JDPFu.com 2025

Summary

• Superbowl with Xpats
• IFC Mall
• Star Ferry
• Golden Mile – Nathan Rd
• Indonesian Lunch
• HK Space Museum
• Thai Dinner
• Flower Festival @ Victoria Park

Today Jim and I got up earlier and headed to Bulldog’s in the Central HK district to watch the Superbowl with a group of XPATs. We arrived at 7:15am and the place already had no seats available due to prior reservations. The Game was fantastic – with everyone around speaking English. Jim didn’t like the game so much. Lots of photos of the crowd with the game highs and lows. There was a NY fan who made my morning.

Jim had Bangers and Mash and I had the "Bulldog Breakfast" of bangers, egg over baked beans, bacon, and chips. Eh, but after starving the day before, I needed some real food.

Next we headed home to Causeway Bay to get a replacement battery for a camera. While there, we went to the roof of the hotel for some better views on all sides. It was a hazy day with lots of moisture in the air so the photos reflect that.

A visit to the Tin Hau temple less than a block away from the hotel. It is just a few steps off a busy roadway. Since returning from this trip, I’ve seen that temple in a number of movies shot in Hong Kong. In fact, I’ve stood at many of the places and seen the views shown in those movies.

Then we headed back to Central to hit a mall – the IFC – which also has the HK Stock Exchange. I took lots of building architecture picts. Walking around a 3+ story high end mall was tiresome. There’s a photo of diamond earings that happen to be ear buds for MP3 players too.

Next we took the Star Ferry from Hong Kong island to Kowloon. This is one of those things that you simply must do when visiting HK. There was another mall right off the dock and we spent the better part of an hour trying to find our way out and onto a subway – MTR. We ended up going out the same door that we’d entered and had to take the long way around.

Then we walked down Nathan Road passed Louis Vuitton and other very expensive name brand shops. Notice the line to enter some of the stores. 1 person out, 1 person in.

We ducked into an alley-way – if felt like we were going back in time to the old Hong Kong market that you see in all the picture. People trying VERY HARD to sell you items that you don’t want or need from their stalls. Cell phones, internet phones, T-shirts, luggage, food, candy, and currency exchange. We dropped back onto Nathan Rd and proceeded to a Lonely Planet recommended Indonesian restaurant. Yum, tasty – Jim ate the entire prawn to show me how it was done. I tried it with 1 of them – eh, a little crunchy, but decided to peel the rest of them. See photos of before and after the meal.

BTW, on the way to and from the restaurant, I was approached by about 10 Indian men trying to sell custom made suits, pants, shirts, knock-off watches, and other items. For some reason, Jim wasn’t bothered much. I didn’t see other white people getting as much attention as I was. Must have been my stare that made me appear to be a tourist. At least, that’s what JH said it was.

Then we were off to visit the Sheraton Hotel that Jim’s dad helped build 30+ years ago. Nostalgia for Jim and a comfy couch for me and my aching feet. Next was the HK Space Museum for an imax movie on Santorini Thera (Greece) that an archaeologist discovered was destroyed by a volcano eruption. They believe it was the largest eruption ever on the earth and was see from over 1,000 miles away. This is what Jim tells me, since I fell asleep 30 minutes into it. We headed home for a late afternoon siesta. It was around 6pm so the trains were packed, literally. Trains ran every 2 minutes.

Siesta in the hotel room; Jim tells me that I snore.

Off to a local Thai dinner. See Jim’s photos, YUMMY! He had a beef dish and shrimp and intestine balls. I had a green curry and chicken dish. I’d had enough of my food staring back at me already today.

I wanted to walk off my meal, so we headed back to the flower festival. Jim, me and 20k-40k of our closest friends. See P1010122.MOV to get the feel of the festival. Nice plunger. It was almost as packed as the 6pm trains. There was lots of junk being sold, "safety panties" and a lamp where flipping the penis up or down turned the light on or off. It is the Year of the Rat for Chinese New Year.

Back home for the evening – another day in HK in the can.

