| Hong Kong |
(Note: this will probably get broken up onto separate pages once we start adding pix and such. It will probably be one page for each day that we were in Hong Kong.)
And so, it begins…
Jenn:
As we drive through the Connecticut countryside, the conversation covers many areas of life. "He's Welsh, you know," prompts Michele to tell us about a web site that sells inflatable sheep. Of course, who are we talking about when we mention the Welsh and sheep? Tom Jones. But it's not just conversation about him specifically that gets us laughing, it's Chris telling us about Garth Brooks pretending to be Tom Jones on the new Muppet Show, and the little muppet underwear and bras being thrown onto the stage.
Michele:
Sentences where you're frightened where they'll lead:
Chris: "I had to give up saxophone…"
(Actually, it was because he got dizzy.)
Michele:
Have boarded the (quite full) plane. It's a 747.
The limo ride from Stratford to JFK was mostly uneventful. We were picked up on time by our mostly personality-free driver. Had fun playing with the TV, radio, and interior lighting in the limo.
A minor incident occurred when Jenn tried to separate two nested glasses, and one broke. Enjoyed our champagne and mimosas anyway (since Jenn wasn't cut or otherwise hurt), with Chris sipping his in style-- directly from the paper bag-clad bottle.
JFK was an amusing adventure. Checked our baggage, then went in search of food and other sundries. Didn't exchange money because the rate offered by Travelex was poor. Jenn got food, Chris got Wint-O-Green (TM) Life Savers, and Donna and I got inflatable neck pillows and Pepperidge Farm cookies. Fully kitted out, we are now ready to embark on our adventure. On to steerage! Moo!
Michele:
Oh my god, we're in Hong Kong!
We've all showered and sufficiently revived, and are about to take this show on the road… Today's plan seems to involve wandering down Nathan Road (not Nathan Lane).
Jenn et al. visited Wellcome (the supermarket across the street) and bought an amusing variety of Asian beverages, including "crunchy water chestnut drink" and "crunchy coconut drink". They also picked up some Bobo Tea, a Jackie Chan product.
And we're off…
Jenn:
…And we are still trying to be off…
Or maybe we're already off, but just need to get going? Get out of the bathroom! Let's go!
Michele:
We ate lunch at the Kam Chiu Restaurant, G/F Floor, No. 56 Cameron Road, Kowloon, H.K.
(card pic goes here)
According to Jenn's newly purchased Fodor's Guide, No. 56 Cameron Road was supposed to be Bodhi's Vegetarian Restaurant. Kam Chiu's was decidedly carnivorous, but we ate there anyway.
After lunch, we continued shopping and wandering.
Donna:
Maida was thrilled to find Aji Ichiban. We all went in, and the staff generously offered samples of all the dried fruits, fish, meat, etc.
We enjoyed tasting but were kind of embarrassed that we weren't interested in buying. Then, "fortunately" Jenn realized there was bird shit in my hair, so we snuck off to find a ladies room…
Michele:
We walked down toward the Star Ferry Terminal and walked out on the Promenade by the Regent Hotel. Took photos of the boats on the harbor and enjoyed the scenery.
We also went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art and looked at the Egyptian Treasures and some of the Chinese art and calligraphy. Alas, we were unable to obtain a postcard of the evil demon bunnies which appeared on one of the Chinese scrolls.
No Egyptian postcards either. Had to settle for some generic Hong Kong photo postcards.
Jenn:
We're very proud of ourselves for the ability to take 6 different modes of transportation:
We toyed with taking the jetfoil over to Macau, just to finish off "Transportation Day."
Dinner in Shek O. Not what everyone plans for on their trip to Hong Kong, but we ate at a fine restaurant <cough>.
Donna:
For dinner we went to Shek O-- people will ask "Why?"
And we'd have to answer "So we could catch something."
Comments over dinner:
Donna, reflecting on our tea: "It is dirt-flavored."
Chris: "It has a nice earthy tone."
Michele: "Please pass the toilet paper."
Jenn, laughing: "Words I never thought I'd hear at the dinner table."
(There weren't any napkins, so the woman running the restaurant put a roll of TP on our table.)
