Visiting Hong Kong in 30 hours and sleeping just 5 of those thirty hours makes for a hectic schedule.  I don't know how these older people are doing it.  Although we did hear that some of them booked a hotel in downtown for the night instead of taking the shuttle bus back to the container terminal where the ship was docked.  We only had one day at sea before hitting Shanghai and we could have used two days to recover.  We now have three days at sea before we hit the mean streets of Halong Bay, Vietnam but right now we may miss that port because we still haven't left Shanghai due to fog and we are 19 hours late leaving Shanghai!  Damn Communist - you can get in their country but they won't let you leave!  Have they heard of a GPS system?  The longer we sit here, the more the river traffic gets backed up.  The captain has requested preferred treatment but we were denied.  They say it's too unsafe for us to travel down the river and out to sea.  I think someone is just waiting for payment/bribe - politics as usual.  I swear it was foggier when we sailed in but they say the fog is even worse at the mouth of the river.  Ahem, we could be here for days!  

Hong Kong - crisp 60 degrees with sun coming through the pollution haze!

HK was a breathe of fresh air, figuratively speaking.  The air quality was horrible and the pollution hung in the air like a thick fog, but it wasn't fog.  Don't believe those photoshopped pictures of HK; I'm almost positive it's never that clear.  Quite a few people were wearing the surgical face mask and some of them had a designer flair to them.  Now the refreshing part.  Practically everyone spoke English, the transportation was very navigable and quick, and it was a very clean city.

I think the HK subway is the best thing going.  All the stations are enclosed in glass so there is no wind blowing through the tunnels, which means the dirt and hot/cold air stay on the outside and it's very clean.  There was a touch screen when purchasing the fares and it was as simple as touching the station that you wanted to go to and the price would pop up, you'd insert the money and out would come the ticket and your change.  No need to write a book called 'HK subways for dummies' - just do it!  The machines accepted bills up to $50 (unlike Shanghai only $20) and I don't believe I ever saw an attendant since there was no need for one.

The ferry system was also a delight.  The Star Ferry Line ran from Kowloon over to Hong Kong Island about every ten minutes and the fare was roughly .28 US cents.  What a bargain!  One thing I really liked about this ferry line was a sign that read 'watch out for moving platform.'  This is why the ferry ran so efficiently.  When we were in Australia they'd take 5 minutes tying up the ferry and securing the platform before anyone could get on or off.  Here in HK it was a 'passenger beware - we're running a tight ship operation' which I agree with, so watch the platform as you are exiting.  Time is money and in HK even more so.

We took the mid levels too which is is an escalator system that runs from downtown HK Island up to the mid level neighborhoods.  It only runs downhill until 10 am and at 10:15 am it runs only uphill until the wee morning hours when everyone has to come back down for work the next day.  There were longer stretches of the escalators at the bottom but as you got to the middle of Mount Victoria they would end on a flat street where you would have to walk across the street and maybe up a few steps to continue on up the hill.  I think we had so much fun riding them that we actually rode past our stopping point to pick up the tram that ran all the way to the top of Mount Victoria for a panoramic view.  So we got lost up in the hills but thank God it was all downhill to get to the tram.

Mount Victoria was very nice and modern with beautiful views, we only wished there wasn't so much pollution in the air because we really would have been able to see for miles around.  Just the skyline over to Kowloon was murky and you wished you could have taken a rag and wiped away the fog on the camera lens but it wasn't fog.  Now this place was a 'good' tourist trap - if there is such a thing!  There was a Madam Trausseaux (sp) wax museum at the top and, of course, Disneyland's name and paraphernalia were all over the place along with gift shops selling everything and a swanky shopping center housed inside the "Wok" which was a modern building shaped like it's name.

After going to Mt. Victoria on the tramline that had run since 1888 we headed over to the back alley street vendor to pick up our stone stamps that we had ordered with personalized names in Chinese characters.  Now the back alleys were where the sightseeing was at!  Let's just say I wouldn't be doing any dining in this area for numerous reasons but probably the biggest reason would be that I didn't recognize much on the menu.  These people use every bit of every animal, fish, and vegetable - every bit.  There is no waste but I think they took the 'Sandy' thing too far!  Sandy would never eat fried fish stomachs.  Those would be garbage in my book.  These back alleys and the way these people operate are a true wonder.  One vendor would have old machine parts spread out in a small place and right next to him was a kitchen for a restaurant and a dishwashing operation and next to that was a vendor selling clothes and hardware.  Truly amazing and spectacular but I would have to say the US Health Dept. would have their hands full in HK!