Saturday was a beautiful day four our trip to Lantau Island. We did the following things:

• Packed and moved out of the Metropark Causeway Bay Hotel
• Took the train out passed Disneyland HK to the island of Lantau (largest of the outer islands near Hong Kong).
• Ate KFC for breakfast
• Waited in line, then bought tickets for a cable car to the Big Buddha
• Waited in line to get on the cable car
• Learned that cutting in line is an art form from some of the locals
• Ate a little sorbet
• Walked up the 268 steps to the Big Buddha
• Walked down the 268 steps from the Big Buddha
• Visited the Po Lin Monastery (no alcohol and they are vegetarians)
• Saw the line for the cable car back down to the town …
• So took a bus back instead – an event in itself
• Train back into HK, back to Causeway Bay to the old hotel
• Crazy Taxi to the Harbour Plaza Metropolis – new VERY NICE hotel (we were upgraded to a suite)
• Fantastic Chinese Dinner in the connected mall
  • Hot and Sour Soup with Sea Cucumber
  • Grilled and BBQ’d Pork
  • steamed rice
  • Mixed vegetables (bok choy, broccoli, leeks) and mixed sea food (scallops, scrimp, squid)
  • Whole Crab on a bed of gelatinous rice
  • Tea and beer
• After dinner walk around Kowloon on raised walkways – seems there was a Chinese pop concert tonight
• To bed

There was much more walking/standing in line today than I’ve described. I’m sunburned on my neck and face with a rash on my neck. The rash didn’t show up until after the fireworks on Chinese New Years Day. I believe the rash is due the water here. No more shaving for me this trip.

The Big Buddha is, well, big. It is also known as the Sakyamuni Buddha and is the largest bronzed seated Buddha in the world at 24 meters high. There are 268 stairs to the Buddha. It is located on Muyu Mountain. Pictures cover this fairly well.

After visiting the Buddha, we headed to the Po Lin Monastery near the base of the Buddha mountain. It was packed when we were there due to the New Years Holiday, which is the most important Chinese holiday. It is also known as The -Buddhist Kingdom of the South_ and is the most popular monastery in Hong Kong. Pictures cover this fairly well.

The cable car ride up and bus ride down are just as much a part of the trip as the Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. The cable car ride was the worlds largest when built, I don’t know if this is still true. The cable car initially heads towards the man-made island with the new international airport, then turns 90 deg to head up towards the Big Buddha.

Sunday morning as I write this, having just enjoyed the highest volume of water shower that I’ve ever had, looking out over HK bay, I’m starting to miss Atlanta. My feet have hurt for days. I may or may not have stayed on my weight loss (was down 30+ lbs on 2/1/2008). Jim and I are still getting along – beds in different rooms last night didn’t hurt. This hotel, Harbour Plaza Metropolis, is fantastic, too bad it is so expensive.

Sunday, we are off to the New Territories.

Today we had a leisurely morning.

Items:

• Breakfast at Maxine Express
• Train to the New Territories, Sha Tin.
• Visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple
• Lunch in the local mall
• Visit the HK Heritage Center
• Train back to the nice hotel, crazy taxi to the newer "eh" hotel, The Eaton
• The room is tiny compared to any other hotel room that I’ve been in anywhere. The room wasn’t ready by 5pm, free drinks given. When we were told to come back, the room still wasn’t ready – no comp.
• Put feet up for 30 minutes
• Dinner was at a German Bier Garten – Zer Gute!

The Maxine Express breakfast in the train station was a half English, half Chinese breakfast. The pork/pasta/soup was fantastic. The egg, good. The bun and tiny hot dog – should have been given to the local dogs. Soup for breakfast? Yep. Huge, tasty, and filling. Just what I needed for a long day of walking up and down steps.

We left the Hung Hom MTR station on the Lok Ma Chau train for Sha Tin – we decided to see if 1st Class was worth the extra cost on a short CKR trip before the Shenzhen trip on Tues. It is. A few picts of outside the station and we’re on the right track to our first stop of the day.

Getting off the train, it takes a little bit to figure out where we were and where to head. A compass would have been handy – I have one now.

10,000 Buddha temple – Unbelievable. You have to see the picts. They begin with the first golden Buddha’s, each numbered up the steps to the monastery. Each Buddha is unique – none are the same. Climbing the steps was real work, but the sense of accomplishment and view over Sha Tin make it worth the effort. There appears to be a back road to the top so you don’t have to walk it, if you know that road exists.

The Chinese use different brooms than we do, but they work wonderfully, somehow. The broom I saw appeared to be improperly made to a westerner, but seemed to work perfectly.

