When we moved to HK at the beginning of 2010 (actually Jeff moved in October, 2009), a lot of friends and relatives told us that they'd visit us in 2011. They figured that we'd be expert guides by then. We never expected so many of "our people" to be really interested in enduring a 15-hour flight to get here.
Cousins Arlene and John from Calgary started the non-stop parade of visitors. They arrived on Friday evening, Feb. 18th, smiling and hugging at the Airport Express station. They were raring to go! Sleeping pills guaranteed them a good night's sleep, and they woke up feeling energized.
Priority number one was getting John to Jeff's tailor. John retired a few years ago, and Arlene is tired of his ill-fitting "shlumpy" clothes. I must say that John was a trooper at
Maxwell's! He didn't pout, sulk, or try to escape through the back door. By the end of the session, he had ordered a sport jacket, two pairs of slacks, and four shirts. (Good thing we had more visitors after Arlene and John - my sister, Rhonda, ended up bringing John's new clothes back to Canada with her)
Next on the agenda was a trip to
New Fei Optical to buy prescription sunglasses. Glasses are a huge bargain in HK - progressive sunglasses with designer frames cost between $200 and $250 CDN! (A far cry from the $1000+ in Toronto). Alice, the owner of the company (in the photo), took pity on Jeff and me - we were sitting and waiting for Arlene and John for over an hour, so she brought out fresh buns with red bean paste that she had just made! I asked her if the nearby restaurant that I had chosen for lunch was any good (Piggy Chickee Dimsum and Hotpot - I kid you not). Her employees told her that it wasn't, so she offered to have her driver take us to the best dim sum restaurant in the area.
The driver drove frantically through Sham Shui Po, and screeched to a halt in front of a very busy restaurant. He drove off before we could thank him, and then we noticed the huge lineup of people waiting to get in. Each person had a paper chit with a number on it; the numbers were being called in Cantonese, so a very nice young man told us to listen for "yet yet sum" (113). There were no English signs at all, but when I asked my new best friend what the name of the restaurant was, he said Tim Ho Wan. Only then did I realize that I had already been there with my friend, Chloe, last fall. In fact, Jeff and I had also been to the original Tim Ho Wan last August with Daniel (blog July 21). The food is still great; still worthy of one Michelin star.
Arlene and John stayed with us for four days, then went off to Xiamen, China, for a few days, and returned to HK for another four-day weekend. They visited many of the highlights of HK - Stanley Market (photo on the left), the Big Buddha and Tai O, Western district, Causeway Bay (they loved the enormous wet market), the History Museum, The Peak (photo on the right), the Kowloon markets and the Hollywood Road antiques stores. They used every form of transportation - airport extress, metro, bus, minibus, taxi, ferry, and tram.
Arlene's major purchase was a rosewood bird cage from the bird market. When we got home to our apartment, she hung it below my bird cage. I decided the duplex effect looked great in the living room, so after Arlene took her birdcage back to Calgary, I replaced it. I'm not sure if the cages will make it back to Merton Street in Toronto, but we are enjoying them in HK. (Julie and Andrew - this is your inheritance, since we can't afford to buy
real property in HK).
Two days after Arlene and John left, I once again ventured down to Airport Express to greet Rhonda, Gerry, and Laura, who visited with us for a week during Laura's spring break. We had a fantastic time, and I've discovered that there is something for everyone here in HK. Rhonda was totally jet-lagged, but that didn't stop us taking advantage of their first full day, and we tootled off to the Big Buddha on Lantau. Although this is one of the major tourist attractions in HK, I had never been there.
From the Tung Chung metro stop, we boarded the Crystal Cabin (glass-bottomed) cable car for the ride to Ngong Ping Village and the Buddha. Like most days, it was hazy, but we were still able to see the mountains of Lantau, the airport, and the South China Sea. None of us were bothered by the see-through floor. My favourite photo is on the left - Laura's shoes high above the road! The Buddha is enormous (one of the "ten engineering wonders of HK"), and he looms over the entire mountain. We climbed 268 steps to reach the statue, and the view was magnificent.
Our next stop was the Po Lin Monastery, which is opposite the entrance to the Buddha. This Buddhist monastery dates back to 1906. It is comprised of several buildings, filled with thousands of buddhas and lots of gold statues. We had a yummy vegetarian lunch - noodles and dim sum. The entry fee to the Buddha (23HKD = 3CDN) included our little feast - what a bargain! After visiting the monastery, we taxied to Tai O, the fishing village on stilts that I've already blogged. I got my visitors all hyped up to see the famous pink dolphins, but alas, there were none to be seen that day. (I guess they will just have to come back next year so that we can try again!)
Laura's favourite HK activity was shopping in the markets. She and Rhonda loaded up on gifts for all of their friends - jewelry cases, silk shoe bags, and all sorts of Chinese "stuff". Her best purchases were a Juicy Couture hoodie and a Coach handbag! Gerry loved Temple Street night market - he enjoyed bargaining for his purchases - aPads. I was a bit concerned that Canada Customs would hassle them at the Dorval airport, but they declared their purchases, and sailed through.
