Day 84: Hong Kong, China

Friday, 31 March 2017
At Sea — South China Sea

Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:15p (HKT) … UTC 1:15p (31 March)
Temp: 65.8F (18.8C)
Position: 21.51.31N / 114.13.71E

You can leave Hong Kong, but it will never leave you.
~ Nury Vittachi, Hong Kong: The City of Dreams ~

I didn’t get a good night’s sleep, I’m afraid.  Not sure if it was the near-frenzied pace of our sightseeing yesterday, all the food, or the highly-caffeinated tea.  Probably a combination of it all.  The 7:00a alarm came awfully quick.  I pulled open the curtains, hoping to see the fog had cleared.  It had not, but the sky did look a little brighter, with patches of blue giving hope for the day.  It didn’t last long.  By the time we were off the ship to meet Annie and John, the skyline was socked in again.

We get a better view of the Hong Kong Island skyline from our veranda.
But it doesn’t last long.

The second day A&J had planned for us in Hong Kong started with a subway ride that took us under Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong Island.  Our destination was the Metropol Restaurant at the United Centre, but to get there we took a meandering path that showed us Canton Road and Nathan Road … both very popular shopping areas.  We also stopped by a flower market where beautiful blooms were being arranged for delivery around the city.

Dim Sum is traditional Cantonese cuisine — though other varieties also exist.  In the Guangdong province, where Hong Kong is located, restaurants often start serving dim sum — even though I wouldn’t consider the dishes traditional breakfast food — very early in the morning.  It consists of bite-sized portions of food served in bamboo steamer baskets. These baskets are stacked on steam-heated carts that are brought around to the tables for patrons to select what they want.  The server then marks the selections on a card and one pays the bill from that.  Tea, an excellent digestive, is the beverage of choice — in our case, jasmine tea.

For a picky eater, this was a difficult meal, but I soldiered on.  There were dumplings, meat balls, sticky rice with pork wrapped in a lotus leaf, calamari, and even BBQ chicken feet — I drew the line at that … even if this collagen-rich dish is good for the skin, I wasn’t about to eat any.  What I really enjoyed was the shredded taro with a pork filling.  Dessert was cubes of sweet sticky rice topped with a coconut-flavored pudding of some sort in small containers made of what looked like banana leaves.  A second dessert consisted of a gelatinous rice wrap around chunks of mango.

The rain, which had started while we were having our dim sum breakfast, had fizzled out by the time we left the restaurant.  So, we went for a walk towards the Legislative Council Complex — considered non-Feng shui because it consists of two buildings that stand apart and one building has a big hole in the middle.

By the time we got to the subway station to return to the Kowloon Peninsula the rain was on again.  We didn’t let that deter us, though.  Donning ponchos and opening umbrellas we went exploring some of the many markets for which Hong Kong is famous … starting at the Golden Computer Arcade, which Annie described as “John’s Place.”  After wandering the halls and seeing all the computer parts, I can see why John would prefer to build his own computers instead of buying one of the ready-made ones.

From here we continued to several more markets.  The rain kept coming down, which kept the aisles clear, but wasn’t conducive to photography.  At one stall we found a small bag to replace the one I use to carry my phone.  At another stall Mui found a ball cap with Hong Kong embroidered on the front.  That was the extent of our shopping in this city of markets.

At the gold fish market we saw the pre-packaged aquarium fish ready to be purchased and taken home.  It was amazing … never saw anything like it before.  By this time it was after 2:00p and tea time was at hand.  This time we had traditional egg custards and pineapple bread.  The bread was my favorite.  Despite its name, the bread contains no pineapple.  Rather, it gets its name from the pattern on the crust.  The warm bun is sliced and a slab of salty butter is placed inside to melt.  The contrast between the sweet and salty makes this a really yummy treat.  I could have eaten a whole bun, but shared with Mui instead.  Of course we had Hong Kong milk tea to wash it all down.

A&J had a social commitment so we called an early end to our day.  It was still raining when we left the tea house at 3:00p.  John needed about 30 minutes to transfer to a USB stick — or two — all the photos he took of us, as well as some documentaries he wanted to share.  So we returned to the Ocean Terminal.  Finding a place to sit at the Harbour City Mall, we continued visiting while he took care of business.

Bidding farewell to friends is never easy.  In this instance, it was made easier knowing we will be back to Hong Kong next year.  Nor is it easy to say that you’ve seen a city when you have only a day or two there, but in this case … well, it feels like we came darned close ;-)  Of course there is still plenty to see, and we will add them to our memories of Hong Kong when we return.  Annie & John … thanks for being such great hosts.

Our sail out from Victoria Harbor followed the same route Insignia took coming in yesterday.  This time, though, the fog gave us a break.  While there was still some haze in the air, our view of the most vertical city in the world was much clearer.  Despite the temperature drop that had us putting on heavy jackets to stay warm, we stayed on the veranda to enjoy the cityscape on either side of us.  Then, as the skyline became little more than dots of light twinkling in the distance, we headed up to the Terrace Café for a quick bite to eat before calling it a day.

Gaining an hour overnight … yay!  That means we will have 25 hours at sea before our next port of call.

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