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Full Day Tour of Hong Kong Island

Hello again, and thank you to everyone reading these journal entries. I hope you are enjoying reading them as much as we are enjoying creating the memories I am entering. I also want to extend another special thanks to Mr. Brian Page. I am having issues accessing the Springfield network to post these entries directly, so I have been emailing the entries to Brian and he has been posting them. Thanks Brian!

Today was very busy again, so lets get right to the details! After another breakfast buffet at the YMCA we left for a full day tour of Hong Kong Island. Our tour guide was Emil, the same gentleman that picked us up from the airport. Emil is a very talkative tour guide who filled the time in transit with historical, cultural, and geographical lessons for us all. Our first stop was the Man Mo Temple. This was quite a special place to visit. Emil explained that people from Hong Kong and all over China visit this Temple to pay respect to the gods and ask for advice and good wishes. The architecture was impressive, and the décor included incense that burned in urns and hung from the ceiling. The sent was very strong inside the temple, and there were many spiritual quotations and statues lining the interior.

Man Mo Temple Inside Our next stop was Victoria Peak. This is a mountain approximately 1500 feet high, which is very impressive to look at given the magnitude of the city surrounding the area. The weather today was not optimal for the view that would undoubtedly be amazing. The fog prevented full view, but the entire city is visible on a clear day. The steep and very narrow road was a challenge to navigate for even experienced bus drivers, yet they seem to drive very fast! We often waived to other tour busses as they passed, though we could have just as easily shook hands with the other patrons if we were stopped. This is even more of an interesting experience when considering the drop immediately to our left (cars on Hong Kong travel on the opposite side of the road as in the U.S.) that was hundreds of feet! Once we reached the top there was a mall for shopping and a number of coffee shops and restaurants.

Trip to Victoria Peak The next stop on the tour was Aberdeen, which is located on the water. There is a yacht club which was flanked by million dollar boats and a section of house boats. The house boats are used by local fishermen who live on these boats when they are not fishing. Docking a yacht here costs about $1000 U.S. dollars per month. We were able to take a very interesting boat trip for about 20 minutes which got us up close to the house boats, a floating restaurant, and the private yachts. One yacht of interest belonged to Jackie Chan, it was very impressive.

Boat ride in Aberdeen Our next stop was for lunch at the Maple Garden Shark Fin restaurant. The food here was excellent, and included shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, noodles, vegetables, and a curdy bean dessert. There were a number of tanks with a variety of fish to choose for your meal. We ate in a private dining room with two tables. All of the sit down meals are served at round tables with a “lazy Susan” (my term, I don’t know the correct one) in the center. As the food is brought out it is placed on the lazy Susan and is rotated to select your food. I must add that we are all getting somewhat proficient with chop sticks – with some mild fatigue in the hand muscles!

Lunch at Maple Garden Shark Fin After lunch we left for Stanley Market. This was another location on the water with dozens of small shops and a great view. We stayed for about an hour to do some shopping then continued with the tour. The final stop was Repulse Bay which included a number of spiritual statues. These statues are used as a sight for prayer for families and for fishermen. There was also a beach which sat below large hills that housed a number of expensive high-rise apartments.

Repulse Bay After this visit to Repulse Bay, we returned to the hotel to prepare for dinner. I had no idea what a wonderful dinner we had in store. We all “dressed to impress” and walked to Serenade Chinese Restaurant. We had a private dining room in this 5 star restaurant that boasts an amazing view of Victoria Harbor. The restaurant is owned by the Mr. Wu family, who are long-time good friends of Springfield College. The place settings were elegant and the service impeccable. We were served an 11 course meal that was simply amazing. Have I mentioned how nice this dinner was yet? I thought you would all be interested in our cuisine, so here is a picture of our menu for the night. Hope it isn’t to small.

Serenade Dinner The dinner was topped off by a special gift from Mr. Wu, a gorgeous cake decorated with flakes of real gold. This health conscious crew did not hesitate to dig in to this treat that tasted like a Boston Cream Pie and chocolate cake all in one! The picture on the main page is of this cake, I hope it isn’t too small to see. Well, off to rest for our next day in this great adventure.

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Page updated on: 05/22/2008 05/22/2008