Day 77 - Hong Kong

Day 77 – Friday 28^th March 2014 – Hong Kong

Awake at 07.00 and on deck shortly afterwards to see our arrival at Hong Kong, unfortunately, we were arriving early and approaching the berth when I made it to the deck.

Pisces in the mist

The harbour was enveloped in low lying mist and fog blocking out most of the high rise buildings.  The berth we were approaching was No.1 on the Ocean Terminal, the finest berth in the world.  Another passenger ship ‘Pisces’ followed us and berthed on the other side of Ocean Terminal.  When I worked for China Navigation shipping company, this was the same berth, we used to use when in Hong Kong.

Star Ferries

The berth on the Kowloon side gives you excellent access to the Star Ferry, a regular service across to Hong Kong island.

After breakfast, we were ashore by 09.30 and the gangway took you into the middle of the Ocean Terminal shopping mall, this has been updated and the shops were still in abundance with a few cafes.  

As soon as we stepped ashore, we were assaulted by these Indian gentlemen (sic), who wanted to make you a suit, jacket or shirt, as they thrusted business cards in your hand.  After politely refusing their offers, it went on and on, no matter where we went at every street corner, it carried on and after a while, it began to irritate.

We headed for Nathan Road, the main street in Kowloon and entered the HSBC bank to obtain our Hong Kong dollars.

I found the tailor whom I had used before, Sam’s, and to my surprise, although Chinese were working in the business, it was obviously overseen by Indians (are they now operating every tailor’s shop in the area).  I was after a tailored sports jacket and shown books of clothes and making my choice, then began negiotating the price.  It turned out be twice the price in the UK.  The head Indian got involved and I could not believe what he was telling me and I refused to buy.  Sadly I left, feeling very sorry for the Chinese who had succumbed to this way of business, previously it was always done on a friendly manner, now it is just a hard sell, what a shame.

We still had to stock up with toiletries and there were ample shops to wander in and out of, and this time dealing with friendlier assistances.  We had lunch in one of the bars in Ocean terminal before heading back to the ship to drop off the shopping.

Back ashore to the ferry terminal and off to Wan Chai on the Hong Kong side.  Disembarking from the ferry, the area I knew where all of the bars and night life used to be, has been demolished.  We decided to move on towards Happy Valley, wandering around the main thoroughfares you get a feel for the hustle and bustle of the place.  The transport system with a mixture of trams and double decker buses scurrying around, dashing from one set of traffic lights to another.

Happy Valley Racecourse

Eventually, we arrived the race course, the entrances were open and we found ourselves inside the racetrack with a lot of development going on in the centre of the course.  Football matches were going on at one end, while a big development was going on at the other.  The horse racing track appeared smaller than before, but this may be due to being hemmed in by the surrounding high rise buildings.

Time to head back and had an exhilerating tram ride back to Central, then walked to the ferry terminal.

Around this area, the traffic is separated from the pedestrians by building raised walkways, allowing the traffic to flow, and pedestrians to be safe.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant

Going ashore for the night in the company of Edwina, daughter Deborah and Ellen, we headed for the taxi rank just off the ship, as there are tunnels now under the harbour and we were going to Aberdeen on the other side of Hong Kong island.

The harbour tunnel I was fascinated by, but taken aback by the next one.  It used to be a bit of drive round to the otherside of the island, but not anymore, as they have driven a tunnel right through the mountains to the otherside.

Deborah, Colin, Alex, Edwina, Ellen

Our destination was the Jumbo restaurant a world famous floating restaurant, which is reaching by a boat from the quayside.  We sat down to our meal in a very rich Chinese emporium with its Oriental nature touching you, but alas it was not like it used to be.  On the bottom deck it used to be full of people playing Majong; I believe the loser had to pay for the forthcoming meal, and there was only one set of players.  The restaurant was only a quarter full, and this a Friday night, therefore, we had plenty of attention and the set meal, I found very disappointing.

Back on the quay, I found Aberdeen had also been completely changed.  The fishing boats were no longer here, the boats where people lived were no longer here, the market had gone and the bay was surrounded by high rise flats overlooking a marina.  Aberdeen had been sanitized.

Into a taxi and back to the ship, everyone else went back on board but I wanted to find out about the Kowloon night life.

I went off searching for the entertainment and on every street corner, the Indians who wanted to sell me a suit, jacket or shirt, now wanted to sell me hash or happy baccy (not my scene).

The bar area I knew, as you guess, had disappeared, but I did find a bit of action a quarter of a mile away, and another surprise, the bars were full of Chinese drinking Guinness with a smattering of Europeans joining in.  I was happy to be part of this but around 01.00 the bars appeared to be emptying, not wanting any more disappointments. I also headed home to the ship.

I sat on the deck for another hour with a drink, looking out on the deserted harbour where no marine traffic was moving, the ferries stopped at midnight.  Thinking back of how this port used to be all the years ago, a port which never closed, open 24 hours and I was sat there with nothing moving. 

With a heavy heart, I went off to bed, what had they done to Hong Kong.