Priest really, he is more like
buddy because he is so witty, great with our kids, loves magic and just an all
around nice guy, a real treat to be around. So Dad, just concentrate on the
bird flu and I promise I won’t sign any religious documents till I get home.
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O.K. back to Hong Kong. The first thing you will notice is a
zillion people walking everywhere, and doing it very quickly. The second is a
thousand double-decker buses zooming the streets with
a million cars flying all over the place. You get what I am trying to tell you?
It is crazy, but very cool and I have not even got to the shopping part yet (I
will let Helen tell you about that).
After
docking and getting a physical from the Hong Kong
security officers, we headed off the ship around 10pm.We of course have to go
through a mall to get to the street from the ship. The mall beside the ship has
3 levels and is 4 blocks in length and has everything a westerner wants but for
½ the price. We managed to fight the temptations and got out onto the street
with our pals from the ship. Of course Hala (one of
our friends) took us to another fantastic spot called the Night Market, and
then after 1 hour of walking away from the ship, I heard those words that no
parent wants to hear, when you are a long way from home. Danika
looked up at me and said “daddy I don’t feel well, my tummy is rumbling” It was
11:30 pm and we were about a full ½ hour into this market and there was no easy
way out of this place to grab a cab. We had to meet with the gang from the ship
at midnight, so we had to find one of them before we headed back to the ship.
Let’s just say we ran into one of them, found a cab and flew back to the ship.
We thought we would quickly phone home and just about finished yakking, when my
4 year old started puking like Mt.
St Helens. Helen was just
finishing up on the phone when the little vomit machine went into action. I’ll
let Helen fill you in on what our next couple of days were
like. Not fun!
Hong Kong
By: Helen
Well! That was
interesting! We were so excited to see Hong Kong and were planning all these great things to see
and do. The one little thing we failed
to factor into our plans was The Dreaded Stomach Virus!!! I had literally just gotten off the phone
with my mom and she had asked me how the kids were doing, whether they were
healthy and I said, “Oh yes, so far they have been great.” I should have known better. Just 2 minutes later, Danika
was puking on the sidewalk. We kind of
thought maybe it was because she had seen some men catch a fish and the fish
was bleeding and squirming and she was very upset with the whole thing. But, when we got back to the room she threw
up again and we knew that it was definitely something else. During the night she threw up all over her
bed and so we had to call Housekeeping and the poor guys came down, we woke
them up because they’re uniforms were half unbuttoned, and they only let one
guy in with gloves and mask. I felt like
some kind of alien, you could tell they were being very careful not to touch
anything and they even took out her mattress.
We finally got her settled with some Gravol
suppositories (sorry, too much info?) and she fell asleep.
The next morning the ship’s doctor came to see us and by that time Nikolas was feeling a little green himself. To our surprise he downplayed their illnesses
and told us it was probably
fever-induced vomiting. I
thought that was kind of strange because she started vomiting before she spiked
a fever. Anyway, we didn’t think too
much at the time but in hindsight we are guessing that he did not want to add
our two kids to his long list of stomach virus victims. He told us to keep her away from the Nursery
and to let her rest in the room. He did
not quarantine her and now that I look back it makes me quite angry. He didn’t even look at Nikolas
and told us to call him the next day if we needed him. That evening the Nurse called and asked how
they were doing and told us that the doctor would be in to see us first thing
in the morning. We waited until 1pm and
then called them and they said they were on a break off the ship, shopping I’m
sure, and that they would be back at 5pm.
Steve said to me, Forget that! And we got the
kids dressed and off we went to see the sights of Hong
Kong.
We bought Danika an umbrella stroller
from the ToysRUs in the mall and that was a saving
grace for our day. We decided to take a
taxi to the Ladies Market, which is exactly like the Night Market but during
the day. It is also a lot bigger as it
includes three separate streets. One is
for electronics, the second is for ladies items and the third is for
sports. We spent most of the day walking
along the Ladies Street
and bought lots of junk. I say that
because that is what it really is. Very cheaply made clothes, shoes, purses and tons of trinkets that
you would find in a dollar store.
Still, it is all so inexpensive and you get caught up in it all and we
bought some “Gucci” purses, “Ferrari” jackets and a Hello Kitty for Dani.
