Day Nineteen - Hong Kong Part Two

Pride. It invokes a powerful emotional response, particularly when it is as deep and genuine as we witnessed in this young man. Alone in the shop, he spoke of the paintings on the wall as if they were members of a very close family and in one sense they were, the artist was his father. In the Stanley Market, something akin to a flea market, there were many shops selling art but this one held a special allure to us since many of the landscapes were of places or regions that we had visited in the past weeks. The artists style was very physical, he had layered the paint giving an almost three-dimensional feel for the work and when we first saw the scene from Pingjiang Road in Suzhou (see Day Six) we knew we were sold. It was only a matter of settling on the price now.

This morning started like all the rest, a buffet breakfast at the hotel. Again today, I would act as guide, taking the four of us, Edith and Nathalie choose to go on their own today, to the far end of Hong Kong Island to Stanley. Orignially a hideout for the notorious pirate Cheung Po Tsai, it is now a famous destination for tourists looking for Hong Kong bargains.

Before heading for the subway to start our journey, our "local guide" Lucie wanted to show us an area near the hotel she had discovered yesterday during a short walk. Our short excursion took us through what we would describe as a farmer's market back home. In 100 degree (f) heat with 90% humidity the hanging meat was almost too much for my delicate stomach.

 Mushrooms anyone?

From our excursion we made our way back to the subway station for another quick ride to Central. I snapped one more shot of a little one for you.

From the subway we made our way to the bus depot to figure out which bus to take for the 40 minute ride across the island to Stanley. The bus was a double-decker and from the upper deck we had wonderful views all the way, including this one.

Just this side of Stanley we went through Repulse Bay (a priate name if I ever heard one).

Shortly after Repulse Bay we arrived at Stanley, home of the Stanley Market.

It was already past noon when we arrived in Stanley so we decided to take a short tour through the market and then find a spot for lunch. Besides shopping, the other main attraction is the boardwalk along the beach with open front restaurants. We didn't take long finding a nice English pub to sit, relax, and enjoy a pint and some fish 'n chips.

After lunch we agreed it would be easiest if we split into couples for our shopping so we planned to meet near the bus stop in a couple hours. Lucie and I wandered through the market which was a maze of covered walkways with shops' open-ended to either side. A left here and a right there and soon you were lost (sort of) without much idea of which way was up. At one point we found ourselves out by the beach again where I snapped a couple shots. The container ships passing just off shore made an interesting contrast to the landscape.

 Lucie snapped this one of yours truly.

 I caught this sea-hawk circling overhead looking for dinner.

We eventually made it back to the Unique Art Gallery where we were negotiated with Freddy, the owner and son of the artist. After some good natured haggling we settled on a price and Freddy wrapped it into a tube for shipping with as much care as he held for the art of the walls.
As our shopping visit wound down we made it back to the bus stop, met up with Jean and Danielle and caught the "express" back to Hong Kong. As we came through the city I couldn't resist one more dragon picture.

Dinner tonight an Italian restaurant was across from the hotel in a shopping mall. There were many others from our tour group at the same restaurant, all looking as tired as we felt. As our three week trip of China was coming to a close my thoughts turned to home, our son Christopher, and of course work. It was a great trip, one we won't soon forget. The Middle Kingdom is growing up, fast, already a major player of the world's stage, I don't think it will be long before they become the dominant player on that stage.

Day Eighteen - Hong Kong Part One

A short bus ride to the ferry terminal, through customs & immigration (again) and we were off for the last stop on our tour of China - Hong Kong. In 1842, following the First Opium War, China ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain as a result of the Treaty of Nanking. In 1898 Britain expanded its holdings to include Kowloon and the New Territories, connected to mainland China, and signed a 99 year lease. The lease expired in 1997 and China regained control of Hong Kong and the New Territories. To avoid total economic turmoil, the Chinese government declared Hong Kong a free economic zone allowing for the continuation of capitalism and basic freedoms. To prevent a "polluting" of the rest of China with western idealism, Hong Kong remained isolated diplomatically, requiring passports and visas to move between the island and the rest of China.
From Macau, it is a 40 minute ferry ride on a turbojet that was fast and remarkably smooth, costing 141 HKD per person ($20 USD).

The Hong Kong leg of the tour was designed as an "on your own" with an optional (aka additional) tour of the highlights organized by Sinorama. About half the group took the option. Lucie, Jean, Danielle and I went for the DIY version. I was unanimously selected as the tour guide for this portion of the trip given that I had done some research prior to leaving for the trip. Even though I had never been in Hong Kong myself, I was very happy to take the challenge given that everyone went along with an open and flexible mind and not expect the smooth and efficient flow we came to appreciate in the last three weeks.
From the dock, the bus took us directly to our hotel, the Hotel Nina and Convention Center, located in the New Territories. Our room was on the corner of the building on the seventeenth floor affording incredible views of the harbor from two sides.