As I look back over these pictures, I smell the incense, hear the sounds of people talking in a multitude of languages (Indonesian, Mandarin, Cantonese, English, German, Spanish, Japanese, etc…) The temple is very busy due to the Chinese New Years holiday. There are a number of family crypts here where loved ones can be visited and remembered. Entering the temple and seeing all the Buddha figures all around is impressive. Imagine having to dust them all. We head even higher to additional buildings that contain more family remembrances. Heading back to the main temple area, we’re called by the beating drums and a dragon dance team. At one point, the dragon is extended 2 full humans in height.

I have to nurse my camera battery so it doesn’t run out here.

We head back to the train station – that has a huge mall attached. Either a big sandwich or pizza -- Oliver’s Super Sandwich house wins. I had the seafood linguine, Jim had a sandwich. Tasty.

Next we head off to find the HK Heritage Museum. After a few wrong turns (walking about a mile extra so it is painful) where we can see the destination, but there isn’t any way to get there due to construction, we find the museum and get personalized guidance from a concierge. Not enough heritage, too much pop and current "art" for our tastes. Each exhibit room has different rules for pictures. The signs outside – are too many and after seeing 10 signs saying what you can’t do, you forget whether non-flash photographs are ok or not. Jim gets hassled for taking picts in a non-photograph exhibit, so no more occur. My battery is dead, so I don’t have any of this museum.

We take the train back to Kowloon – first class (standing room only) and transfer from exceptional hotel to "eh" hotel, the Eaton, via taxi. The room isn’t ready, so they give us a few free drinks. I have my standard free drink, a Long Island Iced Tea. Jim has a Duvel. The room isn’t ready again and again. Pooh.

Dinner is at the Beir Garten. Der Schnitzel ist Zer Gute! Grosse weise beir ist gute, alzo.
Jim has the wurst – expected from the Sausage King_.!>http://www.jdpfu.com/photodata/2008/Hong_Kong/Day9-Sun-10000Buddhas/thumbnails/P1020566.jpg! Political discussions occur, then home.

• French Toast
• Victoria Harbor / HK Art Museum
• Zen Chinese dinner
• New Years Fireworks
• Soho Pub

Ok, today was a light day. We headed to the CTS (China Travel Services) to get VISAs for mainland China visits. Turns out all the government offices are closed until Monday for Chinese New Year. We complete the forms and have them checked, but need to take them and passport photos and our passports back on Monday for emergency visa service.

Next is lunch/breakfast – were we find the Perisian – a 5 star hotel. Jim has the grape nuts cereal, crescent, and fresh fruit, I have an omelet and French toast. Yummy. HK$550+ later and we are satiated.

Next we had to the HK Art Museum – it is closed, but the view of the harbor and HK across it is nice. Video to follow. We spend a little time in a local mall, check out the car and driver best cars for 2008- HK version, then decide that a siesta would be a good idea. Jim emails and does a little business, while I sleep a few hours.

Dinner is in Central at a recommended Zen Chinese restaurant. The food is tasty – 1000 year egg and jellyfish appetizers for Jim, Sweet and Sour Pork and Beef Tenderloin with ginseng and onions for both. Service is lacking … which seems to happen for non-Asians more than we’d like. I assume they know we only speak English and are uncomfortable interacting with us, but who knows.

We leave there and head home to watch the fireworks on the roof of our hotel. The fireworks are 22 minutes of non-stop colors. Nice. Video to follow.

Then we decide that a few beverages are needed , so we head to SOHO to a small pub/bar with a large assortment of beers. Some odd beers are drunk – tasty and I found a new "favorite". We wobble home on the train.

Our trip to Macau, SAR, China. This is a former Portuguese colony.
That means, lots of Churches, graves, and less English.

It was raining much of the day.

We start off early in the morning. The Tin Hau station is empty. At Tsim Sha Tsui we catch the 7:45a TurboJet ferry to Macau.

