Day 83: Hong Kong, China

Thursday, 30 March 2017
Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

No Stats on the NavChannel
Location per Google: 22.29.52N / 114.16.73E

Life in Hong Kong transcends cultural and culinary borders,
such that nothing is truly foreign and nothing doesn’t belong.
~ Peter Jon Lindberg ~

This was another one of those days split between a morning at sea and an afternoon in port.  Our day dawned foggy.  We crossed our fingers that it would lift by the time Insignia was ready to make it’s approach to Hong Kong.  No — the fog turned out to be an omen of what was to come.

A misty skyline from The Peak.

To explore a place, one must walk.  And walk we did today.  But we also checked out the Star Ferry, the trolley train, the subway, the tram, and we even took a short ride in a taxi.  It’s midnight now and by all rights I should be tired.  Instead, I am buzzing.  Partly from the very strong tea I drank late this afternoon, but mostly from the excitement of seeing Hong Kong in the company of our friends.  So instead of going to bed to toss and turn, I am going to write.

Our sail in to Victoria Harbor — Hong Kong Island to our starboard and Kowloon to our port — was veiled by a light fog.  Later we were told that this is not uncommon at this time of the year.  Nonetheless, we caught a fairly decent glimpse of the high-rises lining both sides of the channel Insignia followed.

WOW!  That’s about all I can say to describe this most vertical of cities we’ve seen in our travels.  No picture or video can do justice to what our eyes beheld as we sailed closer and closer to Victoria Harbor.  Not that we didn’t try.  At a forward deck, Mui used his GoPro to capture our progress — in time lapse.  On the veranda, I clicked the shutter for still shots, turning one way first, the other way next.  Passing Kai Tak — the old airport that is now a cruise terminal — early during the sail-in, I said a quick prayer that Insignia had been assigned to the Ocean Terminal in the heart of the city.

Insignia was docked on schedule at 2:00p.  We walked off the ship and straight into a joyous reunion with our friends Annie and John.  We met A&J on 50 Let Pobedy, the Russian nuclear icebreaker that took us to the North Pole in 2014.  We got along famously on that trip — known to many as Camera 1, Camera 2, Camera 3, and Camera 4 — and hoped we would someday meet again.  That day was today.

Knowing that we would be in good hands, I did no research on HK, leaving everything in the hands of A&J.  With rain in the forecast for tomorrow, they opted to show us Hong Kong Island today.  Walking through Harbour City, the mall connected to the cruise terminal, we headed to the Star Ferry pier just a few short steps away.  Thinking of everything, A&J had already picked up for our use a couple of Octopus cards — pre-loaded transport cards that are accepted by certain vendors as well.  Minutes later, we were crossing Victoria Harbor.  The ride was a short one, but Annie explained that wasn’t always the case. “When I was a little girl it took at least 15 minutes,” she explained.  Reclamation of land is ongoing and the harbor is apparently shrinking.  What was once on the waterfront is now several streets behind.

Off the ferry, we started walking.  And we walked, and we walked, and we walked.  Annie — ever the Energizer Bunny — pointed out the various buildings towering above us and explained what they were.  John, in the meantime, documented for posterity everything we saw with his new point and shoot camera.  Along the way, we walked into a local food market where they showed us local delicacies … like dried duck kidneys and octopi; preserved eggs; a variety of fruits and vegetables; bean curd wraps; and so much more.

Around 4:00p, we took a break at the Golden China Restaurant.  When A&J said we would be having tea, I was expecting tea and pastries.  Turns out that wasn’t it — instead, she ordered Chinese noodles, shrimp wontons, and a selection of what she described as BBQ meats — the ones we’d seen in the window … pork, chicken, duck.  To wash down the food, we drank Hong Kong style milk tea — sometimes referred to as pantyhose or silk stocking tea because the blend of tea leaves is brewed in and filtered through a cloth that resembles a stocking.  The tea is a very strong brew with a smooth body.  It is also highly-caffeinated and left us buzzing for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Next we hopped on one of the double-decker trolley trams that run through the CBD to go to Garden Road.  We lucked out with seats at the very front of the top deck, and had an excellent view of the hubbub all around us.  Our destination was the lower terminus from which the Peak Tram — HK’s famed funicular — whisks visitors up 1,300+ feet (~ 400 m) over a distance of .9 miles (1.4 km) to Victoria Peak by way of the Mid-Levels … the affluent neighborhood of high-rises.  Actually, the tram runs up to Victoria Gap, where the upper terminus sits some 500 feet (150 m) below the summit.

We had to queue up to get tickets and make our way to the platform, but the organized line moved fairly quickly.  With Annie’s guidance we found seats on the right side of the car — this is the side that has views of the high-rises that run alongside the tracks, sometimes giving a peek into apartments where residents go about their daily lives.  The five-minute ride followed gradients reaching 4-27 degrees and was quite steep.

At the upper terminus, we walked up several flights to Sky Deck 428 — the number a reference to the altitude at which the observation platform is located.  Alas, despite all our prayers en route, the city remained socked-in by fog and our views were limited to some of the closer high-rises rising like so many ghosts out of the mist.

After walking around the Sky Deck to see what we could see, we headed back down to the ground floor — this time walking over to the Peak Lookout Restaurant.  The temperature — thanks to the cold front that was passing through the area — was still comfortable, so we opted to dine al fresco on the terrace.  What a view we would have had if the fog had not veiled everything from view.  Oh well.  We shared a seafood platter and fried rice served in a hollowed out pineapple … all very tasty.  But the highlight was the yummiest chocolate lava cake that we’ve ever had.

Our tummies sated, we went to the Lion’s Pavilion Lookout.  The fog was still thick, but we were able to glimpse the IFC 2 building, one of the highest in the city, and the highest building further in the distance.  OK — so we only saw the tippy-tops of those buildings, but what is it they say about beggars not being choosers ;-)

The line to go back down to the city was shorter and we were soon in a taxi cab heading to Lan Kwai Fong, an area of the city known for its nightlife.  We didn’t stay to party, but wandered through the district on our way to the subway.  The subway took us under Victoria Harbor to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) the closest station to the Ocean Terminal and our ship.  We bid A&J a temporary farewell, promising not to eat breakfast … something special is in store for us tomorrow.

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