Five years ago we spent New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong, but somehow managed to be so exhausted from sight seeing we ended up in bed at 9pm and missed the fire works. I hear you say ‘old farts’, and I am happy to admit that this may have been a contributing factor. When booking our current cruise the overnight stay in Hong Kong was a big draw card. Not because we were excited to have two days in the city (have been numerous times), but because of the chance to stay awake (highly optimistic) to see the world famous fireworks as our ship sailed out of the Harbour at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, the travel curse (or more accurately the ongoing political rioting) led to the government canceling the fireworks last week. Putting aside our disappointment, we arrived in Hong Kong with plans of spending our two days playing it by ear. Unlike many first time visitors who headed off on tours to the major sights (there’s plenty), we jumped on a free shuttle bus. The shuttles, provided by two of the local shopping malls, are a ploy to drag you in to their malls to spend money. I’d like to say that we abided and followed the unwritten rule to spend our hard earned money in the mall, but instead we exited the shuttle (thanks for the lift) and went straight to the metro station below. For those first time visitors to Hong Kong, the metro is cheap, convenient and a lot quicker than some of the road options of transport (more to come).
Having visited the major sights during our previous visits, we decided to leisurely wander some of the markets and enjoy some local food. Hopping off the subway we headed to the flower market, an area of several blocks that offer the most beautiful flowers. It is a pleasant walk as the sometimes off-putting Asian street smells (no disrespect intended but sometimes it can stink), is replaced by an array of different perfumes.
Stumbling across the ‘Nippefruit’, I did wonder who had named this plant and who they had based this name on. If the namer is accurate, perhaps there is something wrong with my nipples. Just a thought.
At the end of the flower markets is Fa Yen Street, an area including a bird garden and bird market. On a previous visit (pretty sure a weekend) the place had been jam packed with old men sitting in the gardens with their birds, playing some sort of game (perhaps mahjong). This time the park had a completely different feel with very few people there and only some of the vendors open.
We did get to see a range of birds and cuisine for birds (crickets, bugs etc) before Simon sucked up some of the free WiFi, conveniently located next to a bench. Luckily the bench is ‘disinfected 4 times a day’ so his butt should be reasonably safe from bird flu! Note to self: Simon’s buttocks are safe to touch.
Continuing on our theme of markets, we walked to the gold fish markets conveniently located a opposite the start of the flower markets. In a repeat of the bird markets, many of the shops were closed but there were still a few to photograph. Mind you, many of the shops had the ‘no photo’ picture in the window. That being said, I do have an expertise in covert photography….most of the time. Who can forget my covert male stripper photo in Vegas which was an epic failure resulting in a photo of my own chest!
I’d like to say that all of that walking led to hunger, but who would I be kidding? A more accurate account may be that a military cruise ship eating routine has resulted in time watching for ‘food time’. We seriously pondered some of the street stall options (Ox gallstones anyone?) but were drawn into ‘My Hero’. The lure of ducks and chickens hanging in the window was too tempting! Refrigerated protein is highly overrated.
Surprisingly the meals were tasty but some ‘lost in translation’ may have occurred during my ordering of a drink for my lunch meal set. After being told that my set included a drink (never one to miss a bargain), I scanned the options and decided on a mandarin orange with honey. My theory was this was likely to be a hot mandarin tea with a dash of honey. Instead, what arrived was a cup of hot water with what looked like an anemic orange and a salty taste. Thinking that perhaps Hong Kong bees have a slightly bitter taste (you never know), I was at a loss. As I added to my wrinkles (as if I need any more)with each scrunched-up-face sip, I attempted to sweeten the drink with a sachet of sugar. No amount of adding sugar to the drink was going to make it any more pleasant. I conceded defeat and decided that I’d rather go thirsty. It is only now, after reviewing my photos, that I realise I had been given the ‘salty lemon water’. Either the waitress wanted a good laugh (screwed up faces can do that) or my English and menu finger pointing was confused.
No visit to Hong Kong would be complete without trying one of the traditional egg custard tarts. I could have easily downed both of them but did the good wifey thing and shared.
Having seen the ongoing riots on the news back in Australia, my normal laid back attitude to walking the streets was replaced by a slightly vigilant feeling. There did appear to be more damaged buildings than on previous visits, which may or may be due to the rioting. It may be that I just didn’t pay attention last time. Continuing our strolling, the hyper vigilance kicked in when police and flashing lights appeared ahead. Preparing to do some back peddling (good excuse to revisit the tart shop if you ask me), a closer inspection revealed it was only a traffic accident which had backed up the traffic for kilometres. In a rare occurrence, my snail pace walking was faster than any car movement along the road. Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Mong Kok Ladies Markets to see the range of ‘quality’ (being very loosely used) ‘copy’ (aka cheap fake crap) products.
My all time favourite was this ‘quality’ (yep sure) ‘copy’ (I’d love to see the original) bag that seemed to be having an identity crisis. I’m not sure if it is internally fighting the urge to be a Vuitton or a Gucci. Needless to say I left the ‘quality’ products where they were and resisted being drawn into the ‘you buy copy watch, copy bag, copy scarf, copy belt, copy anything you could think off’.
Opting to make the most out of the opportunity to exercise (should have done more on the ship) we avoided the metro and continued walking to Tin Hau Temple. Having visited the temple before, we decided not to battle with the homeless to enter and instead wandered one of the side streets to experience some of the not so pleasant market smells. All an experience!
