Believe It or Not: Hong Kong, Part II

No, that's not your mind playing tricks on you, I am actually going to finish my narrative (with pictures, of course) of my trip from two months ago to Hong Kong. There are at least one or two things you'll find amusing about the second half of my weekend back in early June. At the very least, you have an excuse to postpone the beginning of your workweek by a few minutes. What's not to like about that?

I believe we left off with some pictures of the harbor from the pier before Travis and I headed out on our night cruise. That's as good a place to resume as any.....

Saturday Night

Our night began with a Victoria Harbour cruise aboard a boat that can only be described as a disappointment. Not to say the boat wasn't nice, roomy, and stocked with snacks and tasty beverages; it was. However, our boat was not:

....a very pirate-like boat that I happened to spot while waiting on the pier.

Once we set out, though, my mind drifted to other things; namely, trying to get some cool pictures with my point and shoot waterproof camera and watching the "Symphony of Lights". This symphony is actually just some music played over the boat's crummy sound system, but it is synchronized with the light show on the business buildings on both sides of the harbor. I say crummy because it wasn't anywhere near as powerful (read: loud and obnoxious) as the Tokyo Thunder's sound system that terrorized Lake Austin the last two summers (when the TT's sound system was actually operational; about 60% of the time.)

Anyway, the Symphony of Lights was actually pretty cool, and the very unprofessional shot below gives you some sense of the amount of neon on display each and every night in Hong Kong.

Although they took their sweet time opening the bar (that was included with the price of admission), quite a treat awaited me when I ordered my first beer....

Blue Ice!!! Question: How do you know if the tour company you booked your cruise with is making money? Answer: When the beer you are served on the tour is Blue Ice. About the best thing that can be said about Blue Ice is that it was cold.

I did manage to take what I would consider a pretty cool pick of Hong Kong Island with my camera while we were on the boat. Don't ask what the building's name is; I have no idea.

And finally, the last image I'll leave you with from the cruise is this little oddity.

Apparently Coca-Cola celebrates their 125th anniversary a little different in every country. In Taiwan, they've got expensive bottles with fancy designs; in Hong Kong, they've got cans with some one-eyed cartoon monkey and a yellow sun. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Our cruise boat dropped us off on the Kowloon peninsula, where you can satisfy just about any type of shopping desire you can dream up. More on that later, but first things first. That refreshing Blue Ice necessitated a trip to the men's room, where I found this sign:

False advertising; that restroom reminded me of Cheers on Dirty Sixth. Namely, it most definitely didn't smell like it had been disinfected once every two hours. More like once every two months.

After a short stroll down the street, I encountered my first Bangladeshan, who called me "my friend" no less than ten times in a two minute span. Since I was curious to see just what a fake Rolex looks like, we followed this cat into a building and up the elevator to some really nondescript closet of an office. He showed us watch after watch after watch. While I certainly couldn't tell they were fake, I asked how long they would run, and this guy answers one and a half years. Seriously? You want $100 for a fake Rolex that would last less than a fifth of the time I've had my $400 Seiko. Sorry, "my friend", no deal.

After losing a friend because I didn't buy one of his fake watches, we came upon some pretty cool window displays outside the various stores on the main drag.

I assume this is an elephant tusk, and it is one of the coolest things I've seen in Asia so far. It reminds me of the elk and moose antler art that I've seen in Alaska and Wyoming. One of these days, when I have money to burn, I'll pick up something like this for my casa.

This next one is just plain creepy....

You're in charge of merchandise display at a luxury hand bag store; how do you emphasize your ostrich-skin line of goods? Apparently with an ostrich body and a couple of said bags. Weird....

After walking around aimlessly for another forty-five minutes or so, we finally hailed a cab and made it to the "Ladies Market", a really bustling section of the city with lots of street vendors, food, and various forms of entertainment. Well, true to form, we ran into a "Lady" entertainer....

The human being pictured above, ladies and gentlemen, is a man, believe it or not. Its a good thing the picture is once again a product of my not so professional photography skills; otherwise, you would get way too close a glimpse of Hong Kong's version of Leslie.

That's as good a way as any to wrap up the recap of Saturday night. We ended up eating some mediocre Japanese food, which is a shame, because Hong Kong has some fantastic Dim Sum, among other things. The truth is that we just got too hungry and didn't have much of an interest in getting lost for the third time in less than 24 hours.

Sunday

Sunday morning, we got up bright and early for a tour of the city by motor bus. In the interest of not writing a novel, I'll stick to the highlights. Before we even made our first stop, I had a conversation with a fellow UT alum named Neal. Even more remarkable than the fact I ran into a fellow Longhorn was the fact this guy spelled his name correctly!

The first stop on our tour was a local temple, where I got this shot of a bunch of burning incense. Really cool.

And another shot where you can see the burning end of the incense...

The second stop was at the Hong Kong Peak tram, where I ran into the second Longhorn of the day, who flashed the Hook'em when he saw my hat. It really is amazing how small this world can be; I go a month in Taipei without seeing a fellow alum and then see two in the span of two hours on a Sunday morning in Hong Kong.

Other than being a cool looking train, the tram was unremarkable. The view from the top of Hong Kong Peak, however, was anything but....

Also, I met this local on the top who sold me a few pictures that he took back in 1950. I couldn't resist getting my picture taken with him, and unfortunately I forgot I was wearing a name tag for the tour.

Really nice guy who obviously has a zest for life.... If I'm smiling like that when I'm 60+ because some random bald foreigner just bought a picture or two from me, I'll have lived a good life!

The next two stops were fairly unremarkable; we went to a jewelry plant where the only highlight was the Coke fountain, and then we had a ride with some boat people on something that looked like this.....

The final stop was Stanley Market, where I bought two really cool oil paintings that I promptly left on the train to the airport (son of a bitch). Outside of the market was a really cool little beach and inner bay area....

And directly across from the bay was a little pub with a Carlsberg beer umbrella.

"Probably the best beer in the world": maybe a little more conviction next time, guys.

All in all, Hong Kong was a really cool place to visit and I had a great time. Definitely considering a return trip before I return to the ATX next spring, if for no other reason than to pick up another couple oil paintings (yes, I'm really that pissed about my $20 paintings....)

I'll leave you guys with this little slice of Americana from the HK airport....

Because why wouldn't you expect a Popeye's chicken in Hong Kong?