The atrium lobby of our hotel...
...looking vaguely like the coils of incense that burn for days in the old temple.
The "face changing" dancer
Friday, October 31, 2008
Our dinner last night included an amazing “face-changing” demonstration. A dancer dressed in traditional costume swirled and spun around, and seemingly instantly changed the color and look of his face. It clearly was a series of masks, but you had no idea how he could possibly have changed them so fast. He also changed colors of his cape along the way.
This morning, Lenny and I took a walk on our own for an hour around town before leaving for the airport. It’s been hot and humid all week, and we really felt it even at 8:00am. We visited an old temple in town and watched the congregants lighting incense and praying. Hanging from the ceiling were loads of coils, both large and small, which we only later found out also were incense slowly burning. I guess this is for the people who are too busy to stay and burn their incense themselves …. “light, burn and go”, as it were.
We had an uneventful flight to Shanghai’s beautiful, modern airport. We were lucky to arrive at a time when no other flights arrived and sailed through an empty immigration hall. This airport is scaled for huge volumes. The hallways were so long it almost seemed like we were looking down a mirrored walkway.
Shanghai – at least the part we saw on the way from the airport – is thoroughly modern. I’m not sure what happened to the old communist Chinese thing, but the streets here are full of designer boutiques and international labels. The skyscrapers all seem to have been built in the last ten years, and the architecture is striking. They fortunately seem to have skipped the bland architecture of the mid 1900’s, and as a result, one building was more beautiful than the next. Although tall, the buildings are more spread out than in Hong Kong, so the place feels much less dense.
We are staying at the Grand Hyatt Pudong. The building is decorated on the outside with art-deco looking ironwork that gives it a strong, textured look. The most amazing thing is that the hotel lobby is on the 54th floor, and the hotel rooms are on the floors above that. Even at those heights, the hotel has a vast, open interior space going from the 56th floor to the top (86?), which all the rooms on a balcony around the edge.
We were going to dinner with those from our group who also continued to Shanghai, but got started late, and hit bad traffic, so arrived at the restaurant with no time, since we had tickets to a Chinese acrobat show. Our delightful host, Danny Lui, had ordered “take-out” for us, so we grabbed out bags, and headed out to the show. Our Abecrombie and Kent guide I’m sure was quite surprised to find her four guests frantically eating in the van on the way to the show.
The show was great – a bit like Cirque du Soleil. We had front row seats, so could almost see the sweat on their faces as the (very young) acrobats did amazing tricks and feats of strength.
-- Donna
This morning, Lenny and I took a walk on our own for an hour around town before leaving for the airport. It’s been hot and humid all week, and we really felt it even at 8:00am. We visited an old temple in town and watched the congregants lighting incense and praying. Hanging from the ceiling were loads of coils, both large and small, which we only later found out also were incense slowly burning. I guess this is for the people who are too busy to stay and burn their incense themselves …. “light, burn and go”, as it were.
We had an uneventful flight to Shanghai’s beautiful, modern airport. We were lucky to arrive at a time when no other flights arrived and sailed through an empty immigration hall. This airport is scaled for huge volumes. The hallways were so long it almost seemed like we were looking down a mirrored walkway.
Shanghai – at least the part we saw on the way from the airport – is thoroughly modern. I’m not sure what happened to the old communist Chinese thing, but the streets here are full of designer boutiques and international labels. The skyscrapers all seem to have been built in the last ten years, and the architecture is striking. They fortunately seem to have skipped the bland architecture of the mid 1900’s, and as a result, one building was more beautiful than the next. Although tall, the buildings are more spread out than in Hong Kong, so the place feels much less dense.
We are staying at the Grand Hyatt Pudong. The building is decorated on the outside with art-deco looking ironwork that gives it a strong, textured look. The most amazing thing is that the hotel lobby is on the 54th floor, and the hotel rooms are on the floors above that. Even at those heights, the hotel has a vast, open interior space going from the 56th floor to the top (86?), which all the rooms on a balcony around the edge.
We were going to dinner with those from our group who also continued to Shanghai, but got started late, and hit bad traffic, so arrived at the restaurant with no time, since we had tickets to a Chinese acrobat show. Our delightful host, Danny Lui, had ordered “take-out” for us, so we grabbed out bags, and headed out to the show. Our Abecrombie and Kent guide I’m sure was quite surprised to find her four guests frantically eating in the van on the way to the show.