After Mt. Victoria it was time to head back over to Kowloon and up to the Stanley Market for some shopping.  We rode the city double decker bus up top for a bird's eye view.   Another very efficient system with no big loops to all parts unknown in the city; buses 6, 6X, and 6A all went to Stanley, and only Stanley, via different routes; we choose the most scenic.  The modern waterfronts on both HK Island and Kowloon are built on reclaimed land and you can definitely see where the original waterfronts started back in the day.  The difference was remarkable; old meets new, east meets west.  We saw the original post office and passed Happy Valley, which is a huge, all grass horse racing track that is the busiest of any in the world with big races happening on Wednesday, the day we were there.  This valley, which is about the only flat land around, is draped with cemeteries and graveyards up the hillsides.  It's very pretty and old but I'm not quite sure if they call it Happy Valley for the cemetery, the racing, or just the flat land.  We also ran across Repulse Bay (odd name since it was so nice) which is a modern resort and residential area.  It was funny to see all the businessmen down on the beach in their business suits and barefoot.  We drove past a modern building here over looking the bay that had a nice architectural effect to it.  In the middle of the building there was a huge open hole/deck about 20 floors high that you could see through to the mountains.  But it wasn't for aesthetics my dear, it is so the dragons can come down from mountains and get a drink of water!  Later the next day we saw some more of these buildings out on Lantau Island.

We shopped for a while through Stanley Market and finally ate a little lunch at the McDonald's which consisted of french fries, a coke and an orange for me.  Thank God for potatoes.  Between the Pringles and French Fries, we are subsisting.  After lunch we walked across the courtyard to one of the oldest temples in HK, Tin Hau, which was a female goddess who protected sailors (if my memory serves me correctly).  If you travel, you know McDonald's are always located right by the world's great landmarks or almost in them - St. Mark's Square in Venice anyone?   Just outside the temple was the beach that wrapped around the Stanley area and the maritime museum, which was the original Murphy House in downtown that they brought over brick by brick to Stanley.  Seems there were extra parts/columns that they had left over after reconstructing it, so they just set them up along the sidewalk outside.  They look nice but there is no telling which floor is missing their supports.

After another Mr. Toad's wild ride back into town on the double decker bus we headed over to the Avenue of the Stars which is like the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Lots of stars and hand prints but we only recognized about three of them.  Next up was the Symphony of Lights which started at 8 pm  and we heard the best place to watch it was from the Avenue of the Stars.  But first we headed up Nathan St. for some shopping and dinner, which was guess what?  McDonalds!  After walking back to the waterfront we were set for a show and half with lasers, lights, and music, plus this is the Guinness' World Record for a permanently fixed light show.  It includes 36 buildings and I don't know how many lights but it spans both banks of Victoria Harbor.  Well were we ever disappointed!  They couldn't hold a candle to a Disney production.  First the music was lame-O.  Secondly, it wasn't loud enough and lastly it needed new choreography.  They had the right tools but no va-voom!  We ended up leaving disappointed after 10 minutes but on a brighter note we beat the crowd over to Temple Street for the night time shopping market.  We caught the midnight bus back to the ship and ended up getting to bed about 1:45 a.m. after some room service.  Man cannot subsist on McDonalds only!

After about 5 hours of sleep we caught the bus back into Kowloon.  Today's schedule would take us out to Lantau, an island southwest of downtown, to see the world's largest Buddha and a Buddhist monastery.  After a ferry ride, and a subway ride to the end of the line we made it out to the gondola.  Since the ship ran out of Hong Kong dollars we went to a bank to get some more money exchanged.  First they told us it would cost us $50 HKD.  Okay, that's roughly $9 USD and we were in a time crunch, then they wanted our passports.  What?  We've got these Cunard Gold Cards.  Will these do????  Apparently not.  All I got to say is if you are a foreigner in a strange country (because this happened in Shanghai too) you had better have a passport on you if you want money exchanged!   At the time the money exchange didn't open until 10:30 am but it still wouldn't have done us much good since we would have needed our passports and the ship requires us to leave them in their offices for port inspections.  We got to the ticket window and I just ended up puttng the tickets on the credit card in order to save our subway money and shopping dollars.  

What can I say?  This was the highlight of my HK trip.  The gondola ride was probably 25 minutes long; first over to the island that the new airport sits on and then again across the other side of the bay up to the top of the closest peak of Lantau and then we were dropped over the mountains into the village.  There was a bit of a wind kicking around but the heights alone and the thought of a plane hitting our wires and everyone falling to the ground was a scary thought.  The views were fantastic and no exception to the rule of high rise apartments and condos along the base of the mountains.  A jungle of buildings just like downtown HK.  The Buddha was enormous and we set up pictures with us giving him a 'high five' from below.  There was construction going on at the base and I recognized 'the sound of progress' going on.  They are having an expo this year, so I think they were making some improvements to the garden area.  Making our journey up the steps of Pow Lin where the Buddha sits on top was quite nice and the views from top were awesome.

