Saturday, October 11

Hong Kong. My tour here is for tomorrow, so this morning I just sat around in the shade on the aft section of Lido deck and watched the scenery. The sunlight, as the hours passed, highlighted different buildings of Hong Kong across Victoria Harbor from our dock in Kowloon. The one with the curvy roof is the Convention Center. There was also the never-ending parade through the harbor: lots of ferries, small freighters, tugs towing dredges, cabin cruisers, speedboats and virtually every other sort of floating vessel. The only things I did not see were junks and sampans...unless I just didn’t recognize them with their sails down.

This afternoon Jill and I went ashore to the Ocean Terminal. While the building does serve as a terminal, it is far far more than that. It is one of the biggest, most high-end shopping malls I have ever seen! Every fancy jet-set designer name store you ever heard of is here along with dozens of restaurants. We were “on a mission” to find a place to buy glue. (The reason for glue is that one of my folding canes has a loose handle.) But glue was entirely too prosaic a product to be allowed into this shining temple of high commerce, nor did we see anything so crass as a souvenir shop or a place to buy postcards. We by no means covered even a quarter of the place before we faded and headed back to the ship. After careful perusal of the extensive map of the place, I think I may have located a possible place (at the far end of the third level) to check for glue tomorrow after my tour.

This evening we delayed going to dinner so that we could see some of the nighty lighting up of the city across the harbor. It’s like a fireworks show done with lights instead of pyrotechnics. As you can see, quite spectacular.

Sunday, October 12

I think this was one of the longest half-day tours I’ve ever been on! Our first stop was atram ride up to Victoria Peak. Up top it was windy enough to blow your hair to the mainland! Also a fog had settled in over the city, so the viewing wasn’t very good.

Next we lost 3 people from the tour...one passenger and the 2 ship’s staff which included the official shore excursion escort and the ship’s cameraman. So the rest of us sat on the bus for half to three-quarters of an hour while our guide tried to find them. Eventually the guide called his company to send someone else to find them, and we went on with the tour. All three were eventually found and reunited with the tour at the last stop. evidently none of them had paid any attention to Richard’s very clear announcements of where and when to meet.

The trip down the mountains was twisty enough to make a goat sick...or it would have if we’d gone any faster than a crawl. The road was just barely wide enough in most places for two buses to pass without losing paint...and in some places, not that wide. Happily in Hong Kong they drive on the left, so we had the inside lane. Lower down in the city the roads are a bit wider but almost as twisty. There’s very little flat land on Hong Kong island, and it’s rather amazing how they have glued immense condominium buildings to the hillsides.

A brief ride in a sampan in the area called Aberdeen was the next event. It turns out I had seen plenty of them yesterday, but had mistaken them for ordinary water taxis which is what they’ve become with motors instead of sails. Part of this tour was past the houseboat area and the fishing fleet which proved the actual (tongue in cheek) meaning of “Hong Kong” which is “fragrant harbor.” We also passed some mighty fancy yachts in the marina.

After that we visited a jewelry manufacturer’s showroom. I saw a gorgeous jade and diamond ring that even fit me, but I managed to restrain myself.

Our last stop was at a place called Stanley Market. It’s sort of a cross between a bazaar and a street market with each little shop hawking anything from cheap souvenirs to fresh fruit. I speedily acquired a bottle of water and a candy bar (in a 7-Eleven) and retired to a shady spot to people watch . It appeared to be “bring your dogs to Stanley Market” day. Lots and lots of people had multiple little dogs on leashes...mostly Jack Russell terriers, along with a number of shiitzus (sorry for the spelling on that one), a few schnauzers, a small collie, and one small poodle with a rather un-poodle haircut.

By the time we got back through the tunnel under Victoria Harbor to Kowloon and the ship, I had given up all ideas of tramping around the Ocean Terminal mall again and headed for aft Lido, a bit of lunch and a general collapse. Just as well, because I would have missed seeing a junk motoring through the harbor with a couple of sails up for show. Jill turned up on deck singing the praises of the China Arts and Crafts store where she had bought silk yard goods and other stuff this morning, but I just didn’t have enough “legs” left for the 20 minute hike (each way) through the mall to get to it. Hopefuly, I will be able to find silk in Thailand and/or Singapore.

10:30 p.m. I have forgotten the collective term for a bunch of drummers, so I’ll just call them a din of drummers. They are serenading us from dockside as a “flaming” dragon and several fu dogs caper about...either wishing us a speedy departure in half an hour, or perhaps thanking those of us who spent money in Hong Kong. I believe that the ship is listing a bit to port with all the well-fed passengers on the upper decks watching the show. Jill and I decided not to wait on deck for the actual sailing, but instead plan to meet for a “big girl breakfast” in the dining room tomorrow morning.