Hong Kong

Election results day for us given that we are 12 hours ahead of the United States.
We had to be in the assembly lounge at 8:45am for our tour today which was called 9 Dragons. The name Kowloon comes from the Chinese phrase "gau lung", which translates to "nine dragons". The name refers to the nine peaks that rise above the northern part of Kowloon Bay, which are said to resemble a dancing dragon. The peaks include Kowloon Peak, Tung Shan, Tate's Cairn, Temple Hill, Unicorn Ridge, Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, and Crow's Nest. Legend says that the name was given to the area in 1278 by Emperor Bing of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The weather for today is forecasted to be sunny, with a high of 80 F.
The first of four stops was at the Tin Hau Temple. The Tin Hau Temple and the adjoining buildings have significant heritage value because it is a multi functional place for worship, arbitration and education, each with it’s separate, but attached building. The the top of the main building is very ornate. Once inside, there are the usual prayer/incense sticks, stuck in the sand of various containers, the smoke, carrying their prayers skyward, except for the smoke that Lee inhaled. Lee is particularly sensitive to incense smoke, which was quite thick in some areas, so she left the building. There are so many ways of worshiping in these Temples. In one, there were statues and even a 3 ft. long dragon boat with people in it. The instructions were as follows.
1) Pray sincerely to Holy Emperor Tin Hau and paste a foil of gold leaf (which of course worshipers had to purchase) onto the Well-Wishing Dragon Boat.
2) Fortune may come if you place on:
-Dragon Head: Good for study
-Crew: Good for work
-Boat body: Good for business
-Stern: Good for Luck
The second stop was at a Wet Market. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your interests, most of the rows of stalls that we saw were dry goods and vegetables, meat and dead, not live, fish. There were hundreds of stalls, often selling exactly the same products. I can’t understand how they make a living this way, unless they each have their own special customers. The unfortunate part I mentioned is that we didn’t have time to visit the rows categorized as the wet market which is generally all kinds of live fish flipping and flopping in water containers, and sometimes flipping out onto the floor, and thus making the floor wet. In this area, there would have been lots of crustaceans as well.
We next visited Yau Ma Tei Jade Hawker Bazaar which is a large Jade market where everyone sells items that look like the same products everyone else is selling: broaches, necklaces and bracelets. Lee, who loves to bargain, did buy a jade medallion for a necklace, but only after refusing the prices offered until the vendor chased her down the aisle offering yet another lower price that Lee was finely willing to pay.
Our next stop was at a flower market. Not your average market building but rather an entire square block of over 100 stores selling all kinds of plants and flowers. Good thing we had a timeline or Lee may never have come back to the bus! Also in this area there were two additional markets that we didn't have time to see. One was a Goldfish Market and the other was a Bird Market. It is a custom for people to take their birds in their bamboo cages out for a walk. No kidding!
The last stop for the day was the Chi Lin Nunnery, right in the middle of the city, with spectacular buildings and gardens. At the Chi Lin Nunnery and adjacent Nan Lian Garden, we were supposed to " stumble into a world of chanting nuns and meticulously pruned bonsai trees." Well we saw the trees but didn't hear any chanting. Although it looks ancient, this Buddhist monastery complex was actually built in the 1930s and later renovated in 1998. Following ancient Chinese construction methods, the impressive wooden structure features a matrix of interlocking cypress wood beams, without a single nail, making this one of the world’s largest handmade wooden buildings. Inside the structure, the Main Hall honors, with an impressive statue, Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion, while the Hall of Celestial Kings features dedicated altars where worshippers can pray for protection and prosperity. We then walked to the adjacent Nan Lian Garden. Built in 1934, the public park stretches across 3.5 hectares of dramatic landscaping featuring Chinese-style pagodas, pavilions, graceful bridges, and rock formations. There’s also a vegetarian restaurant and tea house onsite said to be one of the most tranquil lunch places in town. We didn't go there.
We got back to the ship in time for a late lunch after which we turned on the television to check on the election results. Since we were hoping for a Trump defeat, it was looking pretty grim, and I can’t describe how awful it made me feel. After a rather quiet lunch by the pool deck, we learned the final results which made me feel even worse.
I would guess at least 75% of the passengers on the ship where Americans and if you wanted to talk politics, you had to be very careful how you approached the topic. I can’t tell you how many of them, particularly from California said/joked that if Trump won, they would probably move to Canada. I just spoke to one of them and asked if they would like the name of a good realtor.
After the win by Trump was declared, there was certainly no cheering, very little discussion, at least on the pool deck . Maybe everyone was in their cabin either celebrating or commiserating. From around the pool deck, you would never have known that one of the most important elections in the world had just been finalized.
We got all spiffed up for the captain’s farewell party at 6:00pm and our 7:00pm dinner reservation at the French restaurant Chartreuse and hoped to finish dinner in time to see the Hong Kong light show, and also stay awake long enough to take in the entertainment for the evening, described as Broadway in Concert.Читать далее