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Kow Loon, Hong Kong - January 15-16, 2018
I slept! I actually slept on the flight from Abu Dhabi. Etihad Airlines served us a glass of wine and a nice fish dinner. When the lights turned down, I went to sleep. First this way with my body in a wad, then that way in different wad, blanket on; blanket off; then upside down in my seat and finally across Stan. But I slept. Once I roused up enough to raise the blind and look out the plane's window. I nearly jumped out of my seat. The sky was black but there were STARS! They were huge on the darkest, black-blue sky I have ever seen. I could make out constellations but the individual stars were so big it made the constellations seem not real. I went back to sleep. Then I woke to watch three episodes of The Sinner and one episode of How to Commit Murder. I fell asleep once more. Next when I roused again, all bleary-eyed and dumbfounded, I raised the blind once more. The sky was still dark but it was bordered by a line of the brightest light I have ever seen. Sunrise!
Soon from the window we began to see mountain tops rise above the clouds covering the land and then we saw rivers and the ocean. Finally land! My first thought was, ohhhh, I like this place. We saw beautiful, pointy mountains and city and ocean. Wow, Hong Kong could be Shangri-La!
We must be getting pretty good at this, entering new countries. What once confused and frustrated us is a now fairly easy. We understand how to properly go through Customs, find the Tourist Info desk, grab maps, info booklets and then determine the best form of transport to get us to our hotel or apartment.
We walked through the necessary routine, bought our Octopus Cad - the transportation card that gives us access to local buses, trams, subways and more. All big cities have these and using the card provides access to the best way to travel locally. We got off the clean, nice City Flyer bus at our stop and walked, brilliantly and directly to our hotel in the city of Mong Kok on Kowloon. I think we have gradated . . . there was a time when this first step in some cities has not been so simple or so direct.
Kowloon is only one of many islands that make up Hong Kong. But it is prime property and the major business district of Hong Kong. Commerce is thriving and stuff is available for sale on every square inch!!
After checking in at our hotel about noon, we walked to the nearest street-food market. That's the thing to do in Hong Kong - it's widely available in small stalls along busy streets. Every dish is fresh, often cooked before your very eyes and it can be simple like soup or noodles or rice topped with fresh vegetables, chicken or beef or it can be exquisitely exotic with octopus, whole fish, crab or squid. Not ready to jump in with both feet, we decided to go slowly. We were the only fair-skinned, English-speaking persons there but we selected good dishes and got along just fine. Secret - like many Chinese restaurants at home, these street shops often portray the dishes offered in a photo. If it looks good, order it! We had beef brisket with noodles in a lovely brothy beef soup. It was so good I decided I could have a bowl of this stuff every day.
We have determined finally now that we need to give up my big shoulder bag and Stan's heavy backpack carry-ons and opt for a single, light-weight collapsible carry-on. Bags like this will allow us to pull rather than carry my heavy camera, and the heavy mini-computer I use for the blog and all the wires and chargers necessary to support all our electronic devices. Plus we will then have room for more souvenirs. We shopped. Right outside our lunch spot was the Ladies Market. This is about a 20-square block rectangle that hosts stall after stall of all the Chinese stuff you have ever seen or hope to see, i.e., waving golden cats, kimonos, knock-off purses and watches, naughty but nice undies, scarves, luggage, belts and all the aftermarket phone gear that can ever be imagined. I would simply love to have the time to shop each stall, looking at each item in a leisurely way but the crowds are just too much plus I am afraid of showing too much interest in anything so as to avoid sales pitch and the unrelenting bargaining that inevitably ensues. We found the roller carry-on bags we want but will save the purchase for another day.
We made our way back to the hotel and crashed.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Stan is sick. He coughed all night. We had clues that he was coming down with something yesterday but it hit him like a brick last night. We have z-packs and Cipro but he is afraid to take the serious meds just yet. Instead he is fighting his cold with Zicam, Alka-Seltzer Nighttime, and cough drops. A bad cold is almost unavoidable while traveling like this. We are praying he feels better tomorrow.
Because Stan was feeling so bad, we did not do much today. We are hoping a little rest will do us both some good. We got outside though, got our bearings and got comfortable with the lay of the land. We thought we would walk to Star Ferry, one of the absolute must-do's in Hong Kong. We didn't leave the hotel until after noon so finding something to eat was a priority at least to me. Stan's appetite is a bit suppressed because he is puny but mine is pretty hardy. We walked a lot of blocks and I photographed almost everything I saw. . signs, shop after shop of gold jewelry, shop after shop of shoes, and on and on. I am intrigued with Chinese writing on signs - I love it. Many signs are translated to English, but most are not. This is one language I cannot intuitively figure out even the simplest of words. We walked many blocks. We found a quaint looking restaurant and had a seat - that's what you do . . . just find a seat at a table and share it with might beanyone who might be sitting next to you. It's actually not bad. We sat with a young professional couple. Unlike those in other countries, most people here speak English as a second language but if we try even just a little bit, we find that we can communicate at a very rudimentary level, but we communicate none the less. I think they and we both get a really warm feeling when we finally know what each other is thinking and trying to express. God! I love people!!!
People here are so logical. They sell and buy things in a logical manner. Things for sale are most often grouped together. On some streets there are shoe shops, from the simplest to fine; on other blocks are jewelry shops; others blocks offer (as we found) luggage shops; still others offer flowers; still on others fresh vegetables and fruit can be found And to me, the most unique street areas are those that offer fish! Fish is most frequently sold street-side in big bowls filled with water bubbling with oxygen via a tube from an aerator. Fish, crab and shellfish breathe, swim and roll their eyes freely in clean, oxygenated waters until a buyer takes their chosen delight home to cook and eat in minutes. While the marketing practice seems almost barbaric, my mind is blown; we buy our fish vac-packed from Costco. Now I ask you, which of us has the best offering???
We continued our walk toward the Star Ferry but Stan finally had to throw in the towel. He is sick. He headed back to the hotel. For whatever reason, a shop offering luggage called our names. We went in and wouldn't you know, we met the world's greatest sales person. Her name was Ada; she was cute, personable and she did a number on us. First she listened to what we were looking for and pulled out the perfect item. Then she pulled out other bags to show that because of its quality, its light weight and its roominess, this was without doubt the bag for us. Yes, we negotiated and she began to know that Stan would do pretty much anything for me and she began to appeal to Stan grinning and hugging me. Well, she did it. Actually she reminded me so much of my Chinese friend Lauren who calls me her American mom. I love Lauren and now I loved Ada. Okay, we bought two bags. But I think they are good and will save our backs and give us room to take home "priceless" souvenirs.
I will close with saying I love Hong Kong! It is prosperous, and poor; it is old and it is modern; it is big city with European and Chinese culture and I cannot wait to see more.
- comments
Patty Fundum We are enjoying your vacation! And we are praying Stan gets well very quickly!
Amy Weeks Feel better dear brother. I love reading the blog.
Judy(Roach) I just love your blog Janie and so glad you have experienced both India and China. My daughter and her family spent 3 years in Japan and she has an app on her phone that she can take a picture of the Kanji (Japanese writing) and it will interpret for her. I bet there is one for the Chiinese writing which I think is called Hanzi.
Melissa C Murphy I'm so far behind on your blog! I'm sorry Stan is sick & hope, by the time you get this, he is much better! Hong Kong looks like a dream!! Cram packed, lots of people, beautiful colors!!