IMPERIAL JEWELS OF CHINA - October 16 - 18

DAYS 15-17 - Hong Kong

Our last flight inside China was from Guilin to Hong Kong.  This made a total of 5 flights inside China.  Other than my episode in Beijing, flying in China was good.  No matter how long the flight, you were fed.  The whole system was very efficient and apparently we were very fortunate that we had no delays.  We were rather intrigued by the fact that our guide Jimmy had a gorgeous jade bracelet that he wore when he flew.  This brought him good luck, he said.

Our hotel in Hong Kong was actually on Kowloon Island and was the Kowloon Shangri-La.  Another spectacular hotel, second only to the Shangri-La at Guilin. It was in a wonderful location, right in the busy downtown section, close to the bus terminal and within walking distance of everything.  Our local guide was Alex and he was probably the best guide we had, after Jimmy.

We started our first day with a tour of Hong Kong Island, driving to the top of Victoria Peak.

Eric fascinated by the construction with bamboo

Honk Kong from Victoria Peak

We drove to Aberdeen (don't you love the British influence) and visited Stanley Market.  This has to be shopper's paradise!  Jimmy helped Judi pick out an authentic Chinese jacket for a small fraction of the price it would have cost me on the ship and a much nicer item.  We did not have a long time here and knew we wanted to return.

Shopping in Stanley Market

After we finished, we drove back to Kowloon Island to do a tour of the harbour on a Sampan.

"Captain Sampan" .... don't mess with her

Scenes from Hong Kong Harbour

The largest floating restaurant in the world

More harbour photos

Even though we had nothing more planned for the day, they did take us to another jewellery factory .... what a shame!!!  Only 30% of the population of Hong Kong can afford a car and the cars we saw were mostly luxury cars.  The street where the jewellery factory was located had a garage where these cars were parked.  Eric went snooping and saw some of these cars, took a photo and then got kicked out!

Actually, this is not the car, but a good representation

Workers inside the jewellery factory

The owner had a wonderful antique display, clipping this Indian motorcycle which Eric fell right in love with

Our day tour was over and we returned to the hotel.  Our guide, Alex offered us an opportunity for a "tour" of the underground network near our hotel.  There was a whole underground city.  Judi declined and Eric did go.  He came back full of information and we were set for the next day on our own.  

For dinner, we had planned with our friends Arlene and Herbie to take our tour guide Jimmy out for dinner.  We asked him to choose the place and he chose Outback Steakhouse.  We could to believe that we were in Hong Kong eating at Outback Steakhouse.  Jimmy was rather overwhelmed by the Bloomin' Onion and the size of the steak!

Dinner with Jimmy, Herbie and Arlene at Outback Steakhouse

The next day, which was our last in China was a free day.  Jimmy was set up in the lobby with lots of information on where to go and what to do.  We had already decided to go down to the waterfront and do a couple a geocaches.  It was stinking hot and humid, but we set out on foot.  Judi will not go into the story on how Eric tried to buy a fake Rolex watch .... you will have to ask him.

Down on the waterfront we enjoyed the local culture and did manage to do 2 geocaches ... not virtual ones.  We watched a band competition and generally just took in all we could.

 

Downtown

We had been so fascinated with Stanley Market, that we went back to the hotel and caught the bus to Stanley Market.  It was a 2.5 hour drive to get there and we sat at the front of the double-decker bus and enjoyed every moment of the drive .... through the winding streets of Hong Kong and along the shore.  

Love this photo-top of the double decker bus

When we got to Stanley Market we wandered around the stalls and did some more shopping.  We had dinner along the water's edge at a small restaurant.  Our bus ride home was much shorter, but we did it at night and the lights were beautiful.  We had a family sitting behind us and the two little girls were so cute.  They would start talking in Chinese and then English .... totally bilingual.

Dinner at Stanley Park --- yes, more Chinese beer!

Our vacation was pretty well over.  In the morning we were the only ones going to the airport on our shuttle as most had left very early and the British people were leaving late.  We were most impressed with our private luxury car drive to the airport and our guide Alex was there to meet us and take us through check in.  He was our last contact in China and it was great.

Here are a photo of our hotel lobby in Hong Kong ... it was lovely.

Home to Canada ..... wonderful trip ...... cherished memories.

Thank you Bob and Francine for sharing the time with us.  Family is so important and we love you.

To all our friends ..... we have many more photos ... drop by to see them.

Oh yes .... keep checking our blog.  South America next.  We leave here on Feb. 17th.