After a short freshen up, we met in the lobby to find something for lunch (the DIY visit included DIY meals as well). Jean had a craving for McDonald's and we all agreed a burger and fries would make for a nice change of pace from the Chinese food we had eaten over the last 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong, the Chinese food was almost always very good and varied in many ways as we moved from region to region, its just that we're used to a variety of cuisine at home so Chinese food for lunch and dinner for three weeks straight did leave us wanting for something completely different (wink-wink, nudge-nudge).
Not surprisingly, the McDonald's meal was exactly the same as you can get on any street in America, right down to the ketchup. What was cute was the fact that a quarter-pounder was advertised on the posters for $16, Hong Kong dollars that is!

After lunch it was back to the hotel where we agreed to meet in the lobby later to begin our adventurous tour. Nathalie and Edith, from our tour group, caught  wind of our itinerary for the evening and asked if they could tag along to which we offered enthusiastic agreement - the more the merrier.

To get from our hotel in the New Territories to where the action was, Hong Kong Island, I opted for the subway system. Unfortunately, finding the entrance to the subway was quite a challenge, they weren't well marked and sometimes you had to go up to get in. Eventually with some local people providing directions, we found our way to our station, Tsuen Wan West, and once inside finding our way to the correct train was much easier with very clear signs in both English and Chinese. We had to change trains once but managed to easily find our way to our stop - Central.
This view of Hong Kong Island met us coming out of the station.

We made our way up, which is the only way you can go! My first objective was to find the Escalator, a 2,598 ft outside system linking Queen's Road to Conduit Road at its peak. It is the longest in the world, taking 2 1/2 years to build at a cost of over $205 million HK. On our way there we made our way along Queen's Road which was crammed with people and all sorts of shopping and restaurants, similar to what you might find in any major US city.
This shot shows the Keg, across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe.

This is view up Queen's Road.

Since Hong Kong was a member of the British Empire for over 100 years they learned to drive on the left. To help pedestrians from the mainland they had these helpful signs painted on the road just off the curb.

As we made our way along our walking tour of Hong Kong you could turn up any side street and be met with a scene like this one.

After some window shopping we eventually found the Escalator. Seen here behind the Fantastic Four.

 This is a shot looking down the escalator. Unless your moving up the steps, stay on the left or risk getting trampled!

We rode the Escalator all the way to the top and feeling a bit peckish, decided it was time for our guide to find a restaurant. We all had a craving for Italian food so I took the challenge to find us a nice restaurant. On the ride up the Escalator there were literally dozens of restaurants along its edges featuring every sort of cuisine but at the top, the commercial district had quite dried up. Since, for obvious reasons, the Escalator only goes UP, I took us on a walk to get back down to find a place to eat. My tour accidentally took us through a "don't miss" highlight of Hong Kong, the Zoological and Botanical Gardens (sometimes its good to be lucky!). The gardens were an amazing display of a tropical rain forest in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world.

Coming out of the gardens we practically stumbled onto an Italian restaurant called Cenacolo II, what did I say about being Lucky? The restaurant is located in an area of Hong Kong known as the mid-levels for its relative location along the Escalators.
Coincidentally we arrived during happy hour affording us the opportunity to raise many toasts to our experiences in Hong Kong and China. The meal was a welcome change, very good and with excellent service.
From dinner, my next stop on the tour was the Peak Tram for a ride up the funicular tram to the top of Victoria Peak for the best views of the metropolis at night. 65 HKD ($9.30 USD each).

 

The views truly were incredible from the top! At one point we even witnessed a moon-rise over the sky-scrappers.

It was getting late, after 11, so we decided to bring the evening's tour to an end and head back down the tram to Central and a simple subway ride back to our hotel. Tomorrow, we will have our last day of the Tour of China, can't believe three weeks is over already!

Day Seventeen - Macau

I'm back! I woke this morning hungry, after two and a half days of flu-ish symptoms it feels very good to have an appetite back. Before leaving for China I had gotten the required (recommended) shots - Tetanus, Typhoid, Polio, and Hepatitis A/B. I also had a prescription made and filled for an anti-biotic which I started as soon as I got sick. That and some serious TLC from Lucie brought me through the illness quickly.
Today we leave for Macau by bus. It will be a couple hours with a short break along the way to let everyone sing (our euphemism for a bathroom break). Our destination is actually Zhuhai, a coastal city on the mainland across from Macau, an island in the South China Sea. We stopped to sing and visited the statue of the "fisher girl", an angel who came to earth, fell in love with the beauty of the land and transformed into a fisher-girl so she could remain forever.

