"Full House"

  Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Friday, June 22, 2007

How sad to abandon the luxury of my room in Taipei for another check-in/Customs/Immigration/waiting session at another airport. Still, the destination is possibly the ultimate finale for this trip - a family suite with a harbour view at the YMCA in Hong Kong, surely one of this city's greatest hotel bargains when costed per head!

Duk Ling junk

And what a panorama we have! A 180o (almost) uninterrupted view across to Hong Kong Island from a corner room. The boat traffic on Victoria Harbour is constant and varied - the red-sailed Duk Ling junk is out today, reminding me to book a ride for next Thursday.

Passing ship

Building work has (of course) progressed enormously since I was last here 25 years ago. There are a huge number of new condominiums between the new airport on Lantau Island and Kowloon, along with the associated infrastructure - freeways, suspension bridges, tunnels. The air is far cleaner than Taipei's and bamboo still reigns supreme as the scaffolding material of choice. A brief walk around the local streets revealed that the neighbourhood had moved up since last time - no longer restricted to electronics and tacky souvenir shops. MaxMara is around the corner, as is an enormous Esprit clearance shop. The hawkers have seemed to worsen though. Not confined to just their shops, they have moved out on to the pavement to spruik. Mercilessly. Little do they know my tolerance level is at an all time low and I have just had eight weeks of snarl training! If at least one of them isn't publicly humiliated by the week's end, I'll be very surprised!

Star Ferry

The temperature is a warm 33oC, there is a red sky and the office towers are starting to twinkle as the sun sets. The offspring and Grandma have apparently made it onto the plane with an ETA of 2155 tonight - just enough time for me to watch the Symphony of Lights nightly light show before heading back to the airport for the big reunion.

Then this room will truly be a full house.