This morning we had enough time before Mike went to work to walk around the streets right here by the hotel. It's such a crazy mishmash of rustic and high-end haberdashery. We were walking in this area where the narrow streets were lined with all of these little open air stalls full of fruits, vegies, raw meats, and cooked meats like Peking duck with its neck and head still attached, when we came past a very shi-shi six-story shopping mall called Times Square that contained shops like Ferragamo (no, I did not buy Mom's burial shoes) and Marks & Spencer.
We managed to sleep well last night, our first night here, but there was a rousing thunderstorm at about 4:30 am. I was afraid that I would be awake for the day then, but I managed to roll over and sleep until 6:30. It's now 1:00 pm local time and I'm fading fast. I had hoped to return to the streets for another walk, but it started to pour right after we got back. We did discover two cinemas close by, both showing the same Chinese film, Kung Fu Panda, Hancock, which I've seen, and the new Angelina Jolie film.
You have to be careful stepping off the curb here. Hong Kong, being a former British has the cars driving on the other side of the road. If you look down as you cross the street, you see written in English and Chineses on the pavement, "Look Left!" or Look Right!" depending on which way traffic is coming at you. Apparently they lose a few tourists that way every year. Mainland China does not do it that way, so it is not only Americans who are getting run over. All the signs are in English and Cantonese characters. That helps.
The weather here is oppressively hot and muggy. We were walking around and I went into a shop to find some ponytail holders for my gym time. When I came out of the cooly air conditioned shop, my glasses fogged up like when you open a hot oven. My hair has decided that it wants to be curly(read frizzy). It's not like I don't stand out enough from all these people with jet black, straight, silky locks.
I booked my tour of the city for tomorrow morning. It's a Grayline tour that goes to a temple, Victoria Peak, the Aberdeen fishing village, Repulse Bay which has HK's most visited beach, and Stanley market. It's a four- to five-hour tour that picks me up at my hotel. Here's a link to what I'm doing tomorrow. http://www.grayline.com.hk/hk/101AIDeluxeHongKongIsland.html
The next day I'm going over to Kowloon. There's also a tour of that, but I might just try the subway on my own. We'll see. I'm not feeling as brave as I was before we got here. :) Most everyone speaks English, but I haven't figured out the cadence of their speech yet, so they might as well be speaking Cantonese.
I did learn how to say thank you in Cantonese. It sounds like "doh tse."
--Sandi
We managed to sleep well last night, our first night here, but there was a rousing thunderstorm at about 4:30 am. I was afraid that I would be awake for the day then, but I managed to roll over and sleep until 6:30. It's now 1:00 pm local time and I'm fading fast. I had hoped to return to the streets for another walk, but it started to pour right after we got back. We did discover two cinemas close by, both showing the same Chinese film, Kung Fu Panda, Hancock, which I've seen, and the new Angelina Jolie film.
You have to be careful stepping off the curb here. Hong Kong, being a former British has the cars driving on the other side of the road. If you look down as you cross the street, you see written in English and Chineses on the pavement, "Look Left!" or Look Right!" depending on which way traffic is coming at you. Apparently they lose a few tourists that way every year. Mainland China does not do it that way, so it is not only Americans who are getting run over. All the signs are in English and Cantonese characters. That helps.
The weather here is oppressively hot and muggy. We were walking around and I went into a shop to find some ponytail holders for my gym time. When I came out of the cooly air conditioned shop, my glasses fogged up like when you open a hot oven. My hair has decided that it wants to be curly(read frizzy). It's not like I don't stand out enough from all these people with jet black, straight, silky locks.
I booked my tour of the city for tomorrow morning. It's a Grayline tour that goes to a temple, Victoria Peak, the Aberdeen fishing village, Repulse Bay which has HK's most visited beach, and Stanley market. It's a four- to five-hour tour that picks me up at my hotel. Here's a link to what I'm doing tomorrow. http://www.grayline.com.hk/hk/101AIDeluxeHongKongIsland.html
The next day I'm going over to Kowloon. There's also a tour of that, but I might just try the subway on my own. We'll see. I'm not feeling as brave as I was before we got here. :) Most everyone speaks English, but I haven't figured out the cadence of their speech yet, so they might as well be speaking Cantonese.
I did learn how to say thank you in Cantonese. It sounds like "doh tse."
--Sandi
