March 27-28
$1 US = 7.7HKD
Hong Kong continues its transition from a British protectorate to part of China. The handover started in 1997 and will go for 50 years. As such, the people consider themselves from Hong Kong. They are very welcoming – and all of the ship’s passengers were welcomed with a container resembling a rice dish with a shopping bag inside of a coin purse made to resemble a steam bun.
After some mis-steps in getting our Ubers and finding each other, Liam, Alan, Dottie, Ken, John and I met in the city center for the walking tour. The city was built on trade (initially opium), then manufacturing in the immediate post WWII era, and now as a center for banking. Money is a primary focus of Hong Kong citizens as explained by our Guru walk guide, Summer, along with how Feng Shui influenced the corporate buildings throughout the Central District.
She showed us the location of the night bars, excellent noodle shops (there’s a Michelin starred noodle shop where a bowl of wonton with noodles costs 40HKD – the line for the small establishment is very long). We rode part of the longest escalator in the world (though technically its 2 connected escalators – together, the segments measure over 800 meters (about ½ mile) with a total rise of 500 feet).
The oldest church in Hong Kong is also the only land on the island that is truly privately owned.
We finished at the Man Mo Temple, where if you have a short wish, you light a candle – for a long one, you buy an incense lamp, for a really long one – an “infinite” wish – you rent a lantern. There are waiting lists to have a lamp or lantern (though there was no clear reference to how much it would cost, online it looks like a large incense lantern would be $125 US).
After the tour we found a spot for lunch at the excellent Yung Kee Restaurant, I chose some dim sum specialties, others had yummy looking dishes (and you had to eat with either chops sticks or a spoon, luckily I’m very good with chop sticks). It would get the highest rating from my sisters for the excellent bathrooms in addition to the food.
We walked down to the ferry terminal and took one back to Kowloon, then the metro (day pass 65HKD) to the night market.
The Night Market had more t-shirts, magnets, trinkets and food and less knock-off items than in the past.
Dinner in the central kitchen crowded with locals was another excellent meal – John had a dish with beef ribs and vegetables.
We had an overnight in Hong Kong, so the next morning we journeyed up to the temple of 10,000 Monks. The base of the path is next to the Ikea. Statues of gold-painted buddhas, based on real monks, lined the route up 471 stairs up to the temple.
In addition to visiting a beautiful monastery, you are rewarded with sweeping views of the city.
After a snack and a beer, John and I took the metro down to the Hong Kong Space Museum (10HKD/adult, 5 for senior) which sits at the waterfront along with an art museum and community event center (which has great bathrooms – though the symbols are a little different).
The museum has interesting exhibits for children and curious adults.
After two days of wandering, I was done, so we grabbed a taxi back to the ship to rest before the light show along Hong Kong Harbor – which they started early just for us and allowed the Serenade to sail further into the harbor before turning and sailing out to sea.
Next stop – Taipei, Taiwan. For the next several posts, due to how many ports we will be visiting in the next few weeks, it will be mainly pictures with short descriptions.
History Lesson:
How did Hong Kong become a British colony? Like most territory, the land was the spoils of war. The British and other powers traded opium for treasured Chinese silks and goods. The Qing Dynasty was not keen on this import. When the Emperor outlawed the trade, it resulted in The First Opium War (1839-1942). The island of Hong Kong was ceded after the Chinese lost and agreed to the Treaty of Nanking. The Chinese were not happy about having foreigners on their soil, and still hated the opium trade, which led to The Second Opium War (1856-1860)– which involved not just the British, but the French, United States and Russia. The war ended after the British ransacked The Summer Palace in 1860. The British received The Kowloon peninsula, and the Russians were given 1.5million square kilometers along their borders with China. In 1898, the British agreed on the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory that they would allow British control the New Territories for 99 years. In 1984, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed to return Hong Kong with the New Territories if the Chinese government agreed to a 50-year transition with “One Country, Two Systems”. Let’s just say things have been getting a little rocky.