Hong Kong
Arriving in Hong Kong: April 19, 2005
After arriving to LAX airport three hours early, it took us less than 10 minutes to check in and pass security. Not bad...
For all those curious, yes the flight was 14 hours and 30 minutes and over 7000 miles. It went by so fast. We had dinner around 2 a.m. PST, then
watched one of the multiple channels on our own personal mini TV's, then slept. Woke up at 3 a.m. Hong Kong time and ate some eggs/ ham and
killer banana bread.
Arrived in Hong Kong early this morning and took an easy train and taxi ride to our hotel. We passed the cargo ports, which were amazing. Railway
and truck cars were stacked literally dozens and dozens high. We looked at the labels on our clothes and laughed, thinking that most of them had
probably come right through this port at one time. The city of Hong Kong straddles a bay, with parts of the city on Hong Kong island, and parts
of it on the mainland. We are staying in Kowloon, on the mainland. We don't need a visa to visit this part, but we would if we went into mainland
China. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we started walking. It seemed like the city was still asleep, until we passed one street and saw some very
tired looking barkids coming out of a club at 7 a.m. Further on, we walked into Kowloon park and saw locals of all ages doing Tai Chi. With the
little sleep we've had, the Tai Chi group is definitely more our speed! Actually though, the coordination and balance of the older people in the
park was impressive.
Victoria's Peak - Best Views of Hong Kong
We eventually make it to the top of Victoria's peak, which is a peak with views overlooking the city. We took a cable car up here but there is
also a small road which winds its way up to the expensive homes here which are primarily filled with government officials and diplomats. We are
sitting at a coffee shop at the top of Victoria Peak. Mel just ordered some funky Gingseng water that is not very good. Going to walk around to
the top of Victoria Peak for awhile. More after we sleep tonight - yippee.
Jet lagged, but doing great.
The Traveling Martens
Heading to Macau, outside Hong Kong, April 20, 2005
Finished about an hour walk around Victoria's peak yesterday afternoon. It seems the smog here is nearly eternal, but we got lucky and had a
sunny day and could see most of the city, peering out through the tropical trees on the peak.
Dinner last night was another good Chinese dish, we never know exactly what we're going to get when we order. We've asked for water several times
and always get a glass of steaming hot water, finally figured out today that we need to ask for the distilled water, which is cold bottled water.
The restaurant last night also had the first bathroom which was a hole in the ground, I'm sure we'll see more of that during our trip,
lovely....
With only a few hours of sleep on the plane during the previous night, we called it an early night (6 pm) and slept until 6 this morning. Feeling
much more energetic today, so we headed to the ferry terminal for the hour ride to Macau. The Sands Casino Macau is the first thing we saw as we
pulled up to the island. Macau was Portugese territory until it was turned over to China in 1999, the same year the British gave back Hong Kong.
Macau is the only legal gambling area in China, but gambling is obviously very popular in Asia, as we discovered from all the mainland Chinese
coming here to bet. The tables in the casinos were several people deep, and people standing behind the players could add their own bets to each
player's hands. Guess they wanted to not only take their chances on the cards, but on the player's skills as well.
We walked around the main island, enjoying the strong Portugese influence on the architecture and the large plazas in the city. We sampled an
assortment of candies and strange dried meats from a store and ended up buying some spicy pork to snack on throughout the day. Hong Kong and
Macau don't let you eat any food or drinks on public transportation, and we think we've figured out why- the foods smell so strong (and sometimes
funky!) Next we went to the Westin Macau for a drink in their gardens and walked along the black sand beach.
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 Kowloon, SoHo, and Night Markets in Hong Kong, April 22, 2005
After our day in Macau, we went out that night for a great Indian dinner in Hong Kong. Mel's pork vindaloo was en fuego! Definitely hotter
than anything in the states. After dinner, we walked through the famous Temple night markets. The scene seems like something out of a movie-
crowded streets lined with stalls selling knock-offs of clothes, watches, purses, etc. Neon signs in Chinese are above us, with flags and banners
crossing the streets. We walked the streets for a few hours before heading back for the night.
Last day in Hong Kong-
Congee??? We had seen this dish listed on several menus, and finally tried it for breakfast our last day. It is like a rice porridge with meat
and spices, we got chicken, and it tasted sort of like chicken dumpling soup, but much better. Perfect breakfast meal. Stacy also got a fried
egg, too bad we didn't have the camera to catch her eating it with chop sticks.
After breakfast, we headed to the electronic stores lining the streets, selling everything you can imagine. Hong Kong is far more advanced
technologically than the U.S. Everyone is walking around with their advanced cellphones on a cord around their neck for easy access, since they
are always text messaging someone or talking on the phone. Except of course, when they have their MP3 earphones in, as nearly everyone does. Even
the kids have cellphones with better cameras built into them than you can even buy as a stand-alone camera in the U.S. We brought our digital
camera with us, but had to jump into the action and get a camcorder to record the rest of our travels. For those who care, we got a HD camcorder
that records 2 hours directly onto a re-usable SD memory card for less than a cheap tape camcorder would be in the U.S., and I don't think it's
even available in the US yet.
We then headed over to Hong Kong island from Kowloon to walk around the SoHo area, which is full of very nice restaurants and Asian antique
furniture shops. This area is below the Victoria peak, and is very hilly, reminding us of San Francisco. There is a public transportation
escalator which goes up the hills and is the longest escalator in the world. While walking around we saw some funny signs plastered on the walls
everywhere. Apparently, there is a popular Asian Elvis imitator named "Melvis". We snagged one of the signs for a souvenir, and Mel is hoping
that's not his new nickname for the rest of the trip. We ate dinner there also, in the Lan Kwai Fong area. We sat outside at a Lebanese
restaurant, while Hong Kong business men and women walked by, and Mercedes, BMWs, and Ferraris drove past on the narrow street. We noticed a line
of people and lots of flashbulbs across the street, so we went to check it out after eating. It appeared something was going on at this place,
called the C Club, so we talked and smiled our way down a literal red carpet, velvet ropes, and papparazis taking our picture. Once inside, we
talked to the locals and discovered we had gotten into a private party with all the Hong Kong celebrities. We had an interesting coversation with
one import/export trader here, who said that Hong Kong is still a center of business, but he worries that it is being bypassed as companies are
starting to go more and more directly into China instead of passing the trade through Hong Kong.
With an early flight in the morning, we headed home about 11 p.m. and took the Star Ferry across the bay back to Kowloon. Riding the ferry at
night was something we had been looking forward to, as you can see all the lights of Hong Kong on both sides of the water. Of course, we captured
the scene on our new camcorder.
Final thoughts on Hong Kong....
The city was amazing. It was like a clean, efficient, polite New York. Hong Kong is huge, but there is never a rush of people or any problems
getting around. The public transportation was easier to use than any other city we've been in and spotless as well.
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