Jo Sun from Hong Kong

Nei hou Maa...hello how are you in Chinese Mandarin,

I think the more I learn the less I know. Hong Kong welcomed the Queen Victoria on March 10 with sunny weather and friendly people. Hong Kong has approx 30 days of clear weather so we were very fortunate with our timing. I learned so much about the city and will share with you some information about this interesting place.

Hong Kong primarily consists of Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island, Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories. In total, Hong Kong encompasses a collection of 262 islands in the South China Sea, of which Lantau is the largest. Hong Kong Island is the second largest island and the most populated. Hong Kong was a British dependency from the 1840s until July 1 1997, when it passed to Chinese sovereignty as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). It is frequently described as a city where East meets West, a meeting reflected in its economic infrastructure, education, legal system and street culture. On one street corner, there may be traditional Chinese shops selling Chinese herbal medicine, Buddhist paraphernalia or bowls of synthetic shark fin soup...I didn't try any!!! And then around the corner one may find theaters showing the latest Hollywood blockbuster. a British-style pub, a Catholic church or Mickey D's inviting passers-by to a Big Mac. I had the coffee!!

The population in Hong Kong is 7.1 million in the 1100 sq. KM area or 6250 folks/sq km!!! One mile equals 1.6 kilometers..do the math!!! They build up. Since we were there overnight we feel we really were able to see alot of the city in the two tours we took. The first day we visited a Buddhist temple that was built 100 years ago. Man Mo has a great canopy dominating the temple with huge hanging coils of incense..the aroma of incense was quite overpowering. They burn three sticks at a time...representing past, present, and future and heaven, earth and humanity. I was surprised how people were worshipping by offering up oranges, apples and candy as we walked around taking pictures....just like the tourist we were!!! The incense is donated by those making offerings to the Taoist gods of literature (Man) and war (Mo).

Our next stop was to the 1800 foot Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island which can be seen from the ship. We rode the tram (built in 1888) up to the summit. On the way up, at one point we were at a 30 degree angle and the buildings all looked like they were all leaning...weird feeling. We contrasted that view with a descending to sea level and visited the fishing village of Aberdeen. This renowned fishing village is home to hundreds of people who spend their entire life on the water. And I'm not talking about cruising, sailing and yachting...they are living on the water. We took a short sampan boat ride and the simplicity of the living and poverty level was unbelievable.

Of course, one can not visit Hong Kong without visiting the markets. Since we took two different tours we had the joy(??) of shopping at both Stanley Market and Temple Street night market. WOW!!! So many people packed shoulder to shoulder and Ken was in his glory negotiating with the sellers. That night after another ride up to Victoria Peak we had an traditional eight course Beijing duck dinner at the Peking Garden Restaurant. I tried food I've never had before and to be honest, I'm not sure what some of it was...nor do I want to know!! The spectacle of the night was the Symphony of Light Show which employs colored lights, lasers, holograms and searchlights synched to music to transform 33 buildings along Victoria Harbor. Hailed as the World's Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show by the Guinness World Records, the show commemorates the energy, spirituality and diversity that is Hong Kong.

The following day we explored on our own, Ken shopping for a new camera since he dropped his and it died, and I went to Kowloon Park. Since I knew I only had two hours I wanted to see it all...the fitness path, the Orient Garden, the water garden, bird aviary, swimming pool, sculpture garden, children's park, garden path, tree walk, color garden, the maze and the sculpture path. After hustling around I decided to take it out of fourth gear and put it in first, sit, relax and take it all in. As I was hurrying along I realized folks meditating and doing Tai Chi. It looked so inviting that I chose a bench to sit and rest by a gentleman that was in the middle of the exercise. The next thing I knew I was in the middle of gardens in the middle of Hong Kong being instructed by David Huun, a Tai Chi master. It could not get any better than that!! As I walked away I could feel the chi working and a relaxing sensation forever imbedded in my spirit.

That's how I want to remember Hong Kong!!!

janet and Ken

qv@cunard.co.uk#4152