Hong Kong was an experience. The first afternoon and evening we were escorted around the city by friends who said they had been to Hong Kong at least 30 times over the years. He was a banker and was there often on business. If they hadn’t been with us, we would have taken at least a week to figure out what to do and where to go. We were docked in Kowloon, across the water from Hong Kong. Exiting the ship, we found ourselves in a shopping mall that consisted of 5 high rises, all connected by skybridges. Each building had at least 7 floors of mall. It was overwhelming and we could have easily spent weeks right there.
Our friends took us on a ferry to Hong Kong and then on a bus to an open air market on the other side of the island of Hong Kong. Just buying the tickets for both the ferry and the bus were an adventure. Tom had the money for the ferry (about 45 cents each), but he mentioned that he always got cheated at the booth there – and lo’ and behold, it happened again. He got back a coin that was unrecognizable, but he thought it was a $1 coin. Once on the ferry, he realized that he had been duped again! He was furious! Of course, there is a huge line trying to buy tickets and the tourists feel the pressure, so they move out of the way without checking their change.
Then just go get the correct change for the bus was another adventure. We went to the customer service for the bus, but the lady was most unhelpful and closed her window when we asked where to get change. Eventually, we had to go up several levels, across the street on a sky bridge and buy something at a local pharmacy. I just took the cheapest thing I could find – I knew it was a drink but had no idea what I had bought – and then we were able to go back to the bus. Tom and I had gone on this task, and Maritza and Carter were holding our place in line for the bus. By the time we got back, they told us that 3 buses had come and gone. Needless to say, we were not at the front of the time for the next bus. Everyone here queues up and there is no cutting in line. The British left this habit well engrained.
The bus ride was harrowing. We were on the top of a double-decker bus and the bus was driving right on the edge of the island, often up quite a ways. Carter says that we in North America judge a miss in terms of feet, here it is judged in terms of centimeters. At one point the bus driver was careening along and almost clipped a bus coming from the opposite direction. We were jostled around, really praying we wouldn’t fall off the edge of the cliff.
Carter has a photo on the website of an apartment building that is up against the hillside and it has a huge square hole in it. We were told that the architects used Fung Shue to determine its orientation and where to put the hole. Most interesting.
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posted by Hills @ 1:07 AM
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