- Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 — here we go!
- Enjoying a few days in Hong Kong
- A day in Kaohsiung and Tainan, Taiwan
- A quick trip to the Penghu Islands
- Two Days in Taipei, Taiwan
- Naha, Okinawa
- Two days in Beijing
- Two days in Incheon and Seoul, South Korea
- Jeju Island, Korea
- Busan, Korea in a day!
- Nagasaki, Japan
- Arita, Japan
- Miyajima and Hiroshima, Japan
- Kyoto’s Bamboo Forest and Rock Garden
- Matsushima, Japan
- Hakadote, Japan
- Kushiro, Japan
- Dutch Harbor….er, Unalaska, Alaska
- Kodiak, AK
- Homer, AK
- Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, AK
- Sitka, AK
- Klawock and Craig, AK
- A Nanaimo, BC, Canada drive by
- Vancouver BC, end of trip, and final thoughts
After our very long flight to Hong Kong, we planned for a few days to relax in Hong Kong. Having been here several times before, our first decision was which side of the harbor we would stay on — Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. Since we planned on doing a lot of walking to take in the sights, we decided that Kowloon was the better choice this time. Consequently, we stayed at the Sheraton which is close to the harbor and offers a panoramic view of the Hong Kong skyline. This was actually one of the places I stayed back in 1975. It’s a long story, but whenever my ship came into port, the officers would get together and rent a suite for the time we were going to be there (we called it an Admin). Whoever didn’t have the duty (and thus have to stay on the ship), could use the Admin as a crash pad. Other than style modernization, the most memorable change was the replacement of the Pink Giraffe restaurant on the top floor, so named because the decor (including the fabric coverings for the chairs/booths) was pink and brown giraffe spots! They also got rid of the disco in the basement. Now there a a couple of lounges, a rooftop pool, etc. Still, it was great to see it again!
Kowloon is a great city to walk around in — and we did a lot of it. For waterfront views, we spent quite a bit of time walking along the Avenue of Stars, basically a knockoff of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, that pays tribute to Hong Kong’s Film Industry. This area was recently redeveloped. Part of the change was the shift from in-ground stars (ala Hollywood) to hand prints that are embedded into the railings along the walkway. This is always a great place for a stroll. In addition to the many sculptures along the way, it is an amazing place to people watch. We saw at least two weddings taking place and, of course, there are all the aspiring “Influencers” who were incessantly taking pictures of each other. And, while I thought they were largely banned around the globe, I think Kowloon is now the selfie-stick capital of the world. Of course, the other walking adventure in Kowloon is the shopping district on Nathan and Canton Roads. OMG, we walked for miles inside and outside malls, looking for a store called FreyWille (or what our friend, Alma calls Free Willy), that makes beautiful enameled jewelry (we never did find it!). All of that walking made us hungry and we returned to a great dim sum place, the Jade Garden. Of course, now it is all about online ordering (which I screwed up) and a reminder of the two sets of chopsticks everyone gets — one for passing and one for eating. Of course I mixed those up a few times and got a few “stink eye” looks from the ladies at the next table. I’m going to be talking quite a bit about food here, both because of the plethora of great restaurants in the area and the iconic Cantonese dishes from the area. In fact, for dinner the first night, we went to Fresh Seafood Restaurant. I know, it seems to be a foregone conclusion (hopefully) that the fish is going to be fresh, but here you actually picked your fish out of the tank and soon it was on your plate! This was a locals place that had been recommended to us and the food and atmosphere was great. The decorations were pretty spartan, but the laughter was ever present and the food was paced around the tables with great gusto! We were the only non-Chinese and people genuinely seemed happy to see us there. The challenge was that all the menus were in Chinese but, not to be deterred, we used our trusty translation apps that provided some pretty funny results.
The next day, we were off walking again, this time to the West Kowloon Cultural District. They were having an art fair there (although it was pretty much closed for the day). This seems to be another reclamation project, creating new housing areas and parks from the harbor through dredging/filling. I had done something to my calf, so I was a bit walking wounded, but the highlight of the walk was a visit to the Hong Kong Palace Museum, a relatively new (and very impressive) collection and building that houses them that celebrates traditional Chinese art and architecture as well as Hong Kong’s urban environment. Coincidentally, while we were visiting, an exhibition called “Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from The National Gallery, London” was on loan there. This was the first of its kind show in Hong Kong and it featured 52 of the world’s finest masterpieces painted by fifty influential artists from the 15th to early 20th century. We spent several hours wandering around the museum (including a fabulous lunch!) before we had to hurry back to get over to Hong Kong Island to have dinner at Yung Kee, an iconic restaurant in Hong Kong’s culinary history, that has been known for its charcoal-grilled meats since its founding in 1942. We Uber’ed over that turned out to be a mistake given that several streets were closed off for a bicycle race. Despite being 30 minutes late, we were graciously welcomed and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner of charcoal-grilled goose. Yum!
One last word about Hong Kong — the people were extremely friendly, helpful, and kind. I wasn’t sure what to expect given some of China’s recent restrictions, but people seemed genuinely happy. The other thing was that lots of the Chinese people we met actually lived in other countries for a number of years before returning to Hong Kong. Two of our servers/hosts had lived in Ireland for years and a guide/helper at the museum spoke with the thickest Australian accent you have ever heard (he had lived in Adelaide). Hong Kong has always been an international city and, by all evidence, continues to be so! Today, we board our ship and set sail for 44 days of wandering around the Pacific!
This entry was posted in China, Hong Kong, 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.