The show was great – a bit like Cirque du Soleil. We had front row seats, so could almost see the sweat on their faces as the (very young) acrobats did amazing tricks and feats of strength.
-- Donna
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Today our little tour of five people from our group went to Lantau Island where we boarded a cable car (the kind that hang from a cable in the sky, like when you ski, not the kind that are on the ground, like in San Francisco). The cable car was extraordinary – it went for many kilometers and took about ½ hour. It soared above the water, took several turns along the way, and seemed to go at a treacherous angle up and down mountains. The countryside around looked like one of those Chinese paintings with steep mountains, water, and clouds. Along the way, we had an amazing view of the Hong Kong airport, which was constructed on landfill about ten years ago. I remember the old airport – coming in over tenement housing in Kowloon – and this one is quite different. It was fun to watch the planes take off and land from a vantage point above the airport.
The destination of the cable car was the Po Lin Monastery where there is a giant bronze Buddha. The place is quite the tourist attraction with a bunch of shops lining the road along the way to see the Buddha. We first visited the monastery where we saw pilgrims making incense offerings and bowing to the various smaller Buddha statues around. We ate lunch there, in the all-vegetarian café, where everything looked beautiful but each dish tasted more or less the same.
We next climbed the 256 steps up to visit the Buddha (Lenny counted and swore that there were only 254). This Buddha is quite attractive – a serene countenance and a rather gentle look for an enormous bronze piece. He also was surrounded by some other graceful statues making offerings of various delicacies.
We returned by cable car, and bus, to Hong Kong, making this one of those days with a rather high ratio of transportation relative to touring.
Lenny and I had the bus drop us off to see one of Hong Kong’s famous sites, an escalator! No kidding. They have an awesome escalator that goes up the side of the mountain. Actually, it’s a bunch of smaller escalators, one after the other, that during morning rush hour goes down the mountain, and the rest of the day goes up. There are shops and cafes along the side of the escalator, which is covered overhead but open on the sides. In other words, the escalator is actually a form of public transportation, and it was clear that many people commuted to and from work on it. Imagine telling people that you commute to work on an escalator. (Thanks for the suggestion to go see the escalator to John Hollar!)
We then rushed back to the hotel for a couple of spa treatments and will head out to dinner soon.
I realized that Hong Kong feels to me like a life-size version of the kids’ game Chutes & Ladders. The city is constructed alongside mountains on islands, laced throughout with elevated highways, tunnels, bridges, escalators, etc., and you seem as if you are always going in something, over something, or under something.
-- Donna
The destination of the cable car was the Po Lin Monastery where there is a giant bronze Buddha. The place is quite the tourist attraction with a bunch of shops lining the road along the way to see the Buddha. We first visited the monastery where we saw pilgrims making incense offerings and bowing to the various smaller Buddha statues around. We ate lunch there, in the all-vegetarian café, where everything looked beautiful but each dish tasted more or less the same.
We next climbed the 256 steps up to visit the Buddha (Lenny counted and swore that there were only 254). This Buddha is quite attractive – a serene countenance and a rather gentle look for an enormous bronze piece. He also was surrounded by some other graceful statues making offerings of various delicacies.
We returned by cable car, and bus, to Hong Kong, making this one of those days with a rather high ratio of transportation relative to touring.
Lenny and I had the bus drop us off to see one of Hong Kong’s famous sites, an escalator! No kidding. They have an awesome escalator that goes up the side of the mountain. Actually, it’s a bunch of smaller escalators, one after the other, that during morning rush hour goes down the mountain, and the rest of the day goes up. There are shops and cafes along the side of the escalator, which is covered overhead but open on the sides. In other words, the escalator is actually a form of public transportation, and it was clear that many people commuted to and from work on it. Imagine telling people that you commute to work on an escalator. (Thanks for the suggestion to go see the escalator to John Hollar!)
We then rushed back to the hotel for a couple of spa treatments and will head out to dinner soon.
I realized that Hong Kong feels to me like a life-size version of the kids’ game Chutes & Ladders. The city is constructed alongside mountains on islands, laced throughout with elevated highways, tunnels, bridges, escalators, etc., and you seem as if you are always going in something, over something, or under something.
-- Donna
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The steep tram up to Victoria Peak -- like a cable car.
The previous generation of technology that drove the tram.
Fishing junks in the harbor.