In Macau, we’re approached by a tour guide who wants MA$750 each to show us around. Macau has their own money, MOP, that is fixed to 97% HK$. Thankfully, most shops don’t care, so I never have to exchange currency. In fact, as Jim learns, even the local ATM won’t give Macau MOP currency.
We catch the #23 bus into town from the airport after a false start walking around the Macau Race Track. We end up near the start of a Lonely Planet Macau Walking tour and attempt to follow it. There’s always a Starbucks nearby – HK, Macau, USA.
The Portuguese history means there are many, many, churches cemeteries in contrast to the new casinos and busy downtown casino area.
As we walk down and up tiny, turning roads, we get lost over and over again in the light rain. Scooters are clearly the main form of transportation here.

• St. Augustine’s Church
• Getting electricity and cable seems to be as easy as splicing your neighbors feed.
• Estrado di Cemiterio
• Village Squares
• Dim Sum lunch
• Huge Casinos
• Luxury Shopping
• St. Lawrence’s Church
• St. Joseph’s Seminary & Church
• Engrish
• A-Ma Temple – smell the incense
• Macau Naval Museum (Closed)
• Walk to the Macau Tower
• Macau Tower – I’m afraid of heights ’’and’’ the prices to walk outside and bungy were high. Oddly, there was an art exhibit in the connecting building and the Da Vinci Exhibition (no photographs allowed)
• TurboJet back to Hong Kong
• Sushi dinner back in Tin Hau district
• Assorted mementos and subway diagrams

Ok, going overseas requires a little more planning that heading anywhere in N. America.
The photos show my 2 bags and the items that I plan to take. Camera, N800, power converters, and chargers – lots of chargers – Cantonese and a Foder’s guide for Hong Kong – HK. Shoes for walking, passport, immunization records (not really needed),

Friday morning at 4:15am:
Jim!!! WAKE UP!!!

Ok, that didn’t work, so I left him happily sleeping inside his apartment and got on the plane alone. By the time I get to SFO, numerous voice mails have been left and Jim is trying to get on the next flight. 24 hours later he’s in the air … SFO->KHG.

AND I left my new Nokia N800 in my car … parked in airport parking. No blog updates until after Jim arrives. Also, I almost had ZERO information on HK because everything was left on the N800. I had 1 piece of paper with all the phone numbers (family, banking, credit card, AND the name of the hotel). Without that paper, I would be paying for another hotel. [[Metropark Causeway Bay]] is the keyword.

During the flight to SFO, the realization that I could be alone hits. I don’t speak Cantonese. I’ve heard that Engrish is still the official language. We’ll see since I doubt I’ll learn enough, if any, before arrival. Thanks for the Pimsleur – too bad I was so tired during the flight that none of it made any sense.

Met a Doctor and a Technical Analysis Stock Trader, both native Chinese, now living in Maryland and Dallas, on the flight. Good conversation about world events helped pass the 14+ hour flight time for that leg. 747s are a wonderful plane. I’ve never been on 1 before. L-1011, MD-11 and DC-10 suck compared to the Boeing 747. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t luxury, but I could completely stretch my legs out even 3 rows from the back of the plane.

Sorry that I didn’t snap any photos of the airports or 23+ hours of travel. Not even a snap of my tuna salad sandwich in SFO.

Left my house in ATL at 5:30am Friday. Arrived at the hotel Saturday evening around 8pm. I could smell myself. The train and subway systems in Hong Kong are unbelievable and the smoothest that I recall – even smoother than Tokyo.

Please pardon the lack of grammar and spell checking in all these posts.
We’ve had web site blog problems, local computer network problems due to the hotel networking, and we’ve simply been very tired after all the standing and walking all day while in HK.

[[Hong Kong 2008]]

Happy Chinese New Years Day!!!

• Chinese Breakfast – Dim Sum
• HK Midlevels
• Krispy Kream
• McDonald’s Dinner
• New Years Day parade over in Kowloon

On the train this morning, I decided to try an get a movie of the entire length of the train as it snakes thru town. I think it turned out nice.

We head out to Sheung Wan for a Lonely Planet recommended Chinese breakfast.

After breakfast, we head up the hill. Ok, I know this now, but didn’t know it then. There is a group of escalators and moving walkways to go up the hill. For some reason, Jim decided to hike up the stairs. By the time we got to the highest point that we were headed, many of the skyscraper roofs were at the same level we were. See #624.

Recall that it is new years day, so most of the Chinese are dressed up (as for church) and going to family gatherings. They exchange gifts – mostly little red cards containing pins or money. Basically, anyone you have a relationship with gets a card from your husband, wife, children, grocer, waitress, laundry, anyone you’ve known on a weekly basis.

