Noon Report:

• Location: N 22° 17.66′, E 114° 09.95′
• Speed: Docked
• Course: Docked
• Weather: Partly Cloudy
• Temperature: 22º C; 72º F
• Wind: ENE 20 knots; 23 mph
• Sea: Calm

Over breakfast we watched student groups taking tours of the bridge of the MV Xue Long docked across the wharf from us (see the post from Monday).

After breakfast we took advantage of a quiet morning up in the Explorer’s Lounge to do a bit of reading, blogging, and chatting with Mike and Nita from Coral Gables FL.

Eventually, (Yes, we are on ship time), it was time for a quick lunch before going ashore for our 1:00 excursion. Good news: we greeted our friend Jennifer doing hostess duty at the cafe. This is the third time we’ve cruised together. Bad news, she told us that the cafe doesn’t open until 1:00 today. But the pool grill (next door) is open. So…

Cheryl had a burger and reported that the meat tasted funny. I suggested that it may be because they’re serving local beef (with a much lower fat content). I’ll have to order one to check it out.

Hunger sated, we grabbed our water bottles and headed ashore to meet our guide and excursion partners. This excursion, billed as “Postcards of Hong Kong,” included a tram ride to the top of Victoria Peak, A visit to Stanley Market, a Sampan ride thru a floating fishing village, and a shopping opportunity at a jewelry factory store.

Victoria Peak
We drove part way up the mountain to the base station for the tram. Then we (and several thousand of our closest friends) boarded the tram for the acutely angled ride to the viewing area some way up the mountain.

We had just enough free time to find a restroom and for two couples of our group to get lost (and eventually found) before the bus headed back down the hill and across to the south end of the island to Stanley Market. Along the way our guide pointed out the address marker for 99 Repulse Bay – one of Jackie Chan’s homes in Hong Kong.

Stanley Market
Stanley Market is an enclosed warren of market stalls selling everything from tortoise shell combs to the latest ear-clip ear buds. We wandered a lane, bought a rechargable nightlight for our cabin’s bathroom and found that the end of the lane opened onto the bay.

At the appointed hour we all met at the appointed place (except for one couple – you guessed it, one of the couples that caused a 15 minute delay at Victoria Peak caused another 15 minutes delay here). Turns out that the guy bought custom cut chops for each of his grandchildren and it took longer than expected to get them all finished. But still…

Eventually we were gathered and off to the fishing village ride.
Along the way we enjoyed some great views of beautiful bays and pristine beaches – past Repulse Bay where the British “repulsed” (drove out) the local pirates.

Fishing Village
We arrived at the dock and waited a bit for our motorized sampans.

While we were waiting I noted the square holes in the apartment blocks across the bay. Note that these blocks are in front of a mountain. In Chinese lore, dragons live on such mountains and leave their caves each day to get water and to spread good fortune so there are large openings incorporated into the middle of the buildings to allow the dragons to pass.

Once our boats arrived and we loaded we were given a short tour of a fishing village. While authentic in the way that this was an actual waterborne village, it didn’t have the character or uniformity of our view of this type of community. (Driving along the shore we did see a couple of sampan villages that matched our expectations but those weren’t the ones we experienced.) The boats in this village varied from small covered dingies to “Lake Powell class” houseboats and from barely able to stay afloat to new and well maintained.

Jewelry factory
Returning to the bus we headed out to the final destination, the company of AJF Manufacturer and Exporter. Among their display of jade cufflinks, gold bracelets and gemstone jewelry, Cheryl found this necklace fashioned from 400 year-old coins from the Qing dynasty. They have a square hole so they can be mounted on square rods.

This 4th generation jewelry manufacturing and exporting firm apparently has some reputation among noted celebrities. Here are a few photos of notables from their ‘wall of fame’.

We eventually escaped the jewelry shopping opportunity and boarded the bus for the return to the ship.

Along the way our guide pointed out several cemeteries crowded into a hillside.

We missed the window for pre-rush hour so the trip back to the ship took significantly longer than planned. When we got off the bus we first queued up to receive our passports (Viking had taken them earlier for administrative purposes). Passport in hand we went thru a passport control operation so that our leaving the country could be confirmed and verified.

Then we were allowed on board where we quickly dropped our stuff and headed up to the Cafe for dinner. Fortunately they were serving late (ours was not the last excursion to return). We were still in the cafe when the 8:00 harbor light show kicked off and we saw part of it there before returning to our stateroom to watch the rest (and count the participating skyscrapers – 26 in all).

Show over, we set about finishing up Tuesday’s Blog post and catching up on a bit of reading. Somewhere around 10:30 it occurred to me that we were moving. Opening the curtains I discovered that we had actually left port and were making our way out of Victoria Bay. We watched our progress for a few minutes (me from the doorway, Cheryl from the bed) and caught one last building display to remember Hong Kong by. These are the two buildings next to our hotel – also in the frame of this video.

So that’s Hong Kong
Tomorrow’s a sea day (where we plan to attend 3 of the 4 offered lectures, the port talk on Taipei, and trivia – you know, the normal relaxing day at sea).

Till then, TTFN

Cheryl’s Factoids:

• As we passed the cemetery, our guide explained that in Taoist and Buddhist tradition the families of the deceased once a year go out to clean the family graves and then have a picnic on the graves to share it with family members who have passed away. I was reminded of when we spent Halloween in Puebla, Mexico, where a similar concept is celebrated (Day of the Dead).
• Hong Kong gets no snow (being south of the Tropic of Cancer) so all its water comes solely from the rainfall (up to 85 inches a year)! They have built 16 reservoirs to supply water to the entire 7 million people living in Hong Kong. Also all the electricity for the entire population’s use and nightly light show is generated from coal imported from Thailand and Singapore.
• Hong Kong is an example of capitalism with no checks and balances – there is no safety net for poor people. It is the most expensive city in the world and has the third most billionaires – yet with most working class couples, both the husband and wife have to work to have a living wage and buying an apartment is out of reach. Most working people have to settle for a tiny space divided off someone else’s apartment – with no kitchens most people eat out (also if they are from a middle class home, they grew up with a housekeeper – probably from Indonesia or Malasia – who cooked and cleaned so they don’t know how to cook for themselves).
• Our guide also spoke about how Hong Kong has changed since the British hand-over to the Communist Chinese government. There were massive protests when China tried to change Hong Kong’s way of doing things – until Covid 19 hit and everything shut down. During these 2 years China passed new laws – “school children would now be taught Mandarin instead of English” and the “National Security Law” that says you can’t criticize the Chinese government (our guide could only speak of these changes while we were on the bus and not out in public where someone could hear her and report her).