Michele:
As Jenn mentioned, today was Public Transportation Day. After breakfast, we ran for a bus, only to have the driver pointedly ignore us and pull away from the curb. So, we took a taxi (two, actually) to the Star Ferry Terminal.
From there, we took the ferry to Hong Kong island, and then a bus to Repulse Bay. We enjoyed the scenery along the route, and spent a few hours at Repulse Bay, wading in the South China Sea, buying "chops" with our names on them, and taking many photos of the gods and goddesses in a small temple. Cool stuff.
From there, we took another two buses to get to Shek O, where we had the aforementioned unfortunate dinner, complete with dirt tea. I'll leave it to some other poor soul to describe the bathroom facilities. I didn't actually look, but decided from Jenn's tone of voice that I could wait. (For days, if necessary.)
After our Shek O experience, we had an exciting night bus ride (No. 9 and No. 14) to Shau Kei Wan, where an obliging policeman found it easier to lead us to our destination (the overhead tramway stop) than to explain to us how to get there.
The overhead tramway was not, however, what we were expecting. We were thinking of a gondola, or a cable car. In actuality, tram = trolley. Overhead tram means a trolley with power supplied from lines overhead.
We took the trolley back to Central, and took the Peak Tram to what we thought was the top of Victoria Peak. (We later figured out that it's not even close.) This was a really steep ride. It was very strange to look out the window and see the buildings going by at bizarre angles.
We got to the Peak Tower at the top and went out on the observation deck to look at the harbor and all the buildings. It was fairly windy and cold, so I didn't stay out there for too long. We farkeled around for another half-hour or so, then rode back down (backwards).
Through the combined efforts of Mapboy and Jenn, we eventually made it to the Admiralty subway stop, where we caught a subway train directly to Yau Ma Tei (right outside our hotel).
Michele:
As someone mentioned earlier, "today is Thursday, so this must be Macau."
We took the subway to the Jetfoil terminal, and then the Far East Jetfoils over to Macau.
First Class gets you a comfy seat, a small boxed snack, and a complimentary beer (Löwenbrau), which no one ever wants. If you're lucky, you get cookies and a juice box of orange juice. If you're unlucky, you get the cheese-flavoured biscuit, which tastes disturbingly like cheddar shortbread. But if you're unlucky with your snack, at least the beverage gods take pity on you and give you a peach nectar juice box instead. And everybody gets a small piece of chocolate, shaped like a good-luck cat.
The terminal in Macau is right next to the Grand Prix raceway. This particular weekend (November 21-22) happened to be the 45th Macau Grand Prix, and on Thursday and Friday they were running trials.
We all bought cheap tix (50 patacas = US $7) and went over to the race track for a while. Chris took many cool pictures of the cars with his new digital camera.
After the Grand Prix, we embarked upon bus adventure #97, wherein we attempted to get to Henri's Galley via Bus No. 28B.
Alas, it's not that easy. (It never is.) But we did get on a bus, and it did get us sort of near where we wanted to go. (Macau is only 9 square miles.) We walked the rest of the way, and wound up eating at Os Gatos, a restaurant in a Portuguese Inn (the Pousada de São Tiago).
Very nice, classy, expensive lunch. Lemon squash was the beverage of choice, and the seafood paella and fisherman's stew were both excellent. The baby octopi received rave reviews, primarily because they were so darn cute.
After that, we walked to the Maritime Museum/ Aquarium, and wandered around there for an hour and a half. Attempted unsuccessfully to bag a taxi to the Leal Senado, but wound up on another bus which took us to the right general area.
I bought a daypack there, so that I could carry my belongings more comfortably. Jenn bought a turtleneck, and Donna bought tattoos.
We walked to the Lisboa Hotel, but the casino turned us away. (Apparently our money isn't good enough, or something.) So, we took taxis back to the jetfoil terminal and went home to Kowloon.
Michele:
Today is Friday, so it's off to Lantau, to see the Buddha.
It's Jumbo Day-- the world's largest outdoor Buddha, and dinner at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant.
We took a ferry to Lantau (first class again) and the weather was very nice. Hazy, so the photos aren't great, but a nice day to be outside.
©2001 Michele Liguori