March 14

3-14: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE! We got in Hong Kong yesterday about 10. It is an amazing city - tall buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbor - in Kowloog which is on the mainland and in Hong Kong which is on an island. Our tour took us to the tram up Victoria Peak which is 1805 feet above sea level. The tram went straight up - well, not quite BUT it seemed that way! The view was spectacular even on a cloudy day. After the tram ride up Victoria Peak we went to Stanley Market - the ride there on the bus was almost as scary as the tram ride since the roads are about Mini-Cooper width and we were in a big bus! Stanley Market was interesting - a lot of small stores selling “junk” - some nice stuff but mostly t-shirts and fake jade Buddhas! After Stanley Market we went to the harbor and got on a motorized sampan to tour the floating village where the Chinese live on their boats. It is not as common as it once was but there are still people living on these boats - we saw a couple with dogs on them barking at us as we went by just like Breck at people on “ his street”! On the way back to the ship we passed a fascinating cemetery - called Happy Valley for you Penn State people. It was very crowded - as is the whole city of course, and it was tiered. So they can’t avoid crowded conditions even after death. Once back we sat in the Chart Room where the windows look out over Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong. Once it gets dark the buildings are all lit up with neon and changing colors and dancing lights! It is fantastic! Today we went out on our own to walk Nathan Street which is one of the main shopping streets. Oh - speaking of shopping, the ship is docked at one of the BIGGEST malls we have ever seen! All the fancy shops - Tommy and Polo and Prada etc! Not what we came around the world to do however! At lunch time we went to a Chinese (fancy that) restaurant. It was very nice. We had a couple of local beers - San Miguel - couldn’t believe that the local Hong Kong beer is called San Miguel. We had Spring Rolls and Prawns in a hot sauce and Frog Legs! I ever tried one BUT couldn’t get past the fact that they were frog’s legs! The rest of it was very good! Tonight we are going to go out into that big mall and eat at the California Pizza Kitchen - enough Chinese food for one day. Tomorrow we have another tour and then on to Bangkok! We still say can you believe we are in…?