After seeing off various Pandees, the first thing we did in Hong Kong was take the ferry to Hong Kong Island so that we could then take a taxi to the base of Victoria Peak. We met some Americans on the ferry, who gave us some suggestions, including alternatives at Victoria Peak, a night market to shop at, and an area where restaurants were located. There we got on the tram up to up to Victoria Peak. We just beat a very large crowd, some of whom were from the Sapphire Princess. They had arrived in the morning and were already departing at 6:00 PM the same day—not much time to experience Hong Kong. The view from Victoria Peak was pretty amazing. (You can pay a little extra when you buy your tram ticket to go up to a higher level observation deck when you reach the peak, and we thought it well worth it.) Up at the peak itself, there is a nice walk around, which probably takes about ½ hour. I was getting hungry, so we only did it part of the way. After we went back down to the base of the peak, we looked around to see if we could figure out where the restaurants were, but we didn’t have much luck. It was lunchtime, and we saw a lot of people coming out of office buildings and we started following them. Eventually, we stopped a tall, English-speaking woman, who suggested we go to a nearby mall, where she said there were numerous restaurants. So we found the mall (located at the bottom of Hong Kong’s tallest building), and looked for restaurants. We aimed for a Chinese restaurant, but when we arrived, we were told it was fully booked. We went back to another Asian restaurant we had seen in the mall, and ordered dim sum, which were pretty good.

After lunch, we took a taxi to Stanley Market. As I mentioned in another post, I thought it was a real waste of time. The taxi fare was about $20 US each way, and the first stop there was to find an ATM for more cash. We didn’t see anything at all interesting to buy. Other people from the ship did say that this market did have good buys for chops. Further, we really got stuck in traffic returning to the ship. It was a picturesque ride to the market. I had not realized how incredibly hilly Hong Kong was. The combination of hills and the water is extremely attractive.

The next day, we looked for the Arts and Crafts Center right near the pier. It was a bit of a challenge to find, just because we didn’t get good directions. The place had incredible items—jade, clothes, wooden carvings, silk items, everything. The prices were pretty incredible, too (and I don’t mean that in a good way). Nevertheless, we did buy a few things. They also had very nice wooden stands, and I wanted to get one for my jade piece because the stand that came with it was fairly horrible. So we went back to the ship, took a breath, and I carried the jade back to the store so I could pick the right stand. Gail, of course, found more to buy there also.

Then, we returned to the ship for lunch. And went out again. This time we intended to take a tour of the Harbor on the ferry. When we checked the schedule, we had some time to kill, so we walked along the boardwalk toward the Peninsula Hotel, which was actually located very near to where the ship was docked. This is somewhat amusing as we know that Mitch and Bert had arranged for a chauffeured driven Rolls to drive them from the ship to the hotel. It looked like a 2-minute drive! We ran into some people on the boardwalk who were staying at the Peninsula and were waiting to go out on the Harbor in a more interesting ship that looked like a Chinese junk. The concierge had recommended it. Of course, it cost three times the amount of the ferry, but it was fun, and we essentially had the whole ship to ourselves. I could run from one side to the other snapping pictures. This lasted about an hour. Afterward, we walked around a little more to Nathan Street, which had a lot of stores, but we were pooping out, so we headed back to the ship.
I must mention that the ship was docked by a shopping complex that was absolutely amazing—one of the largest, fanciest shopping malls I had ever seen. There was a whole wing just devoted to children’s designer-label clothes (DKNY, Armani, Burberry, etc..).

Night before last we had an enjoyable dinner with Allan and Merrill (part of Panda), and elderly woman who crashed our group, but was very very nice. She had a scooter for getting around, though she looked terrific, was very sharp, and we should all be like her when we’re 88. She is staying on the ship until "she" gets back to Fort Lauderdale in Jan. 2008! She said it was easier than shipping her stuff home to Florida.

I went to the first cooking demo given by Stephen Lewandowski, and he was quite an enjoyable character. I also became extremely hungry. We had moved our clocks back an hour, and my stomach had not adjusted. You’d think I hadn’t eaten in days. Yesterday afternoon, we cruised the Hai-Nan Strait (a military passage) and we had to reduce speed to 10 knots and were told not to take pictures, though I’m not sure of what?

Last night we had dinner with 4 strangers and I mostly talked with a young woman, who lived near DC and worked for a major car dealership. The food was quite good, too.

We are scheduled to dock at Hong Gai, Vietnam in less than an hour. It is beautiful outside right now. I wish I wasn't having so much trouble with photobucket as I just took pictures of Halong Bay at sunrise with the rock formations jutting out of the water. Our helicopter excursion to Hanoi leaves at 8:30 AM. More later.


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Eugene and Gail