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HONG KONG JOURNAL
September 2002

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Sunday, September 29, 2002 – Kowloon, Hong Kong

The flight from Paris to Hong Kong took eleven hours and we lost another six hours to the time differential so we actually arrived at 5:00 PM Sunday night. I breezed through customs and quickly found the special express train into Hong Kong, which I took as far as Kowloon where I checked into the Salisbury Hotel.

I walked around Kowloon being accosted by numerous street peddlers. The city is very compact with much more activity per square meter than NYC. I ate a leisurely dinner at an excellent local restaurant, and then returned to the hotel to figure out what I wanted to do this week.
Monday, September 30, 2002 – Kowloon, Hong Kong

After breakfast, I moved over to the Intercontinental Hotel which offered an excellent view of Victoria Harbor and the extensive fireworks display scheduled for Chinese National Day, tomorrow. The room also has an excellent view of Hong Kong Island which is lit up every night.

My friend arrived around noon and we had a lite lunch in the lobby, and then took a walking tour of Kowloon including stops at The Peninsula Hotel and the Salisbury Hotel where I had spent the night last night. Back at the Intercontinental, we ate giant shrimp and lobster at a restaurant named Yu which overlooks the harbor.


Tuesday, October 1, 2002 – Kowloon, Hong Kong

Today we had a quick breakfast as we walked to the Star Ferry Terminal. We took the ferry across Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong Island where we walked to the Renaissance Hotel, then decided to take a taxi to the Peak Tram Station where we took the tram to the Peak.

We visited Ripley’s Believe it or not Museum, took a turbo ride and had lunch at Shooter’s. It was raining a little, but the view of Hong Kong from the Peak was still very good.
We took the tram down, then taxied to the base of the world’s longest escalator (actually 800 meters of many escalators) which goes from the lower levels of Hong Kong up to the mid levels, with lost of shopping along the way. At the top we took a cab back to the Star Ferry which we took back to Kowloon.

We got some take-out food at a Japanese restaurant and went back to the room to enjoy the best view of the National Day fireworks display in all of Hong Kong.

Wednesday, October 2, 2002 – Kowloon, Hong Kong

Today is my brother Paul’s birthday so Happy Birthday Paul.

We spent this morning at the Inter Continental’s spectacular pool and hot tub overlooking Victoria Harbor. At noontime, we went shopping in Kowloon. We ate lunch at Bamboo Seafood Garden and had Chinese Crab which is in season. After lunch we continued shopping along Nathan Road.

In the evening we took a taxi back to Hong Kong Island where we ate dinner at a wonderful Russian restaurant named Troika. We had caviar and borsch for appetizers and beef stroganoff and chicken Kiev as a main course. For some strange reason, we were the only customers in the restaurant. After dinner we walked off our meal on the steep streets of Hong Kong, and then took a taxi back to the hotel.

Thursday, October 3, 2002 – Hong Kong

Today we went out to the pool early and had breakfast outside overlooking the harbor. In the late morning, we checked out of the Inter Continental and took a taxi to the Macau Ferry Terminal where we had planned to go to Macau for a couple days. Unfortunately, there was some passport problem so we decided to move over to The Renaissance Hotel in Hong Kong which we had visited the other day. The Renaissance gave us a great suite on the 30th floor with a 270 degree view of both Kowloon and Hong Kong.

We had lunch at the hotel and in the evening went to the Times Square shopping mall, a 20 storey high rise building full of designer stores and restaurants. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, and then walked half way back to the hotel before hailing a taxi for the final mile.

Friday, October 4, 2002 – Canton, China

We had breakfast at the hotel, then took a taxi back to Kowloon where we picked-up the luggage we had stored at the Inter Continental Hotel, then continued on to the Hong Hom Train Station where we took a 1:25 PM express train to Canton, China. The train was very nice and the two hour ride was less than $25.00.

We arrived in Canton and took the transfer bus to the Garden Hotel. After checking in, we took a taxi to an industrial area where we had arranged to meet the owner of a bone carving factory to view some of the artwork which they produce; some of which is 2 meters long, for export throughout the world. The factory used to carve ivory products, but when that was outlawed in 1982 they switched to camel bone. Some of the larger pieces take a half dozen people up to six months to carve. The factory supplies dealers throughout the world. Prices from the factory are about 20% of the suggested retail. Today is a continuation of the National Day celebration in China, but the woman who owns the factory spent almost two hours with us showing us how the products are made.

