Friday, March 9, 2018

Friday, March 9, 2018

After buying Hong Kong dollars onboard, we took the shuttle back downtown. As we started our walk to Kowloon station, we decided to save Disneyland for our next trip to Hong Kong and spend the day visiting the markets and shopping.

We went back to Nathan Road and Chung King Mansions. We took the elevator where the woman had sent us away yesterday. We discovered that there were no fabric shops on the second floor. There were only entrances to several guesthouses. Something was not right. There were supposed to be shops of many kinds here. We decided not to take the elevator down, but to find a stairway. We followed a man out a passageway. We were now outside following a pathway on the roof. It led to another building and when we entered it we were in a maze of small shops. The Mansions.

There was a shop for everything. We strolled the halls checking out the windows. We were early. Shops would not open for another hour. Oh well! We found the escalators and the way out. Had we started by walking half a block further we would have found the main entrance. No harm done. We had a nice adventure.

We kept walking farther on Nathan. Eventually we found the way to the Jade Market. This was very large with stall after stall of vendors all appearing to hawk the same things. We are not Jade enthusiasts, and do not know how to judge quality. We definitely were not buyers. We did see Jade in many shapes and colors. Some were carved pieces. Others were jewelry. One lady vendor was so aggressive she grabbed Alice by the arm and would not let go until after we had passed several other stalls. This was our cue to exit.

Across the street from the Jade market was a produce and fish market. All was fresh. The produce was bright and different. The fish was either on ice or in tanks. Swimming or flopping fish splashed us. The variety was stunning. We had never seen so many different looking fish. The fishmongers were mostly women. They were very adept. As we watched, women customers would point to the fish they wanted. The monger would grab it, put a hook from one end of a she held through the gill and then move a suspended weight along the rod. She told the customer the cost and then proceeded to dress scale and dress the fish. We guessed the waste factor was considered in the price. At some stalls the fish heads were sold separately. Fascinating!

When we left, we walked around the corner to Temple Street Market. Here we found everything except fish. The street stalls sold produce, grains, spices and flowers. Along the sidewalk the ground floor shops were primarily butchers. There were coolers at the back of the stores, but a lot of the cuts were just hanging out in the open. Business was brisk.

All that was left for us to do was to spend the Hong Kong dollars. Alice found some cologne that she liked. Now all we had left was $39HK. We entered a high-rise mall and found a chocolate shop. 70% cocoa dark chocolate bar left just $5HK or 70 cents. Not bad.

Back at the terminal we had some time before the 4:45 mandatory safety exercise. We took the elevator up to the roof of the terminal. This was a beautiful park with lovely views of the harbor and city. Today had been sunny in the low 60’s. Up here it was beautiful. The architecture is surprisingly nice, and the plantings are varied and pretty. The length and breadth of this rooftop is surprising. We spent an hour walking around the gardens. We saw only a handful of passengers. There were many Chinese. This included several children. There was a facility providing activities for the kids. We have no idea where these people came from.

We were back in our cabin in time for the boat drill. Instructions were to stay in your cabin until the final alarm was sounded, then proceed to your lifeboat station. You no longer don your life jacket in attempt to limit injury on the stairways. The Life jackets are left in the cabins. Well, when we got to our lifeboat station, we were among the last few to arrive. Our room cards were scanned. This is how your attendance is confirmed. Failure to attend the drill results in being escorted off the ship. Everybody showed up.

SCENES FROM HONG KONG

After being dismissed from the drill, we went aft on deck 8 for the sail away. We looked for our friends Lynn and Terry. They had flown to Hong Kong from Naples, Florida, and were boarding today for the cruise to Ft. Lauderdale. We had met Lynn and Terry in 2012 on the Grand South America Voyage. We have kept in touch and get together for lunch or dinner a few times a year. Before long we found them. It was great to reconnect. They ate dinner in the Lido so they could retire early in an attempt to adjust to the time change. Fortunately they get an extra hour tonight as we set our clocks back. We enjoyed our dinner at our regular table in the dining room.