Weekend in Hong Kong

This weekend was a 3-dayer because of the holiday of Deepavali, the Hindu "Festival of Lights" and a national holiday here in Singapore. So what did we do? We decided to dash off to Hong Kong, a modest 3.5+ hour flight that is equivalent of flying from San Antonio to Duluth. (That is, if San Antonio was located a bit north of Quito, Equador in terms of lattitude.)

We got a surprise upgrade to business class on the way to HK. Coach was oversold and we just got lucky.

The "new" (now about 10 years old) HK airport is about 30 minutes away from the city center by high speed train. We got 3-day tourist passes the combined a round trip from the airport with unlimited use of the subway.

We covered several 'must do' items right away. We took the Star Ferry over from Kowloon to Hong Kong island and had dim sum at Maxim's. Hong Kong is the place for dim sum and Maxim's is one of the recommended places; it was worth the 30 minute wait to get a table. Dim sum is the a la carte buffet that comes to you. You sit at your table and servers wheel carts around the room and offer you baskes of steamed or fried snacks. The menu is displayed on each cart, and unfortunately for us, in Chinese. (We were able to avoid the plentiful traif options by speaking to the servers.) After giving you your food (usually in quantities of 3 items), the server marks your bill. When you're done, you take the bill up to the cashier and pay.

What surprised us most about Hong Kong was the terrain. It's a lot like San Francisco with plenty of hills and small mountains. It also has the haze and, while not as cold as SFO, it was definitely cooler than Singapore. We took a "cable car" (known in ski circles as a gondola lift) to Lantau island to see the Tian Tan Buddah, one of the largest outdoor bronze statues of the Buddha.

We had some memorable meals. One was at Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant where we had a terrific cold pigeon dish. Yup. Pigeon. It was very good, and served with the head on the side (which we skipped). Another was at Hutong, on the 28th floor of a building with a spectacular view of the Hong Kong skyline and the nightly light show that takes place promptly at 8pm. The food was terrific, including the best fried rice we'd every had -- simply prepared with sea salt and dried fish and just a bit al dente. (Thanks to our friends Susan and Ed Hurley for recommending Hutong to us.)

Of course we had time to walk around and take in the sights, especially up and down Nathan Road in the center of Kowloon. At night it was lit up in neon and had an energy that didn't seem to stop. From traditional medicine shops to cameras/electronics to international designer label store, there was plenty to see. That includes the stores, the displays, and (of course) the people doing the shopping!

We'd put off taking the trip up to The Peak because we kept hoping the haze would lift for a better view (and to avoid the throngs who make the trip over the weekend. So on Monday we made the trip up on the Peak Tram, a train that is pulled up the side of the mountain on a cable that runs down the center of the track (techncially called a funicular railway). The views were gorgeous, even with the haze. We took the tram down, collected our bags from the hotel, headed back to the airport for the flight home. No upgrade this time.

Comparisons between Hong Kong and Singapore are inevitable. The one I heard and like the best goes like this. "Singapore has a nice Chinatown; Hong Kong is Chinatown."