Our introductionto Hong Kong yesterday was a resounding success. A fairly large group of s were on the orientation tour which was excellent and we had a guide who spoke the best English we have heard since India. As I think I have mentioned before fluency was not the problem in Thailand and Vietnam but understanding the accents was.
Hong Kong seems familiar in a number of ways. Firstly because most of us have seen photos and TV programmes of it or heard other people's accounts and secondly for George and me because it remains so British! The double decker buses particularly are evocative of London or Edinburgh; the order of the traffic after the chaos and danger even of crossing a road from Chennai to Saigon....it was great to see the little universal green figure telling us it was safe to cross!
Yesterday was a cool, grey day here, a welcome relief from all the heat we had been experiencing. It made the view of the city and harbour from Victoria Peak a little blurred and softened but nevertheless spectacular. The long steep climb up there in the bus was in itself revealing because of the different angles of viewing the endliess and architecturally fascinating sky scrapers and ostentatious residences which climb the hillside.
We ate our boxed lunch (identical to the one at Catien!!) standing with friends, looking down at our ship-home from Victoria Peak. I loved watching the visiting Chinese, often grandparents, with tiny children, attempting to manage and discipline reluctant two and three year olds. One couple in particular were at their wits end as their grandson, who was spectacularly beautiful, smilingly refused to comply with anything they asked him to do. I thought to myself that he would go far in life, always his own person and so charmingly but stubbornly getting his own way! I had a feeling that part of the show was for my benefit and had to turn away from his grandparents helpless stares! It was one of the times I would have loved a video camera...
Earlier we had gone on a sampan ride round the harbour, but although again we had a marvellous sea view of the city, there were so many tourist boats that we seemed in imminent danger of small sea tragedies; Semester at sea participants end up in Hong Kong harbour on sight seeing tour after multiple sampan collision...
We were allowed time after descending from the peak on a fenicular tram to wander round a typical Sunday market selling vegetables and tempting"medicines" which cured everything from a simple cold to balding heads. We noticed that the behaviour of teen agers is universal now; ipods, ear phones, giggles, jeans or a weird layered concoctions of tops and skirts for the girls and tatoos and sunglasses for the boys.
Blog has started to misbehave so am going to publish....more later.
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