Hong Kong Day 1 - Kowloon – March 28th

Due to rough seas, the ship skipped our scheduled stop on Sanya Island, so serendipitously we arrived in Hong Kong five hours early. Everyone on board was thrilled; an extra half-day in Hong Kong is a big deal.

So Joani and I spent the whole day on the Kowloon side, leaving Hong Kong proper for tomorrow. We took the Metro to the Ladies Market at top of Nathan Road and then meandered on foot down through all the different shopping areas to the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade on the waterfront. Then we walked to the ICC Tower where we had an 8:00 PM reservation at a Japanese restaurant on the 101st floor.

 Ladies Market off Nathan Road

 Basketball is huge in Hong Kong. Playground courts all over the city and always being used.

 Shopping on or near Nathan Road: the Ladies Market, the Jade Market, the Temple Street Night Market, the Yau Ma Tei produce market on Reclamation Street, and high-end shopping complexes like i Square and Harbour City.

 Thoughtfully, the city has provided rest stops along Nathan Road for Tourists all shopped out. This is the Yau Ma Tei Community Center Rest Garden (with clean rest rooms).

 The Jade Market. Joani bought a white jade necklace smaller and simpler than the ones here.

Goose eggs for sale in the produce market.

 This big spikey fruit is a durian. The outer shell is an inch thick and when cut has a horrible smell. Inside seed pods about the size of a small lemon, but soft. The taste is wonderful: a mix of banana, butterscotch and vanilla with a hint of peach, pineapple and strawberry. AKA the “smells like hell but tastes like heaven” fruit, the vendor cut away the bad smelling stuff for us and put the good stuff in a Styrofoam box. It tastes as good as advertised.

 Rest stop in Kowloon Park, 4 blocks by 4 blocks just off Nathan Road approaching the waterfront. The azaleas were in bloom for Easter.

 Had a drink in the bar of the Peninsula Hotel. The Peninsula is to Hong Kong as the Raffles is to Singapore. There was an absolutely gorgeous spherical bouquet of roses in a vase on the bar:

Continued down to the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade along the Victoria Harbour waterfront, where we saw this high end tour boat cruise by against the background of the Island of Hong Kong and Victoria Peak:

As night fell, window-shopped jewelry on the walk to the ICC Tower for dinner:

Here is the tower where we had dinner, as seen from the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade:

And here is our dinner menu. When I was with GE Fanuc, I was privileged to have enjoyed several meals in Japan with Fanuc Chairman Dr. Inaba prepared by his personal chef. So now Joani has enjoyed the same authentic Japanese cuisine. The first desert with hot (210 degrees F) fruit jam served on a super-cooled (minus 330 degrees F) confection was incredible.

Tomorrow: Hong Kong Island including Victoria Peak