Forgot the beach party

I completely forgot about the beach party, about 1 hour travel time from Kowloon, via ferry, and on a nice little beach. Everyone brought food...shrimp, steak, chicken, lamb, salads, lots of beer and a good time was had by all. We left by about 9pm to head back to the city and off to the night market.

Made it home from Hong Kong

The picnic on the beach was wonderful, we went back to Kowloon and ran to the night market for a little last minute shopping. In the morning went to the airport via taxi, about $20 US, not bad...taxis here are cheap. Couldn't get on the Hong Kong-Tokyo flight, so we hopped the Hong Kong-JFK run on Cathay Pacific. Fifteen hours of flying, got to be too much about 10 hours into the flight. Great movie library on the airplane. About 1000 songs, on CD, 50 movies, TV shows, I think they have a great entertainment system at least! JFK to Tampa, then connect to Miami and in the house by about 10pm. A long day and just getting up this morning to pull it together. Thank you Ines for the best vacation!! Hong Kong totally rocks. Night life is incredible, great music at the discos, Miami Beach, take a lesson from the Chinese!

Made it home from Hong Kong

Trip to the giant buddha

We took the ferry over to Hong Kong to pick up some airplane tickets from the American Airlines office, to get back home, and then took the MTR (subway) to the cable cars that go up to the giant Buddha, about a 25 minute ride, that costs about $10 a person. The views are spectacular and is the highlight of trip. We then headed back to the Kowloon to go to the night market for dinner where we met up with our friends. We finally had Chinese food in China!!! No soy sauce, if you can believe it. After we had a number of different foods, loaded with garlic...mmmm, we took off for Stickys, the local night spot with a live band from the Philippines. The music was fantastic, lots of 80's dance and I spent the night dancing. From there we hopped a taxi to Hong Kong ($10) to go to Propaganda. Totally fantastic music, and we wound up dancing until 5am. This city has the best night life. Sorry Miami, but you need to learn from the Chinese!

Day Trip to Macau

We took a day trip over to Macau. The island is easily reached by ferry boat from the main terminal in Kowloon, and takes about 1 hour to get there. The round trip fare is $30 US. We arrived and hopped on the free bus over to the Sands hotel. Macau is famous for its gambling and most major casinos have set up shop over on the island, including the Wynn, and some local gaming casinos. The island is a Portuguese colony, which was reverted back to China about the same time that Hong Kong was reverted by the British in 1999. We had lunch at a small restaurant near the Sands, enjoying Portuguese food. We then took the city bus over to Senado square which is the main point for a nice walking tour. We went to see the ruins of St. Paulo church, which burned during a typhoon in the 1800. Only the facade remains, with the rest, an open air museum. We took a quick walk around the Macau museum, and then headed over to the Macau tower, which is the world's tallest bungee drop. I, of course, did not participate, but Ines and Todd jumped. Ines went after Todd, since Todd is an airline pilot and need a flight attendant to serve him on the flight down. We headed back to Kowloon after a beer, which the two of them really needed after falling 78 stories. Today we are off to see the giant Buddha on the island of Lantau.

Enjoying Hong Kong

We went to the Peninsula Hotel for tea. Best to get there early since there is usually a line. The band plays from the upper balcony while you have tea. Not a bad price, about $25 a person, includes finger sandwiches, cakes and of course scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. We went up to the pool area which is on the 8th (or so) floor, and is beautiful, overlooking the harbour. On the top floor of the hotel is the helicopter pad, either for those flying in, or sightseeing tours. The hotel has all the best stores, Cartier, Harry Winston, Rolex, Hermes etc. It was actually the site of the British surrender to the Japanese during WWII. The best part is the line of Rolls Royces that line the front for the use of the guests. Hotel rooms start at $550 and up. Later that evening we went with our friends for dinner to a great restaurant called Wild Fire, in the Knutsford Terrace area. The food was wonderful, followed by a walk over to "Sticky Fingers", a local neighborhood bar. A Filipino band sings, in English, and call girls populate the stools for the unwitting men who come in for a few drinks. It is a great people watching spot. Today we decided to get on the hop on hop off bus. For $45US, or about $350 HKD, two routes will take you all over the city. We are staying in the Kowloon district, which is mainland China, and so we decided to do this side first, for a 1 1/2 hour tour of the city. We did the full route, and then got off at the beginning, walked down Avenue of the Stars, to the ferry over to Hong Kong Island, to take the second hop on hop off bus. The ferry ride takes about 15 minutes. The ride around Hong Kong Island is very interesting. Lots more high end stores, an arts district, and of course the Victoria Peak, which is reached by the cable car to the top and gives a fantastic view of the city. We took a picnic on the trip with us, and once at the top of the peak, there are a few nature trails to walk down, in what looks like a rain forest like setting. It was actually cold up at the top and we could have used a jacket, although I am told that it is quite hot most of the time, perhaps in the summer. Back on the bus and a ride through the "Soho" district of the island, which contains a lot of art stores and will be a point of a return visit. This evening is a party at our friend Ines's condo, and as I sit here and type, the guests are arriving, so I shall sign off for now. Tomorrow, who knows what is in the itinerary.

Tokyo to Hong Kong

Made it in late to Tokyo, so we used the airline hotel for a night. About 15 minutes from the airport and $70 for the night for airline crew. A simple hotel but a good value with a nice Japanese garden. We had breakfast at the airport, Japanese style. I have no idea what we ate but it was great. We flew Japan Airlines to Hong Kong where our friend Ines met us at the airport. A cab drive into the city to her apartment, where her friends are out of town until the end of the month so we are using their apartment for our stay. We are on the 22nd floor with fantastic views of Victoria Harbour, and we can see the Chinese junks go by. We are going shopping for some groceries soon and to load up our "Octopus Card", the card that will get you on to the bus system, trains and boats etc.

Off To Hong Kong

We are off to Hong Kong today, spending the night at the Holiday Inn in Chicago near the ORD airport, and then tomorrow flying from Chicago to Narita in Tokyo, Japan. We hope to connect with Cathay Pacific Airlines to Hong Kong where Ines will pick us up. Keep an eye out for our travels!!