World Cruise - Day 69 - Mar 21 - Hong Kong

We had breakfast on our balcony this morning.  Temp is pretty warm today, high is expected to be around 75 and partly cloudy, but there is still that low lying mist covering the harbor this morning:

There is a huge amount of boat traffic in the harbor which is difficult to see because of the mist.  Both ships coming and going as well as container ships being loaded in the background.

Yesterday mid-afternoon the sun finally did break through for a couple of hours, although still obscured somewhat as it was shrouded in the mist.  It was the first time we had actually seen the sun since before Shanghai this past weekend.  Hoping that today will be a clearer day.

I’ve been only taking my pocket camera with me the past couple of ports, leaving my DSLR for the morning and sunset shots.  But I think I will take it with me today to see if I can get some better photos, especially during the harbor cruise we are doing this afternoon.  Hopefully it will clear up by then.

Here is a pic from last night that I missed including in the blog, I copied it into the wrong Hong Kong folder (day 2 vs. day 1).  Thought it was still interesting enough to post a day late:

I love the looks on people’s faces in this pic.  The look of despair in the guy on the left.  The focused noodle eater far left.  The “Are you gonna eat that?” guy in the middle across from the and the “that was really funny…” guy on the far right.

Krissie and I went to Kowloon today, part of the mainland area just north of Hong Kong Island (yet still part of Hong Kong).  We went down to catch the Princess shuttle to the Central terminal (where all of the buses and ferries go out) only to find that it had just left about 10 minutes prior and the next one was not scheduled to leave until 30 minutes later.  So we decided to make a go of it on the local bus, since it’s only $3.20 HKD (less than 50 cents).  The public transportation in Hong Kong is very well established and about 90% of the population uses public transportation (buses, ferries, subways, trams, etc.) for commuting.  Here is the type of bus we took into downtown Hong Kong:

They are double decker buses.  It was initially not too crowded:

…but then after a few more stops it was standing room only.  Notice that everyone is pretty bundled up.  I don’t think it is going to be as warm as predicted.

Once we reached Central, we had to walk by a series of walkways (note the two people with facemasks, pretty common throughout Asia):

Notice that Krissie (and I) are both without coats today, which turned out to be a mistake, most others wore coats and needed them.  We were chilled.  Here is a view of some other walkways in a vast walkway and escalator network around the city:

The walkways take us to the Star Ferries terminal.  We took the ferry across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon.  Here is a view of ICC (International Conference Center), the tallest building in Hong Kong, shrouded in the clouds with a helicopter going by:

As we got to Kowloon, we could see the Sea Princess at Ocean Pier, having just arrived this morning:

Krissie and I walked toward The Peninsula Hotel and took this pic along the way:

Then someone asked me if I wanted to be in the pic.  Sure.  I’m not in many of my pics:

There are banyan trees growing throughout Hong Kong.  They are all numbered and protected, so you will see them growing up the sides of rock walls, retaining walls and cliffs:

In Hong Kong, bamboo is used very commonly for scaffolding on building, often up to 40 stories or more.  On this building you can see it extending up the first four stories:

Also common in Hong Kong are the signs that hang out over the roads, with the supporting steel structures forming a labyrinth next to the buildings:

The older buildings often have window air conditioning units.  Compare this older building with the newer one behind it:

Although the signs are in Chinese (actually, in Cantonese, not Mandarin), numbers are still number, so sometimes you can make out at least partially what a sign is trying to say by the numbers:

Also pretty common is hanging laundry outside windows or from balconies:

Apparently there are more skyscrapers in Hong Kong than any other city in the world.  New York City, which is #2, has only half the number of skyscrapers.  So you can see skyscrapers peeking out above the buildings just about every direction you look:

The International Commerce Center (ICC) has a Ritz Carlton Hotel located there as well.  The top is still shrouded in the clouds this morning:

Another view of the ICC (note the window washing crew about 10 stories up just right of center):

Further back view of the ICC.  Note not only the tall buildings immediately next to it, but also the tall buildings in the distance, which it quite literally dwarfs:

Canton Road has a large number of name brand luxury goods stores, including:

…and:

…and:

…and:

…and pretty much every other luxury brand around (Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc.).  Afterward, we went to the Bird Market area.  Nearby is this waffle shop making small donut holes on a stick:

The bird market had all sorts of birds, most of them singing bird:

There were several wild birds in nearby trees, attracted by the singing, like this one:

There are also elaborate bird cages:

Some of the bird owners were out taking their birds for a walk through the bird market.  This parrot was a real talker (and whistler) and kept me amused for awhile, so I took his picture:

There were some sparrows eating bird seed on the ground, I caught this pic with one incoming top left (didn’t have it on sport mode, hence the blurred wings effect):

There was also a nearby flower market where they sold both cut and potted flowers and plants:

Krissie at the flower market:

We took the Star Ferry back across Victoria Harbour, with this last view of the Hong Kong skyline:

When we got back to Hong Kong Island, Krissie spotted these two dogs.  Look at the picture closely:

The dog on the right is walking the dog on the left:

The owner was walking along behind them, but they were being very good in taking each other for a walk:

Krissie got in some pet therapy, missing Coco:

After we got back to the ship, I went out walking around Kennedy Town, where we are docked (on the west side of Hong Kong Island).  I found this sign near a park:

We all know, of course, that fouling should only be done in private.

I liked ducking into all of the little shops in Kennedy Town:

Even in this “small” neighborhood of Hong Kong, there are high rises all around:

I took a pic of this sign at a store.  If this was the first line, what would your second line be?

Here are some of my entries:

“…and it will mind you.”

“…after all, it’s the only one you’ve got.”

“…and your head will mind your mind.”

If you come up with something else, put it into the comments.

Here is some of the bamboo scaffolding we saw earlier today more up close:

They say it is a strong as steel scaffolding at less cost and less weight.  It looks a little precarious to me?  He is the walkway overhead:

Not sure exactly how that works.  We saw some guys climbing the bamboo scaffolding on a building that was going up and they were 30 or 40 stories high, pretty sure without any safety line.

This is for all of our UCG (United Church of God) friends:

I don’t think it’s UCG China, but you never know.

It took me awhile to figure this out, but I’m pretty sure these are real estate listings:

I like trying to guess the caption in stuff like this:

Here are some possibilities about what the mustache guy is saying:

“I thought we were going to be playing poker, what’s with this mahjong stuff?”

“Hey baldie.  How come your head is as big as your body?”

“I’ll see your bid and raise it ten more.”

Any other suggestions?

This store was selling a lot of stuff in jars, hard for me to figure out what they are, but they looked like big breadsticks in different colors:

Here is the local Century 21 real estate agent with their listings:

Local tram in Kennedy Town with the ever present skyscrapers looming in the distance:

This is the local butcher shop, all meats hanging fresh in the window:

I liked this picture for two reasons: 1) the name of the street (there’s gotta be a story there); and 2) because I didn’t know what HSBC stood for before coming to Hong Kong.  I knew it was one of the world’s largest banks, but never knew what the initials mean.  Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation:

This is a banyan tree growing down the side of a rock retaining wall.  Note the two labels on it, giving it’s numbering and probably also saying something about it being protected:

I took this pic for my nephew Griffin, thought he would get a kick out of it (I’ll send it to him):

This is the local fresh fish and fresh meat market in Kennedy Town:

Note the fish heads at this end of the table:

This fish is sticking out its tongue (or maybe those are its guts?) as the guy is chopping into it:

I’m pretty sure that’s a pig’s hoof, still intact, bottom right of this photo:

Squid for $48 HKD (a little over $6) each:

Just down the street is the ever present KFC:

KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and other brands are pretty common throughout Asia.

On my way back to the ship, I saw these two boys playing soccer in the park and caught this pic with two ladies looking on in the background:

As we sailed away from Hong Kong, I was able to see the first real cloud definition of the day (other than the consistent high level mist):

The boat in the last pic is the pilot boat.  Every port we board a pilot as we come into the harbor/port, then we offload the pilot when we sail out.  It’s pretty interesting to watch the pilot disembark, since he literally moves from one moving ship to another.  Here you can see a deck hand on the pilot ship reaching out to him:

…and he is now stepping onboard the pilot boat:

…and stepping around the front of the boar as the pilot boat pulls away and we head off through the South China Sea to our next stop in Vietnam:

Tonight’s entertainment was Preston Coe, “the Texan Tenor.” 

He was excellent, one of the best performers yet.  The first two songs didn’t really showcase his tenor voice, so the show started out slowly.  But then he belted out some great classical numbers and even put in some rock ‘n’ roll to mix it up a bit.

Tomorrow is sea day #1 of 2 on our way to Phu My, Vietnam, which is the gateway port to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).