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[edit: The pics are hosted on my friend's home server, and his DSL line isn't always the most accommodating. So please be gentle. Thanks.]
Well, I'll add some descriptor of the flight there, as well.
For starters, it's a looong flight to the Orient, even from the West Coast. From Seattle, it was 9 hours to Tokyo-Narita airport, followed by another 4 hour jaunt to Hong Kong International airport. Given that the time difference between HK and PST is +16 hours, we landed at local time midnight. My internal clock? 8 AM, the day before. Within 4 minutes of getting into the hotel room, I was out cold.
There were 8 of us travelling: our Fearless Leader Harvey and his wife Bernie, their cousins Bob and Jackie, my brother's coworkers Terry and Sharon, and then my brother Tom and myself. Thankfully, Bob and Jackie spoke Cantonese fluently, so if there was ever a tight spot or some confusion, one of them would step up and resolve the issue. It made life much easier sometimes.
We were staying on the Kowloon side, which is a peninsula jutting from the mainland. Hong Kong Island is directly south, across a deep but narrow harbor (less than a mile wide, I'd guess), and the 'New Territories' cover the rest of the land up to the territory border.
The group of us started the day with a group breakfast and then catching the HK subway (which had a terminal in the basement of our hotel, very nice) to the island, and scattering to the winds. Tom and I hiked to the base of the Victoria Peak Tram, which we rode up to the Peak Station. From there, we had a fantastic view of the Hong Kong downtown, and could yet see across to the peninsula. We strolled around on top of the hills for a bit, and then back down via Tram. Next, to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, on our way to Hollywood Road, so we could view the HK University Museum of Art. Along Hollywood, we also stopped in at Man Mo Temple. We spent a while in the HKU MoA, and then caught a bus back to Admiralty, from where we hiked back up the hill to Hong Kong Park, where the Musem of Teaware was located. After looking over the museum, Tom and I adjourned to the attached Tea House and had some truly lovely teas (if you like floral black teas, find yourself some Osmanthus Swatow Oolong. Wow). That night, after a group dinner, we all strolled up Jordan Street to the nearer of the two Night Markets, which these days are mainly for the tourists and the gullible. However, properly warned by Harvey, we all haggled reasonably well.
And that was Day 1. Whoah. (yes, my brother is a sight-seeing machine)
Pictures can be found here. I've edited and cropped for the most interesting photos of the day.
Well, I'll add some descriptor of the flight there, as well.
For starters, it's a looong flight to the Orient, even from the West Coast. From Seattle, it was 9 hours to Tokyo-Narita airport, followed by another 4 hour jaunt to Hong Kong International airport. Given that the time difference between HK and PST is +16 hours, we landed at local time midnight. My internal clock? 8 AM, the day before. Within 4 minutes of getting into the hotel room, I was out cold.
There were 8 of us travelling: our Fearless Leader Harvey and his wife Bernie, their cousins Bob and Jackie, my brother's coworkers Terry and Sharon, and then my brother Tom and myself. Thankfully, Bob and Jackie spoke Cantonese fluently, so if there was ever a tight spot or some confusion, one of them would step up and resolve the issue. It made life much easier sometimes.
We were staying on the Kowloon side, which is a peninsula jutting from the mainland. Hong Kong Island is directly south, across a deep but narrow harbor (less than a mile wide, I'd guess), and the 'New Territories' cover the rest of the land up to the territory border.
The group of us started the day with a group breakfast and then catching the HK subway (which had a terminal in the basement of our hotel, very nice) to the island, and scattering to the winds. Tom and I hiked to the base of the Victoria Peak Tram, which we rode up to the Peak Station. From there, we had a fantastic view of the Hong Kong downtown, and could yet see across to the peninsula. We strolled around on top of the hills for a bit, and then back down via Tram. Next, to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, on our way to Hollywood Road, so we could view the HK University Museum of Art. Along Hollywood, we also stopped in at Man Mo Temple. We spent a while in the HKU MoA, and then caught a bus back to Admiralty, from where we hiked back up the hill to Hong Kong Park, where the Musem of Teaware was located. After looking over the museum, Tom and I adjourned to the attached Tea House and had some truly lovely teas (if you like floral black teas, find yourself some Osmanthus Swatow Oolong. Wow). That night, after a group dinner, we all strolled up Jordan Street to the nearer of the two Night Markets, which these days are mainly for the tourists and the gullible. However, properly warned by Harvey, we all haggled reasonably well.
And that was Day 1. Whoah. (yes, my brother is a sight-seeing machine)
Pictures can be found here. I've edited and cropped for the most interesting photos of the day.