The Stanley market -- lots of stalls.
Dim Sum lunch with part of our group.
The smoggy view of the harbor and skyline from Victoria Peak
On the way to dinner (arrived at by a 40 minute ride on a 150' yacht), we see the raw ingredients.
Which then get turned into dishes like this.
We’re staying at the beautiful Four Seasons in Hong Kong. It’s a very busy place that seems to not be the least bit disrupted by the financial crisis.
Last night, after we arrived, we joined our group for dinner at the Pacific Club, on the Kowloon side, looking back at the Hong Kong skyline. It is an incredible sight, the masses of sky-high buildings lit up against the backdrop of steep mountains.
Today, a small subgroup of about ten took a tour of Hong Kong city. We started the day by taking the tram up to the top of Victoria mountain. There were times when the tram seemed to go at a 45 degree angle to the hillside. It uses a cable mechanism similar to San Francisco’s cable cars (of course, Lenny took plenty of photos of the older mechanisms, which fortunately have been modernized).
At the top, we could see over a very smoggy Hong Kong. The folks here blame the mainland Chinese for their pollution woes. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it sure does seem like they have a problem.
From Victoria, we went to the other side of the island to visit Aberdeen – the fishing village. It seems that most fisherman have given up fishing and instead take tourists around in sampan boats. There were dozens of sampans, lined with old rubber tires for a bumper effect, circling the few remaining fisherman in the harbor. By the way, half the names seem to be holdovers from the British Empire, like Aberdeen, whereas the rest all see to come off a Chinese menu, i.e. Kung Foo Young, or something like that.
Our third stop was at Stanley market, a combination of Chinese souvenirs with the Berryessa Flea Market. We bought Marina a small gift, but I won’t say what it is in case she is reading the blog!
Our last stop was back to the center for a superb dim sum lunch at one of Danny Lui’s (our host) favorite haunts. The food just came and came, and we did our best to keep up with it.
For dinner, our group headed out on an impressive 150’ yacht for an island that has a series of restaurants specializing in seafood. We were served all sorts of seafood, including abalone, but also some we couldn’t identify. This was definitely a local kind of place, with lots of families, and various groups playing cards and mah jongg.
We’re now exhausted and heading to bed, to hopefully sleep through the night, unlike last night, when we got up, wide awake, around 4:30am!
-- Donna
Last night, after we arrived, we joined our group for dinner at the Pacific Club, on the Kowloon side, looking back at the Hong Kong skyline. It is an incredible sight, the masses of sky-high buildings lit up against the backdrop of steep mountains.
Today, a small subgroup of about ten took a tour of Hong Kong city. We started the day by taking the tram up to the top of Victoria mountain. There were times when the tram seemed to go at a 45 degree angle to the hillside. It uses a cable mechanism similar to San Francisco’s cable cars (of course, Lenny took plenty of photos of the older mechanisms, which fortunately have been modernized).
At the top, we could see over a very smoggy Hong Kong. The folks here blame the mainland Chinese for their pollution woes. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it sure does seem like they have a problem.
From Victoria, we went to the other side of the island to visit Aberdeen – the fishing village. It seems that most fisherman have given up fishing and instead take tourists around in sampan boats. There were dozens of sampans, lined with old rubber tires for a bumper effect, circling the few remaining fisherman in the harbor. By the way, half the names seem to be holdovers from the British Empire, like Aberdeen, whereas the rest all see to come off a Chinese menu, i.e. Kung Foo Young, or something like that.
Our third stop was at Stanley market, a combination of Chinese souvenirs with the Berryessa Flea Market. We bought Marina a small gift, but I won’t say what it is in case she is reading the blog!
Our last stop was back to the center for a superb dim sum lunch at one of Danny Lui’s (our host) favorite haunts. The food just came and came, and we did our best to keep up with it.
For dinner, our group headed out on an impressive 150’ yacht for an island that has a series of restaurants specializing in seafood. We were served all sorts of seafood, including abalone, but also some we couldn’t identify. This was definitely a local kind of place, with lots of families, and various groups playing cards and mah jongg.
We’re now exhausted and heading to bed, to hopefully sleep through the night, unlike last night, when we got up, wide awake, around 4:30am!
-- Donna
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Off on another adventure
Donna and I are leaving tomorrow on another international adventure for two weeks: China! We'll be in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xian, and Beijing. Stay tuned...
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