I can say that, although I enjoyed my visit to Shanghai, it wasn't really anything that special to me. Hong Kong, however, is different. I love Hong Kong. In fact, I would be happy to live here for a few years. It's a beautiful city and it carries a strange romantic and colonial air. Although the city is truly modern and at the top of the economic food chain, it still retains some of its pre-modern specialness and has such beautiful natural parts of it, as well.
We are staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on Kowloon, which is absolutely gorgeous and reminds me of the British era gone-by of steamboat trunks and big adventures. We took a ferry to Hong Kong island and visited Victoria Peak, which had beautiful views of the harbor and Hong Kong from 500 meters high. Getting up there was half the fun - riding the funicular at a 50 degree angle!
We then came back to Kowloon and visited the bird and flower market near the north, which was filled with bamboo cages of all kinds of different birds and flower vendors selling every color and variety of flower imagineable. We were one of the few, if not only Americans there, and it was so neat to be around the local people and experience some of their shopping. I'm on a mission to find out why there is an entire market that can be supported on the sale of pet birds...
We spent the rest of the day walking around Kowloon and I hope to get back to Hong Kong island tomorrow to do a little more sightseeing. Love Hong Kong!
2 comments:
Sounds like a cool place...except for that little thing called Communism.
We enjoyed Hong Kong very much back in June, 1982. The British influence was everywhere and the shopping very awe inspiring. The contrast between those that have and those that have not was very pulpable. I felt guilty trying to avoid seeing the poverty of the people for comfort sake. We enjoyed eating at the floating restaurant in the water and experiencing Dim sun which we were not that thrilled with. Our visto to Hong Kong was before before before Hong Kong ownership was passed to China. The commerce and freedeom of those days may have been cramped a bit under Communist China, but probably not as much as one would expect in a Communist owned country. I am glad you got to experience the city 24 years after we did. You were just a tyke then, a cute one at that.
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