At about 7:00 PM we returned to the hotel where we had dinner at the revolving restaurant on the top floor.

Saturday, October 5, 2002 – Canton, China

We had breakfast outside in the garden of the hotel, and then I saw my friend off to the airport as she had to return to work tomorrow. I spent some time in the business center arranging my schedule for the next few days, then went to the health club for a couple hours.

I booked passage for tomorrow on a high speed jet boat from Canton back to Hong Kong, where I’ll take the ferry to Macau in the late afternoon for a few days. For dinner I went to an Italian restaurant in the hotel which had a great seafood buffet.

Sunday, October 6, 2002 – Macau, China

Today it is raining and since I was unable to schedule a tour of Canton for the morning, I’ll hang out at the hotel until my bus for the boat terminal comes at 3:00 PM. I had the hotel breakfast buffet and spend a couple hours on-line in the business center. I walked across the street to a large department store and found that everything for sale were designer items available in any large city.

I had sushi in a Japanese restaurant in the hotel then checked-out and took the bus to the ferry terminal. I had understood that the jet boat would take only 45 minutes to get to Hong Kong, which impressed me because the high speed train had taken two hours to cover the same distance. It turned out, however, that 45 minutes was the time it took for the bus to get to the ferry terminal. The jet boat still took two hours to reach Hong Kong. We got to Hong Kong at 6:30 PM where I transferred to another ferry for the one hour trip to Macau.

In Macau, I took a taxi to the Holiday Inn where I had reserved a room for three nights. I walked through the casino, but really wanted to get back to my hotel room to do some laundry as I had run out of things to wear.

Monday, October 7, 2002 – Macau, China

I skipped breakfast and walked over to The Lisboa Hotel and Casino where I won enough money to pay for my half day sightseeing tour of Macau which began at 10:00 AM. The tour included The Maritime Museum, The Macau Temple, The Macau Tower, the ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, assorted gift shops, lunch and a trip back to the casino. There was one other family on the tour from Texas. They were headed to China to do the same tour as I did back in July.

The Macau Tower was most interesting. It is 338 meters high and has an Adventure Concession which enables clients to climb to the top of the needle (on the outside of the building with proper safety harnesses) or to bungee jump from a platform rigged to the side of the needle. We saw some people dressed in climbing gear headed up to the top, but never saw them again.

I stopped by the casino on the way back to the hotel and proceeded to loose more than I had made in the morning. I bought some fruit on my way back to the Holiday Inn which I had for dinner.

Tuesday, October 8, 2002 – Macau, China

I woke early and had breakfast while I waited for the business center to open. I spent a couple hours on-line, and then took a bus to Taipai Island to check out the Hyatt Regency Resort. The Hyatt is located in the central part of Taipai and did not seem too much like a resort. I had originally planned to stay here last week but am glad now that I did not.

In the afternoon I walked over to the New Century Hotel and won enough money to pay for my trip to Macau. The guidebook says that when the New Century opened, it was the target of machine gun fire by a rival hotel owner who is now in jail. I went back to the Holiday Inn at 5:00 PM and spent another hour on the computer before returning to my room for my last night in Macau.

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 – en route to Paris, France

I had breakfast this morning at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The Oriental is beautiful and is located on the main road in Macau which is used for the Macau Formula 1 racetrack once each year, in November. The race passes right by the front of the hotel and the hotel is popular as the best seats are from the hotel’s rooms.

I went back to the Holiday Inn and spent a couple hours working out in their health spa. At 2:00 PM I checked-out and walked over to the Lisboa Casino and gambled for several hours, breaking even. At 7:00 PM I walked back to The Holiday Inn, picked up my luggage, and took a cab to the ferry terminal where I took a boat to Hong Kong, then the special train to the airport. My flight to Paris left at midnight and I was able to sleep a little on the plane. My connection in Paris back to Milan, Italy was very short and my luggage did not make it.

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