Due to our time constraints we didn't have time to walk over to the monastery, which was 30 minutes away but we did have time to buy some merchandise and for the first time I felt I might just need to buy a buddha for good luck.  To our surprise (wink, wink) we found Pringles and Coke and stocked up with a few cans.  We had a gondola car all to ourselves on the way back down, so we popped a couple of tops and feasted on the way down.  There was a hiking path all the way up to the village, very long, but we decided if we ever came back and had the time, it would be neat to hike out to the Buddha.  

Back from wince we came but instead of taking a ferry we rode the subway as close as we could into Kowloon.  The ship doesn't buy back coins so we stopped at a 7-11 to use them up and made it back to the shuttle bus just in time for the 2 pm last bus.  On the way we saw the Russian Olympic Team touring HK on their way home but we didn't have any time to snap a picture.  Too bad!  They looked snazzy in their bright red uniforms.

Not only does HK have the world record light show and Buddha, they have the largest suspension bridge too and we sailed under it as we let HK drop out of sight.  As we sailed north towards Shanghai we could see all kinds of fishing boats anchored along the way and other boats hawking their wares to the fishermen.  My only regret was that we did not get out to Aberdeen to see the 'boat people.'  These people live on their boats and make their living on the boats.  Some of them never step foot on land if you can imagine that.  Most boats go out during the day to make their living and then come back into the harbor for shelter at night, so maybe we wouldn't have seen much.  Maybe next time!

Even though HK started out as an opium trading center, and to the British's advantage they let it continue in the colonial period to ensure their continued foreign presence, it is now the the trading capital of the world.  Hong Kong has 266 islands, Lantau being the largest with HK Island being the second, and quite a bit of land all the way up to the Guandong Province called the New Territories.   Even though HK was handed over by the British in 1997 they are a Special Administrative Region and as long as the communist let them run their 'one country, two systems policy' things will go well for the people of HK.  We saw as much as we could in 25 hours but there is plenty of nooks and crannies that we would like to come back and see.  It's worth a second, longer visit! 

Shanghai - cold and overcast with heavy fog!

It's living up to its name!  We have been Shanghai'd, which means 'up river.'  We've been sold up the river and can't get back out to sea.  I think the fog combined with the pollution is a double whammy for us.  

So the Chinese officials got on the ship in HK and we all had to go visit them with our passports and fill out a health questionnaire the day before we came in to port.  Cunard also told us that we must carry our passports with us at all times.  My little red flag started moving up my flagpole...wonder why that is???  In case we miss the boat?  In case we get arrested?  In case we cross some imaginary line???  Glad to say we never needed to show them.

  

Shanghai was pretty much a navigational mess.  We had to be bused in from an hour away to downtown Shanghai from the automotive terminal.  Now guess what we saw at this terminal?  Lexus, Mercedes, and BMW's.  We also saw a Mazarrati dealership in town and Morgan saw a Porsche dealership.  Who in China is buying these cars????  Must be some government officials (wink, wink).

So we get into town after an interesting drive and nothing seems quite like the maps we had studied or have in our hands.  The information desk at the bus drop off was a card table with a folded piece of paper with 'info' written on it - nothing else!  The maps showed up momentarily (we managed to get the first bus off the boat since we were two hours late arriving in port due to the fog) and they started charging for those.  How much we don't know but entrepreneurship is healthy and alive!  Next came the watch sales people.  I'll give it to them, I like their spunk!

I heard this girl say they wanted to go to the Maglev train and I told her we were headed to the same place and we would share a cab ride with them.  Then I remembered we'd need a taxi out to the Teahouse Gardens and Old City from the Maglev train so the four of us set out to find the subway and decided to take the taxi later. This was 'Amazing Race' comical.  No one, and I mean no one, spoke English.  I did spot an American by himself and asked him if he knew what the subway symbol looked like.  He offered us his 'free map' from his hotel and told us he hadn't ridden the subway while he was here on business but he did at least point us in the right direction that he understood the subway to be.  As we walked down the street we found out he was from right outside of San Diego and he has a brother who lives in Pine Bluff and a cousin in Sherwood, AR - small world, eh?

