Trickling In

We docked in Hong Kong this morning at 8 am, on the Kowloon side, and it was warm enough to sit on the back deck for breakfast.
We wondered if any students would be waiting to board the ship from their Beijing trip, and sure enough we met a few of them as we got off the ship.  I was glad to see them, because some of them had missed some connections getting out of Shanghai.  They were exhausted and happy to see the ship, but they had had a great time in Beijing.

 

The other thing that we saw was students skyping or chatting with friends and family on the internet in the mall adjacent to our port where there is free wireless internet service.  They were there again tonight since it was mid-morning back home for many of them.

Most of us who traveled with the ship, caught the Star Ferry to the Hong Kong Island. The Ferry port is right next to the ship, and the fare cost $3 Hong Kong or about 40 cents U.S. There was a Western Union next to the ferry where we could do currency exchange, so everything went quickly and smoothly. So far, almost everyone we have talked to speaks some English which is a relief after Shanghai.

 

Nancy and I walked around Hong Kong which is loaded with high end retail stores.  There is some serious money in this place.  Think of Hong Kong as a cross between the beauty and hills of San Francisco and the magic mile of Chicago with the fancy stores.  It really is like being in a U.S. city with a few exceptions. 

One exception was hundreds of women sitting in small groups eating lunch and playing games.  It turns out the Sunday is the day off for the maids of Hong Kong--mostly Filipino-- and they gather to socialize with each other.  There was also a rally going on for a presidential candidate from the Philippines.  Apparently,there are enough maids to make it worthwhile to hold a rally here.

 

 Part of our walk took us to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens where we saw some rare red-crowned cranes.  Later in the afternoon we went to the Hong Kong Park where we saw more birds and did some serious people watching.

We made it back to the ship for dinner and a light show over the water. Then we joined up with friends and went to the night market.  This is a huge section of town where market stalls are set up in the middle of the street to sell everything and anything.  You would not know that this is a Sunday night.  Everything closes down on Sunday night back in Virginia, but here, there is a lot going on.

 

During the day, the folks from the SAS trips to Beijing returned to the ship.  There was a lot of excitement as they were comparing experiences and sharing them with friends.  As we got back to the ship, some of the last independent travelers to Beijing were trickling in--tired and hungry--and I was glad to see some our our extended family members returning.