HONG KONG FROM MORNING TO NIGHT

Today promises to be a busy day – we are going on a day tour around Hong Kong and then this evening we are going to have a Hong Kong Night Lights tour.  So we start off by having a lovely breakfast in the hotel and getting caught up on the travels of our friends who have just joined us.  We have lots of suggestions and information that we have learned to pass on to them to make their Hong Kong visit a little easier.  Always good to impart such information so they don’t suffer the same difficulties as we did.  They can have new and different ones!

Our tour guide Vincent picked us up and with only 7 on our small tour bus it promised to be a great and intimate look around.  We went to Victoria Peak for the beautiful panorama view of the large city.  Our day could have been a little clearer…however, after we had our look around and took some pictures, Vincent emailed us the shot that you would see on the sunniest day!  Spectacular!

We went to Repulse Bay, a beach area – with our second temple of the trip.  I’m sure there are more to come.  So when you see two lions at the front of a building, there is a male (with his paw on a globe meant to represent the world) and a female (with her paw on a young lion meant to represent family and home).  There is so much significance in every animal, deity or object in Asian culture.  Irene and I were both born in the year of the Snake in the Chinese Astrology.  This means we are flexible and intelligent….and I know this because we had to be flexible getting in and out of our airplane seats and in  playing the game Who Wants to be a Millionaire ….between Irene and I we made it all the way to $1,000,000 on two separate occasions!

We stopped at the Aberdeen Fishing Village and took a sampan ride around the bay.  It wasn’t long, but we had a good look at lots boats, yachts and dinghies. Everyone knows what a luxury yacht looks like - but not everyone has seen a sampan - so I take photos of these.

We also saw the world’s largest floating restaurant – The Jumbo Floating Restaurant.  Marvelous from the front, but the back was scary!  It was pretty nasty looking back there – not worth a picture – just take my word for it.  The only way to get to this restaurant is by a sampan ride and believe me – they won’t take you in the back way or you would never eat there!

Our tour ended and after lunch Irene, Deb and I had a drink at the Marco Polo Hotel. HK$123 or CDN$23 later we walked back to our hotel for a sit down before leaving for the evening tour.   Our evening tour was a fast 1 hour ride around the city looking at all the neon signs. 

We did learn that if you see a massage parlour sign with a happy face foot….you might wanna check just what massage you are getting or you could be in for a surprise ending!

It was hard to get pictures from the bus we were flying by everything so fast and then when we had to stop for a red light … the night setting on my little camera doesn’t make it easy to focus,  I was happy with the pics that I did get and the video I took.  I wonder about their source and the demands for electricity here – this was a question we forgot to ask Vincent on the morning ride.  

Double decker view of the night market on Temple Street that we visited last night. 

We were dropped off at the pier at 8:00 for the Harbour Laser Show.  Lots of people flock to this area for the 15 minute show of music and lasers and dancing lights on the participating buildings.  I am glad we saw this, however – it sure doesn’t compare to our Celebration of Light over English Bay in August.

Now for the perfect end to the perfect day and the perfect end to our Hong Kong experience.  We walked to the old Regent Hotel now called the Intercontinental Hotel for our celebratory drink in the beautiful bar.  Floor to ceiling windows looking out on Victoria Harbour. The windows are 3 stories high.  What a memorable evening before embarking on our Bali adventure.