Retracing Hong Kong Footsteps Under Low Cloud Ceiling

Day 73, 2024 Grand World Voyage

Saturday, March 16, 2024; Hong Kong.

Sometimes your visit to an iconic city is so memorable that you wonder if you should ever go back. I felt that way as we arrived this morning in Hong Kong. When I was last here in 2018, I had a Top 10 lifetime travel experience – spending the night in a high harbor-view room of the Peninsula Hotel, the “Grand Dame of the Far East.” It’s worth reading my blog post for the back story and the stunning views.

Today fellow passenger Deb and I decided to retrace some of those 2018 steps and others from my first visit in 2017. Once again, the Zuiderdam is docked overnight at the Kai Tak terminal in Kowloon, across from Hong Kong Island. We took a $10 shuttle (free in the past) to the Peninsula Hotel, still with three Rolls Royce sedans parked in front for those who want luxury transportation.  

In the five-plus years since I was here, new buildings have emerged and the promenade facing Hong Kong Island has expanded. Today’s clouds obscured the tops of most of the curtain of skyscrapers encircling us. So even though it is Saturday, the crowds were not overwhelming.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the Star Ferry that crosses the harbor to the central district, where overhead walkways lead off in all directions. We had no specific goal except to explore, wandering through the small shops selling food, souvenirs and all sorts of other things I didn’t need. Next it was on to Marks & Spencer, the London-based retailer I came to love during last year’s world cruise. I didn’t see anything much different than I saw during multiple stops in the U.K. and Ireland last year, but Deb quickly found a couple of cute tops.

The ferry took us back to the busy Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, packed with high-end hotels, museums and retail outlets from Prada, Chanel and Hermes to tiny street stands. At the nearby (and much preferred cruise pier due to its location) Ocean Terminal, the Zhao Shang Yi Dun had docked. The former Viking Sun, it now sails under the joint-venture China Merchants Viking Cruises, thus giving it preferred docking status, I presume.

We ducked into the basement level of an enclosed mall to Shanghai Lao Lao, a fast-casual eatery that drew our attention with its stellar food photography. It was hard not to over-order, but we settled on handmade noodles with pork in spicy sesame and peanut soup, pork and vegetable wontons in soup and crispy wontons, finished off with a Tsingtao beer.

I was glad I had brought along Hong Kong dollars left over from my 2018 trip. Guest Services on the ship isn’t offering currency exchange (beyond Japanese yen), so this saved me from stopping at a money exchange or ATM. Few Hong Kong taxis take credit cards – which have become my go-to first choice for payments abroad. The handy shuttle service didn’t provide return trips. Our taxi driver didn’t speak a word of English, but I had the Hong Kong data sheet provided by the ship, which listed the port address in Chinese, so for about $10 we were delivered back to the Zuiderdam.

When we docked this morning at Kai Tak, a company of drummers and dragon dancers entertained us from the pier. The modern terminal proved to be a maze for those departing the ship. My Apple Watch registered three-quarters of a mile from my stateroom to the terminal exit.

I was tempted this evening to head to the open-air Temple Street Night Market where a number of friends went for street food and crowd-watching. The online reviews were varied, from “amazing night market with lots of varieties of food; really lively and energetic!” to “centrally located tourist trap that sells a thousand types of gimmicks.” But friends who went had fun – it probably depends on who you are with.

I stayed on board to welcome back my sisters from their six-day overland excursion in China. They were tired from packed days but said there weren’t any activities they would have skipped. It was fun hearing their reports of Xi’an and Guilin, places I visited in 2017. I am glad I decided not to go, as the rest has really helped me recover from my toe injury, which isn’t slowing me down much now.

As is typical during world cruise overnights, local entertainers came aboard for our evening shows, this time a dance company.