How do I love thee.....

Ok, it sounds corny, but it was the only way I could think of to express how unbelievably magnificent Hong Kong is...wow!

I loved Hong Kong, it was huge and busy and clean and sunny and full of life! So far, Sydney has been my favorite harbor in the world...but now...I am completely torn!

We landed in Harbor City on Kowloon, which is one of the "islands" in the District of Hong Kong. We took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island to begin our day of exploring. The ferry takes less than 10 minutes, the boats are quite famous and historical and the entire experience was wonderful. Did I mention that it costs 30 cents? At that rate I could ride all day and just enjoy my very own harbor cruise!

Once on Hong Kong Island we decided to walk up a few blocks to check out the escalators.

In the Soho neighborhood, Hong Kong has the longest covered escalator in the world. It essentially covers about 1/3 of the city and takes you half way up the hill which dominates the center of Hong Kong Island. It was pretty amazing crossing a major city in this fashion. Imagine taking an escalator from Fisherman's wharf in San Fran all the way to Chinatown. Once off the escalator we began wandering through the city streets, enjoying the antique shops, Chinese medicine shops, dried fish shops and all the other sights and sounds of the big city.

Hong Kong has trolley cars, they are double-deckers, and they are also a must see. We boarded the trolley near the Western Market with the intention of getting off at the Bank of China, 20 blocks later. We sat up top so we could see the sights and when it was time to get off we discovered that the trolley was so packed that we literally could not get off! Three stops later and much wiggling and we finally made it off the trolley.

We couldn't help but burst out laughing at being stuck on the trolley!

We walked back over to the Bank of China tower, designed by IM Pei, it used to be the tallest building in Hong Kong. You can take the elevator up to the 43rd floor and see the entire Hong Kong harbor and skyline. It is free, with no need to check in or anything, and it was beautiful! We took several photos and pressed our foreheads against the glass to try to see the street below.

We still had several hours and decided to head across island to Stanley Market. The subway does not go there and the bus was going to take a long time, so we grabbed a cab. I could tell that Brian was very worried and tense, but I did not know why....I found out later he had a bad taxi experience in Sacramento recently.

But, no worries, we arrived quickly and at a pretty good rate. The best part of going to Stanley Market was seeing the south side of Hong Kong Island. Think Manly Beach in Sydney....we rode on a two lane road skirting the cliffs above the sea and the beach below...again, it was so beautiful. I chose my condo and told Brian I wanted it for my birthday! :)

We wandered through the market and made a few purchases, and then went to lunch. We sat in a seaside restaurant and ordered a dim sum platter and some Hong Kong appetizers and decided to have a beer. The menu had draft beer in small, large and huge, so of course we each ordered a huge Stella. It was as big as a pitcher and we were glad we didn't have to drive anywhere!

We wandered back through the market and caught the cab back to the Star Ferry terminal and took the ferry back to our ship.

...our day was almost over. :(

A few weeks back I told Brian that I hoped we would be able to see some of the city lights during our stops, even if from the ship as we departed. Our captain was able to get special permission from the Hong Kong authorities to leave Hong Kong through the Eastern channel, which is the small channel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Normally, ships our size are not allowed, but with our special permission, the on-board DJ arranged some beautiful music and we all gathered along the decks and watched the beautiful lights as we slowly made our way through the heart of Hong Kong....unbelievable! At 8 p.m. the tallest buildings in Hong Kong put on a laser light show, we are able to see the beginning of this show and I imagine it would be a lot of fun to be on a small boat right below the lights in mid-harbor...we are counting the days until we can return to this amazing city!