Around #679, I realize what Jim did – and I’m pissed. The escalators don’t go down, just up at this time of day. We get to walk down the steps. The escalator direction is changed based on the normal flow of people during the day. I don’t know how many there are in total, perhaps 30?

We earned a break – Krispy Kream in SOHO!

708. shows my thoughts at the time – 2pm.

On Sundays and holidays the Indonesian house keepers all gather together across about 5 blocks of walkways to share their day off with each other. I didn’t take many pictures since they were showing family albums and it is tough to get used to so many, many, really, really, short people. Jim and I definitely didn’t belong there. I felt almost 2’ taller than the girls.

Jim decides he’d like to walk home from the Causeway Bay stop … and we are able to get passport photos for the Shenzhen trip in a few days.

The central HK library is a block away from the hotel.

Today, we started noticing the Engrish.

After the siesta, we wanted to see the New Years Day parade over in Kowloon. This is a big deal, so we don’t want to miss it and don’t want bad viewing. McDonald’s is the dinner. Since I don’t eat that stuff in the USA, I can’t believe I did here. Jim is basically discussed.

The streets are closed, and we’re the first here in front of the "New World Center". We have time to kill. A few of the participants walk by before the parade officially starts. You have to love the Chinese Kilt-wearing band. Due to the low light conditions, my camera needed longer exposure times. Combined with the movement, almost none of the pictures were useful. Jim used his DV camera to capture almost the entire parade – with just the good parts.

• The sunflower costumes were from Spain.
• The Thailand group was tastefully done and amazing.
• Australian Group was unclear what they represent.
• I’m sorry about the fuzzy pictures – it was dark and my cheap camera couldn’t get enough exposure.
• Numerous local teams
• UCLA Band
• SF 49ers Cheerleaders

Jim videoed the entire parade, so look for the Divx version. It should just be the good parts since you won’t have to wait between teams or get there 2 hours early for a good location.

:TODO: Need to complete this….. #881
[[Hong Kong 2008]]

Ok, after the VERY long day yesterday, we still had a full day planned. The list of things to accomplish were long.

• Laundry
• See if we could alter our flights to stay a few days longer
• Get Hotel reservations if we do
• Buy essential clothes
• Buy more power converters
• Buy a wired headset so Skype is possible
• See some culture, people, places (i.e. red light district)

Mission Accomplished

On the way to drop of our laundry at a Chinese Laundry – always wanted to say that – we came across an unexpected temple. However, the laundry wasn’t open until 8am, so we had to wait or go back to the hotel and do other things. FYI, we’ve been living on 4 hours of sleep a night since Sunday. There is simply too much to do here and we haven’t been the most efficient travelers.

Back in the hotel, we notice another cruise ship coming in to Kowloon and snap a few pictures. There seems to be less haze this morning too.

The main entrance to our hotel – seems we should have taken that on Saturday evening. Sorry. I’ve been taking more digital pictures on this trip with my new camera than I have in the last 10 years with my 35mm one.

Dry Cleaners agree to have the laundry ready "after 7pm today." They did. Everything will be closed on Chinese New Years day – Thursday.

Ok, so we are off to find the computer mall and end up in a mall, just not the right mall. It does have a Krispy Kreme, so it isn’t all bad. Neither Jim nor I partake. I haven’t been worrying about following my diet since we’ve been walking, standing, going 12 hours a day at least. The mall has 9 levels, three are just for food with a food court elsewhere. We shop for electronics, power, underwear, socks, shirts, pants since I packed very lightly. The right mall is named WANCHAI COMPUTER CENTRE, if you find yourself looking for it. It is half a block from the Wan Chai MTR station – clearly hidden from us.

Jim finds a watch store AND a watch that has a unique capability. What do don’t see is the sales girl running out to stop Jim from taking a picture of the watch. Seems they don’t like pictures of merchandise. I guess they didn’t see me snap that other pict. We never asked, but I suppose duplication of merchandise is a REAL problem here of all places?

Lunch – mummmm good (see Jim’s picts). We hope you enjoy the pre-post pictures. Sadly, we usually forget to take the untouched first image until after a few bites for some reason. The meal today was from a mall food court – US$7 or so. If you ask for Diet Coke, you aren’t likely to get what you want. Coke Lite is the proper term.