Dale's guided tour of HK always includes visits to the Kowloon markets - the flower market, bird market, and acquarium market. Laura was a little timid at first with the squawky parrots, but, being the animal-lover that she is, she soon relaxed and enjoyed the visit. While we were traipsing around Kowloon, Jeff introduced our guests to his favourite street snack - HK waffles.
We had some excellent meals during the week - notably, dinner at Crystal Jade in Harbour City. Rhonda's friend, Leslie, who happened to be working here that week, joined us. Since our friends, Joan and Ronnie, are always a feature of my HK tour, we had dinner on the terrace with them at the Royal HK Yacht Club. The view of the harbour was beautiful, but the weather was cold and windy! More memorable meals were Indian food at Guru in Soho, and Vietnamese at La Taste in Central.
No visit to HK is complete without a visit to The Peak on the historic Peak Tram. Rhonda befriended a couple who had two poodles. They willingly let me photograph her holding them (I'm not including the photo of the grey poodle, since it unfortunately had the most hideous haircut!)
On the more cultural side, Rhonda, Laura, and I went to see the NY City Ballet at the Cultural Centre. Gerry and Jeff spent that afternoon at the History Museum. On their last morning in HK, we walked over the the zoo and had fun looking at all the exotic animals. Laura had that wistful "can I take them home" look ...
For me, the best part of the visit was getting to know my beautiful niece much better. It was so much fun watching a 15-year-old enjoy her first manicure, her shopping expeditions, and the different foods and sights of HK.
Jeff and I had six days off for good behaviour until the next visitors arrived. I was busy with the literary festival and catch-up lunches and dinners with friends. And since I hadn't gone shopping in a month, I spent a day in Shenzhen ordering some summer clothes at the tailor. My friend, Ursula, mentioned that eyeglasses are even cheaper in Shenzhen than in HK, so I bargained and ended up buying two - regular and sunglasses. My lenses are complicated, since they are progressives and I have an astigmatism (yes, I'm old, Andrew). Even so, the final price was 1200RMB ($180CDN) in total!
Our next visitors were Diane and Shelly, old friends from Montreal. No jet-lag here, since they had already been in Asia for a month (Vietnam and Cambodia). Although the weather wasn't wonderful during their week's visit, they lucked out with local events. Diane and Shelly are avid gardeners, and they arrived in time for the annual
HK Flower Show at Victoria Park and the annual open house at the flowering
Government House.
The stars of the Flower Show were the orchids and azaleas. We drooled at the perfection of the orchids, and at the vibrant colours of the azaleas. Each flower society in HK displayed its beauties (Susan S. - you would have loved it! - plan to visit us next March). The funniest exhibit was a glass enclosure containing tall grass. The label advertised "dancing grass". Hundreds of gullible people stood around waiting for the grass to move and groove!
Shelly bought me a "starter" orchid (10HKD - 1.25CDN), and I haven't killed it yet! There are lots of websites (and Susan S.) offering advice on how to care for orchids, and I'm trying not to overwater them (my normal bad habit when it comes to plants - kill them with kindness). The photo below shows my new collection (orchids from the flower show and the Kowloon flower market; African violets from Ikea - hand-me-downs from Joan when she left HK last October).
Diane and Shelly did their good deed by helping out at the weekly English conversation class at King's College. This was a busman's holiday for Shelly, who is a retired high school teacher. I think they got a kick out of asking the 16-year-old boys about their hobbies, activities, and families.
All of our visitors love Stanley Market. There's so much to see and buy. Diane loved the art galleries, while Shelly enjoyed shopping for t-shirts. After lunch in the local diner (we were the only gweilos there), I went home. They shopped all afternoon and came home with lots of stuff.
We took the Star Ferry across the harbour on a wet Saturday afternoon, and then moseyed over to the metro to get to the Kowloon markets. I resisted buying yet another bird cage - two are definitely enough! Diane's comfort level at the bird market wasn't very high.
Government House, where Chief Executive
Donald Tsang lives (and where the Colonial governors lived), is open to the public only one day each year. The house sits on a hill, surrounded by magnificent gardens filled with colourful flowers (and all of them were in bloom!). The venue was filled with music - live performances by HK's best high school orchestras, young soloists and even police bands. The main floor of the mansion was also open to visitors.
The media were out in full force, and seemed to be looking for Western tourists to interview. Shelly willingly gave his comments to one broadcaster, and a short while later, Diane answered another interviewer's questions. (I couldn't figure out which television stations they were).
Diane wanted to visit the New Territories, so off we went to Tai Po Market. Diane was interested in how people live in these suburbs of HK. I think she expected to find quaint villages, with people in native dress. Instead, she found a bustling, non-descript town that didn't differ much from other residential areas of HK.
I always find it sad that the most crowded places in HK are the Jockey Club (betting) offices. Not an attractive part of Tai Po Market main street. The highlight of our trek to Tai Po Market was a visit to the
railway museum. Trains from the old HK-Canton railroad were on display - they weren't much different from the North Shore commuter trains (vintage 1930s) that Jeff used to take from DDO to downtown Montreal.
