- Getting ready to hit the road!
- Some thoughts on Hong Kong…
- A day in Danang and Hue, Vietnam
- Saigon River and Saigon, Vietnam
- Siem Reap and Temples, Cambodia
- The Floating Village — Kompong Phluk, Cambodia
- Phnom Penh and the road to Sihanoukville, Cambodia
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Day 2 in Bangkok — Ayutthaya, Thailand
- Singapore
- Langkawi Island, Malaysia
- Phuket, Thailand — or sort of…
- New Delhi, India
- Agra and the Taj Mahal
- The road to — and Jaipur, India
- India — a few closing thoughts.
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Oman (The Sultanate of)
- Luxor, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings, Egypt
- Petra, Jordan
- Sharm el Sheik and St. Catherine’s Monastery, Egypt
- Cairo and Giza, Egypt
- Egypt — Some final thoughts…
- Zooming around Israel
- Bodrum, Kusadasi, and Ephesus, Turkey
- Corfu, Greece
- Dubrovnik and Zadar, Croatia
- Venice, Italy — the last hurrah!
Greetings all! We’ve spent 5 days in Hong Kong before leaving on our ship for the cruise. It has been a great way to acclimate to the time change and, in some respects, renew acquaintances with an “old friend” (Glen and friend, Ken, independently first came to Hong Kong in 1975, and Glen has been back 3 times in the intervening years).
The city is really amazing and truly earns its “Where East Meets West” moniker. It has always been a major financial center and trading port, and thus a magnet for business and people. It is truly dense-packed, with skyscrapers bumped up against each other, built on every available piece of land (including on the sides of cliffs and the ever increasing “land reclamation” from the harbor. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world (>7million people in 426 square miles of land), but it really doesn’t feel that way. Mass transit is everywhere and everyone actually uses it! Note to Seattle: their Octopus Card (unlike the Orca card) can be used on nearly all public transport modes – not to mention being able to go into 7-11 and swipe your card for a drink! We have used it a lot to get around the city. The other alternative, being the shopping mecca Hong Kong is, is to use the elevated walkways that connect the miles of shopping malls that spread across the city. You rarely have to go outside (if you choose) and can still walk for miles!
Like some other cities, Hong Kong is a city of great contrasts – traditional and modern, rich and poor, business people and street sweepers. But everyone here is friendly and they all seem happy and genuinely glad to see you. We have met a lot of people and have been amazed at how helpful they are. We had some question about the impact the return to Chinese rule would have on the city/region (the last time we were here was 2 months before the turnover in 1997). The short answer is not much. The whole “one country, two systems” things seems to be working and you don’t see much traditional Chinese intervention, except in one noteworthy area – the Internet. While virtually everyone has a smart phone, tablet, laptop, etc., and everyone always seems to be on them, there is censorship (a number of Google searches you do or sites to want to access, mysteriously never go through). Nobody seems to care though, and life (and a pretty good life from everything we can see) goes on!
Later today (Sunday), we will be off on our journey! I’m really glad we spent some time here, but I think we are all anxious to get underway. I will try to keep the blog updated but the Internet connection on the ship is VERY slow. Thanks for following us!
This entry was posted in China, Cruising, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
