Wednesday March 9th, 2016 Hong Kong, China

Today is the last full day in Hong Kong for us as well Scott and Sean; tomorrow we board the Queen Elizabeth and they fly home. So to make sure they see the most they can of Hong Kong we have arranged for a half time city tour – we did this same tour many years ago and found it to be a great way to see many of the highlights.

After joining the tour bus we are soon passing through one of the three tunnels that connect Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. The bus wound it’s way through Hong Kong and over the hills to Aberdeen a former fishing village. Most of the fishing boats are now long gone but a few still remain as house boats out in the harbor and for a small additional fee we boarded a small Sampan boat for a harbor tour. The Sampan boats are about the size of a large rowing boat over which has been constructed a flimsy canopy that is open on all sides. The boats are powered by a small outboard motor, invariably with a woman at the tiller. The Sampan weaved its way among the moored fishing boats allowing us to get a great view into life aboard one of these aged hulks. The famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant is also in Aberdeen harbor and our Sampan captain was kind enough to pull up to it, allowing one of our fellow tourists to “visit the facilities”.

Following the obligatory jewelry factory stop, where, as usual, not a single purchase was made by anyone on the bus – we headed over to Stanley Market. We like the Stanley area and had visited on a couple of previous occasions; the market is largely covered and sells goods that are a couple of notches up the quality scale when compared to markets in Kowloon. The tour allowed for a full hour in Stanley and so we made our way out through the back of the market and onto the promenade that surrounds the small picturesque bay. We found a nice little café with tables out front and ordered a light lunch – idyllic.

Back on the bus we headed for the final stop on the tour, the top of Victoria Peak overlooking Hong Kong harbor. The whole idea of this stop is to take in the superb views of Hong Kong, but today it was very cloudy and so the views were almost non-existent. The disappointment caused by the clouds was partially offset by the unique experience of riding backwards down from the peak on the funicular railway, at times the angle if inclination approached scary – but our guide assured us that the railway had never yet suffered a fatality.

Following the tour we took a short walk to Time Square for some retail therapy and along the way got caught in a torrential monsoon downpour, complete with the occasional lightning flash. We briefly sheltered in a doorway then made a run for it but by the time I reached the comfort of the shopping mall I was thoroughly soaked. A secondary reason for visiting this particular mall is the excellent little restaurant in the basement. On one of our previous visits to Hong Kong, Crystal Jade Restaurant was the first place we tried Shanghai Dumplings; somehow we always manage to fit in a trip here - the dumplings were outstanding as were the noodles. 

By now it was time to make our way back to Apsley’s to pick up the shirts and dresses and so we hopped on the ever-efficient MTR for the short trip back over to Kowloon. Upon arrival we learned that the shirts were indeed ready but the dresses would be another couple of hours. With some trepidation I entered the small changing room (why am I having Mr. Ben flashbacks?) and tried on one of the newly minted shirts. It’s true what they say, there is nothing quite like a custom tailored shirt; I realized that up to this point in my life I’ve basically been wearing sacks disguised as shirts. My fears about this process being fade away as I try on a second shirt – this one with a “Chinese” collar, wow amazing! The Chinese collar is thanks to Sandra who spotted the difference between our request for “no collar” and what we really wanted which was a Chinese collar.

After hanging out at Scott and Sean’s hotel club level, just around the corner from Apsley’s, we returned and picked up the two dresses for Sandra – she was suitably impresses with the handiwork and I know from a lifelong sewer, this is a ringing endorsement.

Later that night we find ourselves in the hotel restaurant after once again being underwhelmed by the offerings at the Cordis club level.