Over the years, as part of tours and in
business, we have stayed in some really fine hotels. The Kowloon Shangri La
Hotel in Hong Kong is by far the finest that we have stayed in. When we
booked our tour with "smarTours" we had elected to pay an extra
upgrade so that our room would overlook the Harbor. This was a good
move on our part as they put us on the top floor that had rooms and the end
of the hotel where we were was the closest to the Harbor. It was so
close and we were so high that we had to really make an effort to see any
land at all below the hotel.
The Kowloon section of Hong Kong is on the
mainland and we could look across the harbor to Hong Kong Island where the
main part of Hong Kong is located. At night, when the smog seemed to
blow away, the lights and various colored signs on the buildings made for a
beautiful sight.
After a good nights sleep, we had a wonderful
buffet breakfast and then, about 9:00 am, our bus left the hotel on what
would be our last tour of the trip.
We started with a drive down the Harbor side
road, passed our hotel and then through a tunnel under the harbor to Hong
Kong Island. The first sight, after coming out of the Harbor
Tunnel, is the Horse Racing Track located in the middle of town. We
continued around the track and started to climb Victoria Peak from which we
could look down as we climbed to see various views of the city.
Once we reached the peak, we exited the bus and
from various look outs we could view and photograph both the Island and across the
bay to the Kowloon section where our hotel was located.
From Victoria Peak, we headed down to sea level
and visited a section of the city called "Aberdeen" which is
effect a floating city within the city of Hong Kong. For $7.00 US we
boarded small Sampans for a tour of Aberdeen. We meandered through
and around the floating homes of the citizens of Aberdeen and then visited
the fishing boat area and the restaurant area and then an area where huge Yachts
were moored. We all enjoyed the Sampan ride and felt that we got our
moneys worth. It was a real challenge to our skipper to guide us
through the busy harbor area with boats and Sampans darting every which
way.
After the boat ride it was back on the bus
where we traveled to the other side of the island, passing Repulse Bay and
ending up at the famous Stanley Market where it is said that one can buy
anything there is to buy if one looks hard enough.
We then continued our drive around the island
and back through the tunnel to arrive at our hotel about 3:00 pm.
From the time we arrived back at the hotel
until we would board the bus mid morning on Monday for our ride to the
Airport and our flight back home, we were on our own.
Sunday morning, we walked about 6 blocks to the
Central Fire Station where we traded one of our Son's Fire Department
badges for one of the badges from the Hong Kong Fire Department. We then
went down town where I found a Cyber Cafe and checked my e-mail and web
site. We then walked back through the shopping area to the hotel where we
had lunch and retired to the room to take a nap and enjoy the sights of the
harbor.
We woke up about 4:00 pm and walked over to the
Harbor Esplanade using the walkover off of the Hotel's second floor.
The Esplanade along the Harbor is a wonderful place to walk and to meet
people. We met several natives with whom we had conversations about
Hong Kong and China and answered questions about the States.
About 6:00 o'clock we walked back to the hotel,
had dinner and went to bed early to rest up for the long trip back to the
United States the next day.
It had been a wonderful couple of weeks
traveling with a great group of people under the watchful eye and care of
Michael Song and the various local guides that had joined us for our short
stays in their cities.
THANK YOU "SMARTOURS, INC" AND
MICHAEL SONG for a wonderful trip to CHINA AND THE YANGTZE RIVER, 2001.