The Star is a Ferry
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2007
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Trip End
May 20, 2007
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Considering Hong Kong, I am instantly struck with the possibility that this city is the gravitational center of the most interesting things on this planet. In a place where one is surrounded by all types of people and can do anything, there is a palpable energy and sense of possibility that only exists in the World's greatest cities. What's more, the nexus of old and new, Western and Eastern and urbanity and nature is a combination not achieved anywhere else on the 3rd rock
A. Lunch at Star...Yum!
. For me, spending time in Hong Kong, whether for business is pleasure, is a total treat. I can't imagine a place that has more to offer and I relish every minute I have in this great city. On this visit, I would be lucky enough to have nearly a week to enjoy and admire the many attributes of the city. In addition, I would have the added pleasure of having family on hand as my parents would also be traveling through HK with close family friends Gail and Steve Suval.
Arriving at Hk Intl on Wednesday night, Aimee, Meredith, Christie and I were greeted by an efficient team of Peninsula Hotel staff who sped us into Kowloon in a collection of stunning black S-class Mercedes. Feeling much more important than I like to admit I really am, I soon disembarked and stepped into the iconic hotel lobby and was quickly shown to my room in the original wing of this HK landmark.
Still full from my excellent dinner on Cathay, I skipped a late meal with the girls and instead took time to unpack my suitcase for the first time on the trip. Hopping into bed shortly thereafter, I tuned on the 32" plasma and let the boobtube hypnotize me to sleep.
Waking up on Thursday, I met my team in the lobby and spent the morning visiting UCP and Fortune Union. As anticipated, our ever stylish and always charming Fortune Union rep, Johnny, soon shuttled us to lunch in the New Territories and ordered up a storm at the delicious Star Seafood restaurant. Here I happily plowed through an assortment of dumplings, noodles and soups
B. King teaches BB "Blue Steel"
. Truly fantastic. In the afternoon we visited a few more vendors and wrapped up with a quick drive back to the Peninsula. For dinner, two of my very separate worlds collided as my parents, the Suvals and I met my long time HK friends, Vicki, King and San for dinner at Sun Palace. The dinner was awesome, as always, and we all really enjoyed getting to catch up and make new friendships.
During dinner, King leaned over and non chalantly told me that he had become a father last month. Not knowing that his bride of one year was even pregnant, I proceeded to interrogate my friend for details about the first child born to the Wong family. Apparently, the three week old baby boy still did not have a name as King was waiting for an appointment with a Feng Shui master who would help finalize a moniker for the little guy. In the mean time, his name was going to remain "BB" and he liked to cry a lot. I did see pictures over email a few days later and was amused to see a fully developed Mini-King, complete with Asian Zoolander hairdo.
On Friday morning, we met the tabletop team and visited with Hipcon.
Lunch with their friendly team was in yet another tasty mall restaurant. With a party nearing 20, we crowded around a huge round table and piled enough dishes on the wheel to make Susan feel anything but lazy.
In the evening, I attempted to deal with the looming sino-cusine overload, but was coerced by my parents into joining them and the Suvals for dinner in...you guessed it....another mall based Chinese restaurant
B. The 'rents, Me, King, Vicki, San and the Suvals
. Good thing I really like the food. On Saturday, we spent the entire day in the office working with our agents and vendors who flew in from the Philipines and Indonesia. It was an interesting collection of people who paraded before us over the next 12 hours and we eventually wound up in the extremely crazy Lan Kwai Fung district for a fun dinner at Indochine followed by an amusing display of inebriation from most of the members in our party. Still soaked (and stained) from a glass of red wine that Alison had recently spilled on my favorite Henley, I elected to exit the HK promo for Girl's Gone Wild and joined Frank in a cab back to the Pen.
With a day off on Sunday, I slept in and met my parents and the Suvals for a trip over to HK Island. Boarding the Star Ferry, I was happy to be sharing one of my favorite experiences with my family. Once on Terra Firma again, we deftly navigated through Central and made our way to the commuter escalator and rode up to the mid levels. Here we wandered around Hollywood Road and the rest of the Soho district until we found ourselves back in my favorite tea shop. Here my friend Virginia treated the 5 of us to a 30 minute tasting and tea lecture. As always, it was a great time and I walked out with a bag full of exotic Chinese teas
C. Christie makes a new friend at Hipcon
. More than ready for some more Chinese food, my mom made the request for local grub and Virginia delivered with gusto, sending us to Ka Ho...a restaurant that I have been dying to try for 4 years now. Ringing up a whopping $35 dollar bill, the 5 of us scarfed up the single best dim Sum meal I have ever had in my life. Wow.
After slowly moving out the door, we meandered around the area some more, shooting pictures, checking out local food bazaars and enjoying the great assortment of books in various vintage shops. It was a great day and I capped it off with a Sunset ride back to Kowloon aboard the Star Ferry.
For dinner, the entire work team jammed into taxis and made it's way up to Victoria Peak in order to celebrate Frank's 38th birthday. While "Terrace at the Peak" was quite cheesy and the food was mediocre at best, we did enjoy a great time together and made sure that the last bit of Bread Pudding had disappeared before we moved up to the awe-inspiring top floor observation deck. Joining with hordes of other tourists, we enjoyed an unobstructed spot along the glass railing and stood quietly in the warm breeze watching a rainbow galaxy of city lights twinkle below us
D. And....another
. After the extreme discomfort of the corkscrew like descent from the peak, Cristin and I held our dinner down and stumbled onto welcome stability on the marble floors at the Pen. With a 6:30AM departure for Shenzhen the next morning, it was already way past my bed time. Wah-Nahn!
When the alarm went off at 6AM on Monday morning, I instantly cursed whoever scheduled us on the early ferry. Fortunately, with the trusty control panel at my bedside,I was able to open the curtains and turn on CNN without even moving. This is often very helpful in getting me out of bed when I am freaking tired.
Making it downstairs at 6:30 on the dot, I met the team and was ready to go when we found out that Aimee had misplaced her passport and would not be joining us on our trip to the mainland. I instantly tried to lose my passport too. No luck.
Aboard the hydrofoil, we sleepily stared out the upper deck windows as beautiful Hong Kong faded behind us. Sadly, we soon found ourselves enveloped in a disgusting brown smog which only became thicker as we got closer to the PRC. Arriving at the Shenzhen ferry port, we were greeted by Shirley and Maggie from our WECA Taiwan office and we began an extremely productive day, visiting a handful of vendor showrooms and factories around Shenzhen. I was most impressed with Libra, who's showroom was absolutely enormous and sparkling clean. As we sat in one corner eating a fantastic lunch, our rep brought trays full of expertly frothed cappuccinos and perfectly made espresso
E. I am friends with Perrier
. Most importantly, the bathrooms were nicer than any showroom....and most hotels...I have ever visited. Wrapping up the day around 6PM, we were thrown into a very tight 7 person van and made a run for the border Unfortunately, the usual 2 hour drive took us nearly 3.5 as our driver became lost in downtown Shenzhen and drove around the city for a good hour. It also didn't help that his foot was not able to hold down the gas pedal for longer than 5 seconds at any one time. Sitting in the middle seat with no seatbelt, I was not enjoying the stop and start. Miraculously, we made it back to the Pen in one piece. We all thankfully dismounted and sat down for a delightful (and Western) dinner in the lobby of the hotel.
Sitting with my parents in the room later that night, I was sad to be leaving HK. Every time I visit, I seem to find more things to love. But all good things must come to an end...and this excellent visit is certainly no exception. The city is one of the most special places on earth...and I can't wait to come back. Heck....I might just have to move here one of these days!
On to Shanghai!