We were quite hungry so we found a restaurant that looked full
of both locals (good sign) and tourists.
We sat down and ordered our usual, boring Chinese food: sweet and sour pork, noodles, rice and wonton
soup. It’s amazing how scarce chicken
is on any menu in Asia. It looks like pork has replaced all of the
chicken dishes. Anyways, the lunch was
delicious, still not as fantastic as we keep expecting but we did enjoy it all
except we screwed up with the noodles again.
It happened in Japan
as well, we expect thin chow mein
noodles and get the thick udon noodles instead. Oh well.
Everyone told us how fantastic the shopping is in Hong Kong and I have to say I was a little
disappointed. I’m sure it’s because we
have not gone to the right areas but I really thought it would be a little
better. Steve wrote that the mall beside
the ship had stuff half the price of North America
but I beg to differ. The mall has a lot
of the high end clothing like Prada and Escada and I thought the prices were comparable. I did find some gorgeous stores on the kid’s
level where I bought Danika, who is the one that
least needs more clothes, some outfits that are just beautiful. Some of the stores had 60 percent sales and
the clothes averaged about 15-25 American dollars. We are talking good quality Oshkosh and European designer clothes.
Steve wrote that he would leave it to me to talk about the
shopping in Hong Kong. I have never been a huge shopper and my
biggest thrill is getting a bargain deal on something. I feel inadequate when it comes to critiquing
the shopping here because it would been unfair for me to say anything when I’m
sure we did not even begin to experience what Hong Kong is all about.
This place is way more amazing than I ever imagined. When we sailed into the harbour
it was this most surreal experience.
First you seen the land from a distance and it just looks like any one
of the many islands we’ve passed on our journey. Then all of a sudden you see buildings and
then more buildings, high-rises stacked along the shoreline. The smog makes them look like an illusion and
then you start getting closer to Hong
Kong Harbour
and the boats appear and they are everywhere and it seems like they follow some
sort of organized chaos. It was
nighttime by the time we actually docked and the view of Hong
Kong is so spectacular it is too hard to explain. From the edge of the water to the base of the
mountains behind there are huge skyscrapers and they are all sorts of sizes and
shapes and most of them have neon lights that are flashing or changing colours or laser beams streaming up and down and side to
side. These lights and lazer beams run the full length of these buildings and one huge round one that is huge has
writing that is the full length of the building and it rotates around it. Wow, it’s unreal. Hong Kong
has surpassed all my expectations and I just love it here. I must come back with my sister one day and
spend a week here. I love it so much I am
willing to take that dreaded, what would it be, 12
hour flight here! Yes, you have that in
writing!
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HONG KONG
-
PART 2 – (written by Helen)
Our last day
in Hong Kong was supposed to start bright and
early but as usual we all slept in and didn’t get off the ship until 11am. We missed breakfast on the ship so we headed
to the nearest Starbuck’s and had it there.
Yes, the tall, decaf, no foam, none fat latte tastes just like the ones
at home! All the baristas speak great
English too.
Our ship was
docked right beside the Star Ferry so we hopped on and made the 10 minute ride
across. It is very reasonable as it only
cost us about 2 dollars for all four of us!
Once we reached Hong Kong Island we saw our bus right away that was to take us
to the base of Victoria’s
Peak. Steve had to run and get some
change because the bus only takes exact change.
The bus ride was the same price as the ferry ride. As we drove to the Peak I couldn’t help but
notice how beautiful Hong Kong was. Somehow I envisioned it being an ugly, dirty
concrete jungle but it’s not. The
buildings are a mixture of old and new and there was a surprising amount of
greenery around every corner. There were
palm trees and huge trees that looked like massive bonsai trees, they were
beautiful.
When we
arrived at the base I was a little nervous about going up the tram. It’s actually a funicular and when you enter
the trolley it is on a slope and when you look forward you can see this very
steep track that awaits you. The trolley
is on tracks like train tracks and it has a rope in the middle that hauls the
trolley up the mountain. It takes about
10 minutes to get up to the top and at one point the slope is so steep that you
almost feel like it’s going to tip over backwards. I was holding on for dear life! The tracks run along past residential
sections and past schools. We could see
the kids in their uniforms out in the schoolyard playing soccer.
