Look Up! You’re in Hong Kong

Day 32, Grand Asia 2017

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 – Hong Kong

Today we returned to the warmth. The morning temperature was in the 70s, with a noticeable touch of humidity. At breakfast, I overheard a woman at the next table excusing herself to change clothes, because “I am wearing winter,” she said. I had been wearing fall. Out will come the shorts, summer tops, cotton skirts and flip-flops.

As I took the storied Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong island, I watched the ship traffic and was a little envious of my nephew Zan, who recently graduated from the Texas Maritime Academy. No one told me when I was young that I could have chosen a career on the sea. (I doubt that the maritime academies accepted women in the 1970s, anyway). But it does seem to call to me. And it is nice now to travel by ship and not have to work to do it.

My primary impression of Hong Kong is a curtain of skyscrapers stretching almost as far as you can see, placed on a backdrop of mountains. We had arrived too late last night to see the 8 p.m. laser show, and the skyline after dark isn’t as colorful as in Shanghai. Then again, we are not docked in the middle of the city. Many passengers grumbled about that. Holland America seems to be getting a reputation for docking at less convenient locations. Hong Kong has redeveloped its old Kai Tak airport runway into a cruise terminal. (For some exciting video, search YouTube for “old Hong Kong airport landings.”)

I had heard that Hong Kong is easily accessible without joining a tour, but having never been here, I was a bit hesitant to set off on my own. A friendly passenger who sometimes shares a table at breakfast offered to join me. He has been here several times and didn’t have anything specific planned. We took the provided shuttle to The Peninsula hotel, and the Star Ferry terminal was just a few blocks away.

The best views of Hong Kong may be from the water. The city surrounds you, and the buildings dwarf even its large Ferris wheel.

Neither of us was particularly interested in shopping, but we discovered that the Hong Kong Maritime Museum is on a pier in Victoria Harbor near the ferry terminal. We were most interested in the exhibits on the early maritime history of Hong Kong and China. As I travel, I realize the degree to which my education ignored much of Asian history. The museum filled in some of the blanks.

Of course, we had to stop in The Peninsula on our return to see the beautiful lobby and the hotel’s fleet of Rolls Royces sitting out front.

As we sailed away, the captain delivered some disappointing news. Yet another typhoon is in the region and forecast to land near the port of Nha Trang, Vietnam, just as we are scheduled to visit. So we will miss that port on Saturday and use the extra sea day to skirt Typhoon Damrey. I hope it will not cause us to miss Phu My, the port for Ho Chi Ming City (Saigon) on Sunday.

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I feel that I rushed through writing my blog posts during my overland China visits to Guilin and Xi’an in order to post them in a timely fashion. So here are some of my general observations from the trip:

It always takes an hour to get to the airport.

The crane is the national bird of China. By that our guides meant the building crane. We saw hundreds if not thousands. The Chinese are building everywhere.

In Hong Kong, bamboo is used for scaffolding, even for the tallest of skyscrapers.

Red traffic lights are considered a suggestion.

Roads and highways are new and smooth. I don’t think I ever saw a pothole.

I saw few Fords and Chevrolets, but lots of Buicks. Also very popular are VWs, Audis and Toyotas, as well as Chinese brands.

Most high-rise apartments have small balconies, but virtually all of them are glassed in. I think more indoor living space trumps tiny outdoor space. They hang their air conditioners from the outside walls.

Many Chinese consider pushing and shoving to get to the front (of a line or an observation platform, for example) normal behavior. One guide suggested that for older Chinese, it was required behavior during the Cultural Revolution when there was never enough of anything to go around, including food. The pushing never seemed to be personal, just a habit. But it did catch us by surprise as we expected everyone to queue.