Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Viet Nam!

There is so much to say!…
We had a blast in Hong Kong. On the one hand, I’m VERY glad we were able to stay in H.K. for four days because it feels like we barely scratched the surface of this amazing international, multicultural city. On the other hand, I feel like we missed out on a truer experience of China since Hong Kong is a former British colony and English is spoken practically everywhere. Well… since we already need to come back to Japan, we’ll just have to come back to China, too!
It was amazing to come into Hong Kong by ship. You get a real perspective on the immensity of the city and the endless rows of skyscrapers. It almost made NYC seem smaller than I remember.
We spent the first day exploring the city –walking EVERYWHERE. It’s a mesmerizing place to walk around in. I LOVED the hustle-bustle everywhere. It reminded me of NYC at rush-hour. Love it. Our ship was docked in Kowloon harbor, so we had to either take the “Star Ferry” over to Hong Kong island, or take the subway. Let me just tell you that during the 4 days we were docked in Hong Kong… not one, not two, not three, but likely 8 to 10 different cruise ships docked and left while we stayed. Almost all of the cruise ships were docked for about 12 hours… I only saw one that stayed overnight. Made me wonder what it is like to only have 12 hours in all of Hong Kong. We are lucky.
The first day, we explored Kowloon and ended up at the Hong Kong Museum of History. I love museums, but you never really know what you’re going to get. This museum? Totally amazing. It was a very interactive museum, where each room you walk into deluges your senses with sounds, visions, text, and interactive videos. We could have taken 4 hours – easy – to get through the museum, but it was almost too much to take in. It walked us through Hong Kong’s history from pre-historic days to the present. I would highly recommend going to this museum FIRST if you ever find yourself in Hong Kong. It set the stage for the remainder of our time in Hong Kong and provided rich context to all that we saw.
That evening, a big group of us rode the Peak Tram up to the top of Victoria Peak for a breathtaking view of Hong Kong.
p.s. Traveling with more than 5 people is too difficult. SOMEHOW we managed to travel with 12 people up the top of the peak, have dinner and drinks, and make it back to the ship with one extra person! But – in general – I’m the type of person who is too concerned about everyone having a good time that I can’t just enjoy myself if there are too many people around.
So – next day – Joe and I traveled as a duo, and we rocked the city! We decided to explore Hong Kong island and saw a ton. We took the world’s longest escalator (about 20 minutes!) up to the Botanical & Zoological Gardens and then headed over to Stanley Market via the double-decker bus!! Woo-hoo! It was an exhilarating ride to sit front row, Deck 2 of a double-decker on some pretty freakin’ narrow lane roads!! It was scaaaaawwwwwy. (you know the voice).

So… My friend J.B. just gave me shit for writing too much on our freakin’ blog. I already have a full single-spaced page of text and I haven’t even gotten to day 2. Maybe he’s right?!? You’ll know who to blame now when my blogs become bullet points. Shiggity-jiggity (a J.B. saying).

Okay – so, Day 2, continued.
Double-decker bus? Scary.
Stanley Market? Fun shopping, but Joy sucks at bargaining.
Times Square of Hong Kong? Super busy, hustle-bustle. FUN!!
Joe and I ended up at this British-style sports bar where they only served beers the size of my head!! Yahoo.

Day 3.
Joe and I went on our first Semester at Sea trip to explore “Historic Hong Kong.” We thought we had seen everything in Hong Kong, but it turns out – we hadn’t!
Our first stop was to the fishing village, which really provided a contrast to the city life of Hong Kong. Our tour guide said that the family fishing industry is dying out because the young kids of fishing families are being lured into city life to join the corporate world. It was amazing to see!
We rode the Peak Tram again to the top of Victoria Peak in the day time. We had a great view because it was very windy which helped to blow away some of the smoggy-froggy cloud layer.
We ended up leaving the trip a little early so we could change and get ready to see a performance by the Hong Kong Dance Company. Date night for Joy & Joe! We got a ‘lil dressed up and adventured to the New Territories via the uber high-tech subway system in H.K. When we arrived at the box office and I asked if we could purchase tickets for this evening’s show, the guy shook his head as if to say, “You’ve got to be kidding me, this show has been sold out for months.” I almost started to tear up when he said, “Wait – just for tonight, I’ll sell you these two tickets” (as he points to two seats on the seating chart with big X’s through them). He says they are obstructed-view seats, but we don’t care!! And… turns out? The only possible obstruction is if there is a small butterfly flying in the upper right hand corner of the stage. SUPER GOOD SEATS. The performance was aesthetically absolutely amazing. It was called “Dream Dances” and was intended to lure the audience into a dream-like state. It was so beautiful… they utilized all sorts of beautiful costumes, Chinese fans, draperies, petals floating from the ceiling… it was amazing. I didn’t want it to end! It was a real highlight of our trip!

Day 4.
Joe and I went on another SAS trip to Lantau Island, which is a beautiful, largely undeveloped island (minus Hong Kong Disneyland – don’t ask.) We ventured to the largest (seated) Buddha in the world, had an amazing vegetarian meal at the Po Lin monestary, and rode the newest gondola over the island (only open for one week!) It was absolutely gorgeous – I need at least a week to explore all the hiking trails on the island. It was fun traveling with the SAS students, too. There’s been some drama on the overnight trips, but the day trips are pretty tame.

Okay, I’m going to wrap this up now so I can have a Corona and try to talk J.B. into playing a game of Golf with me and some other peeps.

Hope all is well out there! We miss you!!!
We’ll be in Vietnam in 36 hours!!!