The tram has
been in place since 1888 and the Peak
Tower was renovated this
year. When you make it up the 1,800 feet
to the summit, the view is spectacular.
The view of the harbour and Kowloon and you get
a real sense of the density of the towers that line the coastline. It really is breathtaking and the lookout is
huge with a two level restaurant as well.
The kids wanted to go to the wax museum and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! that were also up there, but we said no. We didn’t stay long because we were really
short on time so we got back on the tram and rode down the mountain
backwards. The seats all face up the
mountain, it’s really quite bizarre.
We hailed a
cab and just at that moment a lady came up to us and asked us if we needed any
help translating to the taxi man. She
spoke excellent English and was able to tell the driver where we wanted to go
and she also told us how much it should cost in case he tried to rip us
off. That was so nice of her and we
thanked her profusely. We had the driver
take us to Aberdeen
which we heard was the site of the sampans.
We got out of the cab and walked down a pier. At the end there was a bunch of these old
rickety looking boats tied to the dock.
I was about to turn around and walk away when one lady came running
towards us and motioned for us to get on her boat. She kept saying, “200 dollars” over and over
again. Much to my surprise my husband
said, “Sure!”.
I looked at him with, I’m sure, my worst “are you out of your mind” look
and grabbed the kids and tried to walk away.
He just said, “oh, come on, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!”. So, hesitantly, I
joined him on the boat with the kids and sat down. Steve gave the husband the money, he jumped
off, she sat down, gunned the engine and off we went. I kind of had that feeling where things are
going a little too fast and I have lost control of the situation. I looked around and I couldn’t see any life
jackets anywhere. The boat, quite
honestly, needed A LOT of work and it really
just barely putted through the water. I
smiled a lot at the lady driving and she seemed so pleased to have us on her
boat. I finally found the life jackets
hanging in the rafters and I mentioned quietly to Steve that there were only 3
jackets and 5 of us. He smiled and said,
“that’s perfect”.
I tried to relax and after a few minutes I realized that she actually
was a very good driver and she took us to where the fishing boats were all tied
up on the water and to some boats where I am guessing that some people actually
live. I heard that it was now against
the law to live on the sandpans like they use to so
we didn’t actually see anyone other than some fishermen. At one point, she turned a corner and it
seemed like we were stuck in amongst the fishing boats. We thought she was turning around to go back
out but we realized that she was actually trying to squeeze between two huge
fishing boats. She just barely made it
with mere inches on either side and when we came through she actually started
clapping and cheering and well, so did we!
She was very cute and we were out there for about half an hour. It was actually very interesting and the
water was just filled with garbage. It
was floating all around us and I’m sure some sewage was in the water too
because the smell was not all that pleasant.
We made it back safe and sound and Steve gave her a tip and she seemed
quite happy with us.
We got into
another cab and he convinced us that it would be cheaper and faster if he just
drove us back to our ship instead of taking the ferry. He spoke very good English and it was a nice
ride through the city and under the harbour through
the tunnel. He complained about how
difficult it now was to make money in Hong Kong since China took over
and he was very vocal about how displeased he was with the government. When he found out how much we paid for our
cruise he kept slapping Steve on the shoulder and laughing, saying he was a
very good man. I think what he was
really thinking was that Steve was a very stupid man for spending that kind of
money on a trip. You could tell he
thought we were nuts.
We were back
in time to do just a little more shopping and then we sailed off towards Thailand.
As I
mentioned before, we really loved Hong Kong
and would love to come back and spend more time here so that we can see more
sites, rather than
just the shopping districts.
I found the people to be very friendly and it is very easy to get around
as a lot of people here speak English.
It seems so much more Westernized than Japan
and it was a little more comfortable to us.
Living in Canada, I
always had this sense that the world kind of revolved around us and the U.S. Being her, in Asia,
has shown me that we are just a speck in the broad sense of the world. It’s amazing to see these cities with all
these people. The biggest surprise for
me is that they, the people and even the cities are not all that different from
us. I am truly on the other side of the
world and it’s not that different. I
don’t know exactly what I was expecting but it has really opened up my eyes. Even the people on board that we have
met. All are from different parts of the
world and yet we all have similarities and the conversations are as if I am
talking to my friends. Wouldn’t it be
nice if the whole world could embrace the differences and celebrate the
similarities of the world? One can only
hope.
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