We were soon on our way again to the ferry port at Zhuhai.

 The crossing was a mere couple hundred yards but was very time consuming due to the need to pass through customs and to avoid being trampled by the hundreds of Chinese trying to get to Macau, presumably to work. It was something we noted all through the trip, in China, you don't wait to be let in a line or else you will wait for a very long time. People weren't necessarily pushy or impolite, they were just always on the move, as a pedestrian the rule of thumb was don't stop - for anything.
Our first stop once arriving on the island of Macau was the A-Ma Temple. When the Portuguese first arrived 400 years ago at Macau, landing at the base of a temple, they asked the locals the name of the island, thinking that the Portuguese were asking for the name of the temple they answered 'Ma Ge', which was the name of the temple. The Portuguese referred to the island from then on as Macau. Built in 1488 during the Ming Dynasty, the A-Ma Temple is the oldest structure on the island.

From the Temple, our next stop was Fortaleza do Monte, a stone fortress where the Portuguese defended the island from invasion. The fort afforded us a panoramic view of the city, revealing the ghetto-like neighborhoods that surrounded the multi-million dollar casinos that now make Macau a popular destination for the wealthy mainlanders.

The Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino.

Continuing our walking tour of Macau, at the base of the fort we were all amazed by the Ruinas de Sao Paulo, a 16th century Jesuit Cathedral destroyed by fire. All that remains is the facade perched precariously atop a steep flight of stairs.

Here we find Jean and Francois-Pierre taking a break before heading down the staircase into the throng of shoppers below.

The narrow shopping market gave us an opportunity to price out souvenirs of every size and type, but it also gave the pick-pockets ample opportunity to shop our wares. Luckily no-one was a victim in our group.

This pastel building with the fountain in front caught my eye as we made our way back to the bus.

Next stop, our hotel, the Westin Resort Hotel Macau. A beautiful hotel on the casino strip with spectacular waterfront views. It was early afternoon and from here on we were on free-time, our first dinner on our own since arriving in Beijing. After check-in, a bunch of us took advantage of the downtime to soak in a gorgeous 9th floor pool. Realizing the trip was coming to a close, the table-five gang decided to go out together one last time for dinner. We started with a tour of the Galaxy Casino. This Ferrari was up for grabs to a lucky winner.

These "China Dolls" were actually real girls.

From the casino, we caught a free shuttle to the old town in hopes of finding a nice Portuguese restaurant for our dinner. In our search we encountered this dragon which was in fact a flower bed.

Dinner ended up being a fine Portuguese meal in a restaurant comically called Cozinha Pinocchio's, apparently in honor of our "long noses." The meal was good but the company was better. The "Table Five Gang", Jean, Danielle, Francois-Pierre, Michelle, Sylvie, Francois, Lucie, et moi.

After dinner we visited the Venetian Casino, very similar in decor as its namesake in Las Vegas. On our walk back to our hotel I snapped this shot of the Galaxy Casino. Tomorrow we catch another ferry to Hong Kong for the final leg of our China Tour.

Day Sixteen – Guangzhou

Today, although I am on the downhill side of the flu-like bug I picked up, I am still pretty much reliant on Lucie to get me to and fro. Our first item for this morning is a flight from Guilin to Guangzhou and I managed to make the trip without incident, partly because Liu arranged for me to sit in business class and partly because it was only an hour flight.

In Guangzhou, our first stop was a statue of five goats. This granite statue was erected in 1959 to honor the city's symbol. Legend has it that 5 celestial beings brought 5 goats carrying rice into Guangzhou in order to prevent the citizens from ever having to experience famine. Guangzhou, known as the City of Goats, has many goat statues but the Five Goats Status is the largest.

 

From the Goat Statue we visited a museum of the Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family. During the Qing Dynasty, 1700's, if you wanted to work for the government you had to pass an examination that was very difficult. Chen passed the exam and placed third in the entire country making him somewhat of a celebrity around Guangzhou. The entire Chen extended family raised money to build the temple to motivate the next generation of Chen's to study as hard and be successful.

I was unable to accompany the group on this visit, so I provide a few file photos below.

 

The group enjoyed lunch and we headed out for an hour and a half bus ride to Zhongshan where we would the spend our last night on mainland China, at the Sheraton Zhongshan Hotel, before heading out tomorrow to Macau.