Travels of Jon and Beth: Hong Kong - a city in transition

Our evening flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong was on Hong Kong airlines and was on time and quite enjoyable. When we departed Shanghai, we had to give immigration our departure cards; we had received them attached to our arrival cards when we'd first come to Beijing. Hong Kong is treated as a separate entity by the Chinese government. As part of the transition from British rule to Chinese control, the people of Hong Kong kept their own ways of doing things, at least for now. The only major change was the installation of the Chinese army and the departure of any other military forces.

When we arrived in Hong Kong, we had to go through immigration. Americans do not require a visa and we moved through the long line fairly quickly and were officially admitted to Hong Kong. Our tour company had arranged transportation for us from the airport to our hotel in Kowloon, quite a distance away. By this time, it was quite late and happily there were not a lot of other folks. We found the desk for our bus, were escorted to the waiting area and then were on the bus and on our way.

The hotel was in a fantastic location! It was right next to the famous Peninsula Hotel, just across the street from the Cultural Center and only a few blocks from the Star ferry terminal. Nathan street is the main shopping/strolling street and we were half a block from that. The lobby of the hotel (the Salisbury Hotel, better know as the YMCA) was beautiful and the staff was very helpful. Unfortunately, the room they had for us was a smoking room located on a floor where renovation was going on and had no view. We let the desk know that this was not acceptable and would need to move the next day.

We were up early (ugh!) the next morning because we were booked on a half day tour of Hong Kong. We quickly enjoyed a wonderful breakfast buffet, checked in with the desk staff about changing rooms when we returned from the tour and waited to get picked up.

The half day tour ended up actually going from 9:30 to 2:30. The first stop was Victoria Peak, via the funicular. Unfortunately it was cloudy and we couldn't see all that well but we got glimpses. We got to see a lot of the island on the way there, including Repulse Bay. Gorgeous scenery! After coming down from the peak, we were off to Aberdeen to have a sampan ride. We stopped on the way at a jewelry store - Hong Kong is known for its gems and gold - where we bought a couple of souvenirs.

The sampan "captain" is a former fisherman. Because fishing is so limited now, many of these men have been given jobs with the tourists so they can earn a living. The ride lasted about 20 minutes and went through part of the bay. The water was very polluted, again with debris floating everywhere. There were vessels of all kinds, including Jackie Chan's yacht, live aboards and a floating restaurant.

Our final stop on the tour was Stanley and the Stanley Market. The latter is a wonderful area filled with little cafes and hundreds of stalls selling just about everything. We had lunch at a French cafe, got a few souvenirs and did a lot of people watching.

Back at the hotel, we were given keys to a new room to check out. Although the room was still small and simply furnished, it was non-smoking and had a much better view! We were much happier and spent time moving our things and settling in. The concierge was very helpful and gave us a street map, basic information and some restaurant suggestions. Jon was eager to check out the Peninsula hotel, which he remembered from his visit to Hong Kong while stationed in the Philippines. It had changed, of course. The lobby now included a large restaurant seating area. We decided to have dinner in the hotel that evening in the Spring Moon restaurant that he remembered on the second floor. Our new view from our new room:

We enjoyed drinks at the Kowloon Hotel nearby and then went to the restaurant. What a meal! It was difficult to choose from the menu but we finally decided on bird's nest soup with minced chicken, hot and sour soup with lobster, Cantonese style deep fried chicken (half bird), fried rice with dried scallops, crab meat and garlic, mango pudding and deep fried sesame balls filled with lotus seed paste. Jasmine tea completed the feast.

The next day began our last full day in China. We had discovered that we could get online and to Facebook and our blog the night before so we spent a few minutes after breakfast catching up a bit. That was after we slept in, just allowing enough time to shower and get to the breakfast room by 20 minutes before it closed.

We decided to spend the day on Nathan Road and taking a Star ferry over to Hong Kong island. Jon had a particular shoemaker that he remembered being in the area but the concierge could not find any business listed on google with the name Jon remembered. He did find one shoemaker just off Nathan Road and we decided to walk up the street and try to find it. It was very touristy with high end shops (Gucci etc) from Europe and lots of jewelry stores. There were also lots of young men (hawkers) trying to get us to buy tour tickets, buy watches etc. on the street. It was a relief to walk beyond that area. We never did find the shoemaker but it was interesting to walk off the main road and onto the side streets. The tone of the shops changed to a more traditional Chinese feeling, more hole-in-the-wall places, more construction and narrower alleys. Here are some photos taken during our walk.

We continued to a store that we had been told was the best place to purchase tea. We were told that it was sort of Chinese products department store with all things Chinese (clothing, food etc). We found it, found the tea area and made our purchases in good time. We also browsed through the other food products there. Some we were well acquainted with from Chinese sections of our local grocery stores and others were quite unique.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a final stop to check on one last thing that Jon remembered fondly. Hong Kong is known for their famous tailors, able to create exceptional suits made to their clients exact measurements. Jon wanted to see if there were still such businesses. We found one on Nathan Road and went in. The front of the shop was small with a counter and books of fabric from which the client would choose. The owner of the shop was eager for new orders, saying business wasn't what it once was. He followed us out of the shop, making conversation and hoping we would decide to place an order. We had to disappoint him.

After a brief rest in our room and lunch in the hotel lobby, we started out for our other destination - the Star ferry and Hong Kong island waterfront. We found our way to the ticket area for the ferry and bought and used tokens just in time to catch a boat. They run about every 15 minutes so there was no real hurry but it was fun to hurry down the ramp and get on board just as the boat was leaving. We were on the lower deck, cheaper fare, because we couldn't find the ticketing area for the upper deck. It worked out fine, since we met a German tourist who was quite friendly and who took our picture for us. When we reached the dock on the other side, we found no park to stroll in - major construction was going on and the area was totally torn up. We walked above the traffic on an elevated, wide walkway and found ourselves near a huge, multistoried mall. We decided to explore it for a while. The two floors that we could see clearly because of the huge glass windows held an Apple store! When we got inside, we found many more high end shops and happily a Starbucks! A real merging of cultures.

We decided to treat ourselves to another special dinner since it was the end of our time in Hong Kong and the end of our trip. The Seranade restaurant in the Cultural Center across the street was highly recommended and we asked the concierge to make a reservation for us there. We had an early morning pickup for our flight the next morning and so began packing before dinner. We gave ourselves time to find our way across Salisbury via an underground tunnel connection and through the complex which was architecturally beautiful. It's setting on the waterfront was spectacular and happily our restaurant, and indeed our table, looked out the bay.

We chose the set menu which included barbecued pork, shark's fin soup, abalone with "duck web" (ducks' feet), grouper sautéed with broccoli, and mango prawns. We added some celebratory beverages, green tea with dinner and mango pudding and fritters for dessert! Another wonderful meal!