Next we seem to have found ourselves in the red light district. On the train ride here, Jim was groped by a woman as she left the train. He felt violated. Ok, we’re down a fed blocks and there are more interesting buildings. I need a rest, so we stop into a park for a sit and try to figure were we need to head next – coffee/internet cafe.

Recharged and knowing where we went wrong earlier, we find the computer mall with a McDonald’s next to it (see Jim’s picts). It is 2 floors of every desktop, laptop, ultra-portable, smart phone, PDA, Audio/Visual or related tiny shops. HK$80 later and I have a new USB media reader and Jim has lens cleaner, power converters, and is considering lots of other purchases. Fry’s is impressive. This place is more impressive and the shop keepers are extremely knowledgeable about everything they have, unlike Fry’s.

Back home where Jim lines up Hotels for the extra days (they are all full this weekend due to the new year celebration) and a small siesta for me. We pick up the laundry (yawn) and head to a "surprise" according to Jim. It is a huge mall in the HK suburbs – Tai Koo. As you may know, getting out of the subway station nearest where you need to be can be difficult when there are 6 different exits.

Arrived around 8pm, sans Jim, after a 24+ hour travel day from Atlanta. ATL → SFO → HKG → Airport Express Train → MTR Subway → Hotel

The first photo is of me in the hotel room before taking a shower. The next group are of the views out the 13th floor window onto Causeway Bay, HK.
There were condensation and reflection problems. A few photos had to be deleted due to my reflection.

I was beat. Shower and to bed with me.
[[Hong Kong 2008]]

Ok, since JimH was going with me and he’s lived here, I didn’t really do any pre-trip planning beyond normal travel purchases of a camera, new 21" carryon roller, Foder’s Hong Kong’s 25 Best, and a Cantonese phrase book.
The checklists of things to bring were made, everything layed out to be packed, clothes packed twice, some items removed, repacked, removed, repack…

Need to leave the house by 4:30a to pick Jim up and head to the airport.

Ok, going overseas requires a little more planning that heading anywhere in N. America.
The photos show my 2 bags and the items that I plan to take. Camera, N800, power converters, and chargers – lots of chargers – Cantonese and a Foder’s guide for Hong Kong – HK. Shoes for walking, passport, immunization records (not really needed),

Friday morning at 4:15am:
Jim!!! WAKE UP!!!

Ok, that didn’t work, so I left him happily sleeping inside his appartment and got on the plane alone. By the time I get to SFO, numerous voicemails have been left and Jim is trying to get on the next flight. 24 hours later he’s in the air … SFO->KHG.

AND I left my new Nokia N800 in my car … parked in airport parking. No blog updates until after Jim arrives. Also, I almost had ZERO information on HK because everything was left on the N800. I had 1 peice of paper with all the phone numbers (family, banking, credit card, AND the name of the hotel). Without that paper, I would be paying for another hotel. Metropark Causeway Bay is the keyword.

During the flight to SFO, the realization that I could be alone hits. I don’t speak Cantonese. I’ve heard that Engrish is still the official language. We’ll see since I doubt I’ll learn enough, if any, before arrival. Thanks for the Pimsleur – too bad I was so tired during the flight that none of it made any sense.

Met a Doctor and a Technical Anaylsis Stock Trader, both native Chinese, now living in Maryland and Dallas, on the flight. Good conversation about world events helped pass the 14+ hour flight time for that leg.
747s are a wonderful plane. I’ve never been on 1 before. L-1011, MC-11 and DC-10 suck compared to the Boeing 747. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t luxury, but I could completely stretch my legs out even 3 rows from the back of the plane.

Sorry that I didn’t snap any photos of the airports or 23+ hours of travel. Not even a snap of my tuna salad sandwich in SFO.

Left my house in ATL at 5:30am Friday. Arrived at the hotel Saturday evening around 8pm. I could smell myself. The train and subway systems in Hong Kong are unbelievable and the smoothest that I recall – even smoother than Tokyo.

Please pardon the lack of grammar and spell checking in all these posts. We’ve had web site blog problems, local computer network problems due to the hotel networking, and we’ve simply been very tired after all the standing and walking all day while in HK.