Leaving Hong Kong

Day 62 at sea, March 8, 2011

Our second day in Hong Kong was not what I had hoped.  Ron left to explore on his own and I had the bright idea of walking to the ladies market 45 minutes away.  The streets of Hong Kong are not easy to maneuver.  Many of them have no pedestrian crossings and one must go underground.  I walked around, fearful of tunnels.  I learned later that the tunnels are so clean you can eat off the floors. Very safe.  So I walked miles out of my way and went into a few shops.  Shops, my foot.  This is where they have all the runway fashions that regular folks can’t or don’t wear and cost more than a car.  I wonder how many such shops can survive but then one sale in any given day would likely pay their salaries for a month.

I came back to the ship for lunch and met up with Ron.  He talked about riding across the bay on the ferry and walking a covered bridge to another shopping mall.  BTW there are more Starbucks here than in Seattle.  Hopefully I will see Hong Kong again and I’ll know better where to go.

We arrived back on the ship in time for me to sit in the hot tub for a bit and soothe my aching body.  After dinner the Chinese cultural center entertained us with music, dance and a wonderful changing faces artist.  A dance troupe of your people did the dragon dance with a magnificent multicolored dragon that glowed in the dark. The kids each held one or two sticks and maneuvered around the stage with exact precision to make the dragon twist and turn.  Amazing. We also had two lovely girls do a ribbon dance.

After that we enjoyed another light show and all too soon came the sail away party.  It was Mardi Gras so we all got beads and music.  At ten pm we undocked and sailing out to sea we were mesmerized by the city lights.  It’s impossible, I think, to explain but imagine thousands upon thousands of high rises some apartments with lights some without against a nearly dark sky.  I have never seen a more beautiful city. I would have loved another day there.

But we must look again to Viet Nam and crossing the South China Sea.  We’ll have two days there as well.  In the meantime we have two sea days and I must teach.