Did I tell you that signs are not in English either?  It would make sense since no one speaks it.  Very little English to be found.  Well, we finally ran across a sign that said subway in English and it showed a picture of stairs going down.  Great, we thought we found it.  Wrong.  It was only an underground passage to the other side of the busy boulevard.  So we were right back to square one.  Well, we finally spotted the metro but now we were on the wrong side of the street.  Once down in the subway the next step was to study their system and try to maneuver our way out to the correct subway station to pick up the airport train, the Maglev.  On our way out there we did bump into one other person who spoke English and took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about our plans.

Upon getting to the terminal we purchased a ticket, 80 Yuan, for a trip out to the airport and stood there on the platform waiting for the train when we realized we didn't even know the names of our travel companions.  We were so focused on getting down the road that we failed to realize that we missed the customary introductions.  Their names, Colette and Keith from Liverpool - Good British people this time - their young, so maybe that's the difference!  The Maglev is the fastest train in the world and just as luck would have it we got the afternoon train which travels at the top speed of 431 km per hour and that converts to 267 mph.  You cover 25 km in just 7 minutes.  Once we got there we sat on the train for the ride back, ha, ha.  It felt funny not to get off but that was what we came for - to go back!  The scenery along the way was pretty awesome too.  We saw buildings in ruins right next to other houses that were whole.  We couldn't tell if there had been an earthquake or if they were just falling apart or if they were knocked down but not hauled away.  Hard to tell but it was a sight to see no less.           

Once back in town we went over to the Pearl Tower, the world's third tallest radio tower, but we didn't buy a ticket to go up due to the fog.  We then headed over to the '88 Observation Deck in the Hyatt Hotel but it was up in the clouds too.  We then shared our cab ride out to the Old City and parted ways with Colette and Keith.  We visited the Old City and bought tickets into the Yu Gardens.  Both were very large and you could get lost in either one of them.  Wall to wall people since it was a Saturday AND we were in a city with 20 million people. 

Candice and I got off the beaten path and saw the real Shanghai down the narrow streets.  Shopping was fun and very adventurous!  I'll let Candice tell you about the guy chasing me back to the bus trying to sell me watches!  I didn't mind but Candice got fed up and shouted at him - well I guess I just told you the story but her story will be more elaborate.   While we were shopping the back streets and running into streets not on the map and not finding streets that were on the map, we ran across some foul smelling food cooking.  We've been told it's fermented tofu but who knows.  They say you need to acquire a taste for it.  Let me tell you something, if you have to 'acquire' a taste for anything, best thing is not to start at all.  I never saw it but there was steam coming cooking off the wagon and people standing around waiting to buy it.  Needless to say, the smell is still haunting us back on the boat every now and then, even after two showers.

After feeling our time slip and slip and slip, we decided to make our way back to the ship by taxi.  What an adventure!  We had the address preprinted for us from Cunard so we thought we should have no problem getting them to understand where we wanted to go but, no, it took us 3 taxis for someone to understand where we wanted to go.  We understand the taxicab drivers can't read.  Oh yeah, traffic jams are common in Shanghai too around 5:30 p.m.  So when our woman driver ran into a jam she quickly turned around and hit some side streets and, of course, more traffic but probably quicker than the other way.  We kept checking with her to make sure we were still going to the right place and between no English and us turning the map every which way and pointing to where we needed to be, we finally became confident that we would get back to the buses by 6 p.m.  

We finally arrived and a shuttle bus never looked so glorious to me!  Well we had quite a bit Yuan to get rid of so we ran into the c-store for some Coke purchases and that's where I ran into the man with the watches.  I didn't really need a watch or want a watch but I entertained the guy but in the meantime I was losing points with Candice!  

We got back to the ship and went up on the Lido Deck for dinner, took a shower and hit the bed with a movie.  We got a couple of announcements from the captain telling us that we would be delayed in leaving but we woke up this morning and here we still are, sitting in Shanghai port!!!  Now we are close to 24 hours off schedule and I see trouble brewing.  We will have to drop a port to squeeze the time.  I'm up for knocking out Bangkok since there is civil uprising there.  Let's hope the captain makes the right call.  

Even though we ran out of time and didn't make it over to the Bund, another historical section of town on the other side of the river, I don't think there is much to bring me back to Shanghai and this departure situation is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.  Captain just came across and said nothing is moving up or down the river so we suspect it won't be until tomorrow at noon before we start moving.  So...who knows where we will be in another 24 hours!  The captain has forewarned us that we will need to go through a 'special' - read pirate - drill before we get to Singapore so maybe this delay is a blessing in disguise with the timing of pirates, civil unrest, typhoons, etc.

One city - YES, one city - NO - that's the tale!

Now everybody sing .....Sittin' in the dock of Shanghai.... 

(Candice to post later)   

   

Sandy