When planning this visit I had searched high and low for things we hadn’t previously done in Hong Kong. This proved to be a rather difficult task but I had managed to find a small island we hadn’t been to and high tea at Cafe 100 (I think in the Ritz). Ditching the island due to the weather, the prospect of a slightly (ridiculously really) overpriced high tea at Cafe 100 was enticing. That was until we looked at the building and couldn’t see three quarters of it due to cloud. Scrapping the idea of high tea (yay permission for another tart), we decided to continue walking to the Avenue of the Stars and the harbour front.
In a deja vu moment, my facebook memories from the day had shown Simon and I standing beside the Harbour on our visit five years ago. Taking another selfie (minus the crappy selfie stick we had bought on our last visit), the big difference today was the lack of blue skies. Having walked 16km, Simon was in heaven when we stumbled across a harbour side cafe selling different beers. Needless to say, my theory that all beer tastes the same was once again proven correct. An opportunity to rest the feet and we were off again.
Clocking 20km walking for the day, our final visit was back to Temple Street Night Markets. As the name suggests (who would have thought?), these markets are a hive of activity at night. It may have been a more productive visit if we had indeed visited at night instead of 5.00pm when they were just starting to set things up. I guess we are lucky that we didn’t need to buy any of that ‘quality’ ‘copy’ stuff! As tired feet set in and exhaustion began, we jumped on the metro to return to the shopping mall to catch the free (tight arse Tanya strikes again) shuttle back to the ship. This seemed like such a great idea. That was until the shuttle took 90 minutes to appear, apparently due to the traffic. Just as I was about to shell out (yes you read it correctly) for a taxi, the shuttle turned up with a loud cheer from the hoard of fellow tight arse cruise passengers waiting.
Our second day in Hong Kong brought the same overcast weather with the addition of fleeting showers. Using the shuttle service again, we made our way to the metro to head over to Hong Kong Island. With no specific plans we arrived to wander the antique area and visit Man Mo Temple.
It doesn’t look like much from the street, but inside is an ornate temple with gorgeous coiled incense hanging from the roof. The smell is so strong that you smell ‘temply’ (yes making up words) for a good hour afterwards.
Continuing aimless wandering of the streets, I was drawn to a posh looking shop called ‘Rare’. Guessing the place had been named due to the antique Louis Vuitton travel chests in the window, I admired the beautiful chests not paying much attention to anything else. That was until my focus was drawn to the ivory carved sculptures on top of one of the chests. Let’s just say that I don’t think this is artwork will be making it home in my ‘non Louis Vuitton’ suitcase. Oh my!
Deciding it was ‘eat time’ again, we thought we would head to the Times Square area to find lunch. A trip on the iconic Ding Dong Tram would get us there quicker and is always a bargain at less than 50 Australian cents. Normally I would have over-researched the tram route, tram times, station names and boarded confidently. Needless to say, the play it by ear, no forethought decision found us siting on the tram unsure of where we were going. At least we were heading in the correct direction (maybe). Rushed google searching and we were reasonably confident (well I gave off that appearance) of where to get off. Successful navigation led us to being able to add another country’s Pepper Lunch to our list of Pepper Lunches dined at.
An earlier return to the ship, a shared dinner (yes we found friends again), a bottle of champagne (good stuff, not the ship’s free sparkling vinegar), cheap tacky NYE get up, a huge deck party and we managed (for the first time in years) to make it to midnight. Just call us party animals 🙂 Happy New Year’s from Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong hazy high rise skyline welcomed us at 8am this morning. Not very different from our visit earlier this year other than being able to enjoy the view in a bathrobe, relaxing with a cuppa on the balcony as you cruise down the harbour. My excitement of reaching civilization and connectivity was severed when my blogs wouldn’t upload (all I could think about was Angela telling me she was looking forward to reading them and me letting her down – insert sad face). 
We decided to head out to Mong Kok for a bit of shopping in the Ladies Market. Having been in Hong Kong earlier this year we didn’t feel the need to see the sights and thought we’d tackle the markets to pick up some gifts for the golden child (congrats on that HD for your assignment Matt). I’m all for finding bargains but the constant “missy, missy, you want copy watch, copy handbag” starts to grate on your nerves. I like to know I’m getting a bargain and it’s really hard to know when they are such dodgy buggers. Mind you even their starting prices are cheap so one shouldn’t worry too much. Note to self (and anyone coming to HK) don’t buy the cute USBs as they don’t work. We learnt the hard way on our last visit, 12 USBs later. We were more than happy to fill the foreigners in on this fact. We got Matt some quality Ralph Lauren tees and brand name undies, well pretend brand name undies. A couple of other purchases and we were done and ready for lunch.
I have to say we found finding somewhere to eat far more difficult in Hong Kong than Japan. There’s a bank or jewelry store on every corner but not a restaurant. Keep in mind Simon is slightly picky on what he will and won’t eat. There’s lots of stand and eat street stalls complete with wafting (slightly nauseating) smells but we struggled to find a sit down place with an appropriate menu for a selective eater. Perhaps we were looking in the wrong place. We did find some delicious concoction that was like a waffle and tasted like a coconut flavoured waffle in the shape of little eggs. Perfect snack but not filling after being used to constant ship eating.
We made it back to the ship with time to spare before sailing so there was only one thing to do, afternoon tea with mum at the buffet (she’d decided to stay on board to watch the AFL, typical Victorian). We’ve now settled by the pool as we sail out of Hong Kong with the sun going down and the AFL Dogs and Crows match being broadcast on the big screen. Tomorrow is another day at sea then next stop Nha Trang, Vietnam. 
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