A Few Days in Hong Kong

Our first port after leaving Manila was Hong Kong. We were especially looking forward to this because we had arranged for John, Marilou and Axel to visit us on board and stay for dinner.

But first, the sail-in to Hong Kong is supposed to be quite something - that is, when you can actually see it through the fog... Crystal Serenity berthed at Ocean Terminal, THE best spot in Hong Kong for a cruise ship. It is right in the middle of everything, next to the Star Ferry Terminal and walking distance from the major streets in Kowloon. Why did we get this spot? Because Crystal Cruises is now under the umbrella of Genting Hong Kong, which also owns Ocean Terminal.

We had booked a couple of tours for the first of our three days in port, and started with a drive around Hong Kong Island including a ride on the Victoria Peak tram. Hong Kong Island is across the channel from Kowloon, which is part of the mainland. Traffic in Hong Kong is ridiculous to say the least, as it took the better part of half an hour to get through the tunnel to the island side. Apparently it doesn't matter that cars are very expensive to buy and even more expensive to run here, and that there is an extremely good public transit system, the roads are jammed in rush hour. Actually at most any hour!!

Our tram ride to Victoria Peak was a bit different than anticipated. We hadn't expected the extreme angle of the tracks, but even more, we had no idea how many apartment buildings there were, and how close together! Larry commented that the buildings seemed crooked because of the angle we were traveling; and what was even stranger was that there were actually a couple of stops that the tram would make at certain times - the stops were a couple of very small landings between long staircases. Anybody living on the hill would certainly not have to do any cardio workouts if they used public transportation!

After a bit of free time at the visitors' centre on Victoria Peak, we boarded our bus that had driven up the hill and began our drive around the island. Once we left the peak area, it seemed that all the hustle and bustle disappeared and we were in the outer suburbs. There was more green space, more access to water and beaches (although they did have the protection of shark nets). We drove past Repulse Bay, where John and Marilou live, and spent some time in the community of Stanley, home of the Stanley Market.

This certainly was a jam-packed tour. Next up was a sampan tour in the harbour of Aberdeen, historically the home of fishermen who lived on houseboats in the bay, with their fishing boats tied up alongside. There are still some people living on these boats, but they aren't all fishermen. John and Marilou lived in this area when they first moved to Hong Kong, and have some friends who live on houseboats here.

We had also booked a tour in the evening, which first took us to visit Sky100, the observation deck on the 100th floor of the International Commercial Centre, the tallest building in Hong Kong, and then to a very good local restaurant for a dinner. Fortunately, the fog of the morning burned off in the afternoon, and by the time we ascended to Sky100 it was fairly clear so we got great views of the city.

Our dinner was in a restaurant not far from Ocean Terminal (as we discovered during our walk the next morning) and made up of local dishes. Nothing out of the ordinary or hard to identify, but there were some picky eaters in the group and it took away from our enjoyment of the meal.

Friday morning we decided to just walk around a bit, as our visitors were coming aboard in the later afternoon. We found Hullett House, a hotel in what used to be the Hong Kong Maritime Headquarters. Very interesting to walk around the grounds - of course they include a high-end shopping centre. And we took a quick look in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel, one of the icons in Hong Kong, as well as the relatively new Intercontinental. Nice places!

Near the Intercontinental Hotel,  it was interesting to see
how they were using living walls to increase the amount of
green space.

In the afternoon, the Mulhalls arrived for the much-anticipated visit. We all had a great time together, with Larry and John both saying that it was the first time they had ever had a chance to just sit and talk; usually we meet during large family gatherings where we're going from one conversation to another without concentrating on any one for long. Even Axel enjoyed himself looking around the ship.

That Axel is a pretty good photographer!

There is a light show over the channel every night and we went up to the Sundeck after dinner to watch it. Our spot at Ocean Terminal gave us the perfect spot to watch the buildings on Hong Kong Island light up and flash laser lights. The ICC, where Sky100 is located, is equipped with LEDs that light up in various patterns, like birds in flight, and even act as a digital clock. We wondered if the people at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which takes up floors 101-114, knew that they were flashing the time over all of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

On Saturday we met John and Marilou (Axel was recuperating from a 6:45 A.M. soccer game) for lunch. We had our first adventure with the Star Ferry system, which proved to be easy to use, and got to our meeting point with time to spare. We had lunch at a restaurant called Din Tai Fung, which is apparently THE best dumpling place in Hong Kong - so good that they now have locations all over Asia and a few in the U.S. And we were impressed! The meal was absolutely delicious, as you can see from the pictures here:

After lunch we walked around a little in the area, and then hopped on a tram to make our slow way back to the ferry terminal. This was the Hong Kong we had been looking for - not the upscale, trendy, designer fashion and high priced watch and jewellery stores, but the small shops and restaurants and busy streets.

Soon enough it was time for us to hop a ferry back to Kowloon and bid John and Marilou goodbye. But not for too long - they will be back in Toronto in the summer and we'll all get together again then.

We missed the Hong Kong sailout as we were at dinner, but the next day in his noon update, Captain Vorland reported a special event from the previous evening. The World Dream, a ship from another of Genting's cruise lines, Dream Cruises, was sailing near Hong Kong as we left. Now this is a very new ship equipped with LEDs, just like the ICC building, and Captain Vorland reported that it was running the message 'Bon Voyage Crystal Serenity' along the hull as we passed by. He was so blown away by this that he told the story again at the Captain's Quarters cocktail party on the following evening. What a nice send-off!!