The museum is also a favourite spot for wedding photos (in HK, wedding photos are taken months before the actual nuptials occur, and then they are displayed at the reception).
The cutest thing I saw in Tai Po was a young girl carrying a toy poodle in her purse!
On the way home from the New Territories (when will I stop calling them the Northwest Territories?), Jeff, Shelly, and Diane headed to Causeway Bay to fetch Shelly's new aviator glasses. Afterwards, Jeff and I picked up a piping hot lasagna, antipasto, and salad from
Paisano's, the best pizza joint in HK. Joan and Ronnie joined us for this feast!
During our visit to The Peak the next morning (yes, the sun finally came out!), the Mainland tourists kept asking if they could take photos of us. I always get my dander up in these situations, but Diane and Shelly played along. (When Arlene and John were in China, a local wanted to photograph Arlene holding her baby!) I much prefer the picture of our friends alone, without their new best friend.
Since the day was really lovely, we took the ferry to Lamma Island, where we had lunch on the waterfront. Lamma is so relaxing - a quiet getaway from the noise of the city. However, workmen were jackhammering away on the main road (they didn't want me to forget what my street sounds like from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.). When we got home, Jeff joined us for dinner at Wagyu (mom and dad - that's where we had brunch) - thank you again, Diane and Shelly, for a lovely treat.
The grand finale of Diane and Shelly's visit was a ride in the DHL balloon - 100 metres up. This sold-out event was sponsored by the AWA, and it also included a very good buffet lunch and wine. Here are some photos of the balloon and of HK from up above.
One of the not-so-nice things I do (surreptitiously) is photograph bad fashion statements. These are some of the "winners" from the past few weeks:
Sensible shoes in Stanley Market (worn by a Western tourist)
Miss Cutesy from the Mainland posing on the Peak.
And last but not least - a European tourist in her colourful attire (Diane and Shelly's favourite).
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The highlight of our visit was our walk through the Botanic Gardens. Orchids galore! and so many other exotic, tropical plants. I will let our photos do the talking. (There are many more stored on my computer.)
One of my passions (as you all know from my blogs) is architecture. Singapore has some amazing new buildings. (Unfortunately, they have torn down old beauties to make room for the new). My favourite is the Marina Bay Sands hotel/casino complex: three glass buildings joined at the top by a surf board! We didn't have time to visit it, but it is a must for next time - there's an infinity pool on top, and the view is said to be spectacular. We also missed riding the Singapore Flyer (S's equivalent to the London Eye), since it was undergoing maintenance.
The Supreme Court building, next to the plain, Colonial Parliament building, impressed me with its space-age look, and the office tower on the right looked one-dimensional!
Speaking of neighbourhoods, Jeff and I were disappointed that Chinatown is mainly a facade - it looks like an Epcot attraction. The old Arab neighbourhood is semi-authentic. Some of the streets in Arab Town have been yuppified, but there are still many shops that cater to locals. I found it interesting that the models in the fabric store on the right had Western faces (is that one way to get around Sharia law?). Little India is closer to the "real thing" than the other ethnic neighbourhoods. Its shophouses are cleaner, colourfully painted, versions of its Penang counterpart. Unfortunately, the Disney effect is creeping in, as you can see in the photo below.
A trip to Singapore is not complete without a visit to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. The sacred relic is on a pedestal behind quadruple-paned glass, in an overly-bright room filled with reflective gold decor (no photographs allowed). In other words, you have to truly believe that the molar is actually in the room. The highlight of the Temple is the terrace on the top floor - a beautiful, serene, flowering garden, with a central pagoda housing an enormous prayer wheel. The woman in the photo was chanting her prayers as she walked round and round the wheel.
Singapore is famous for its food, and we were treated to some memorable meals. One evening, Jonathan (next to Jeff) took seven of us to Long House food court. We had so much food (lots of doggy-bags), but the signature dish was Hainanese chicken rice. In my humble, Jewish opinion, this is a prettier version of boiled chicken - and not nearly as tasty as the recipe in Second Helpings, Please. Although the presentation is lovely, this dish is hard to eat with chopsticks - the rubbery skin is hard to extricate from the meat, and the meat is hard to extricate from the bones. The variety of accompanying sauces do make up for the difficulty of this highly-praised dish, but I still feel it's more trouble than it's worth.
Jeff's Singaporean colleague, Ai Ling, and her husband, treated us to a memorable evening. We were driven to Sentosa Island, where we had drinks on the beach at sunset. This was followed by Indian food at an outdoor restaurant on Boat Quay, the trendy area on the Singapore River. I have only recently developed a love for Indian food, and am starting to familiarize myself more with the names of all the dishes. Before moving to HK, the only dish I would order was tandoori chicken, but I will now eat just about everything Indian. My only complaint is that it is all orange (as opposed to Passover food which is all beige)! 
