Hong Kong

Some Facts & History...

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China's south coast. The island is approximately 426 square miles and has a population of 6.9 million people. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Beginning as a trading port, Hong Kong became a dependant territory of the UK. In 1839 the refusal by Qing Dynasty authorities to import opium resulted in the 1st Opium War between China and Britain. Hong Kong Island became occupied by British forces in 1841, and was formally ceded to Britain at the end of the war. In 1860, after China's defeat in the 2nd Opium War, the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island were ceded to Britain. In 1898 Britain obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island and the adjacent northern lands, which became known as the New Territories. The official transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to the People's Republic of China was in 1997. It is one of 2 special administrative regions and is generally not considered a part of mainland China. Hong Kong is largely self-governing and maintains a capitalist economy.

Renowned for its expansive skyline and natural setting, Hong Kong is one of the world's leading financial capitals and a major business and cultural hub. Its identity as a cosmopolitan center where east meets west is reflected in its cuisine, cinema, music and traditions, and although the population is predominantly Chinese, residents and expats of other ethnicities form a small but significant segment of society.

Hat's off to Wikipedia.

And onto our trip...

Saturday, September 20, 2008

As you have all come to expect, we Heller's start our trips off with a bang. The moment we arrived in Hong Kong, a mere 1.5 hour flight from Taiwan, we realized that we left Matt's business credit card with the driver that transported us to the Taipei Airport. OOOPS! This surely adds a new dimension of fun as this trip is technically a business expenditure and according to IBM policy, (blah, blah, blah), all costs related to this trip need to be accounted for on this approved credit card. Ugh. So, Matt made a few phone calls and regardless of what he tried to do, all signs pointed in the same direction - we needed to get a new card. Luckily there was an American Express office close to our hotel and we swung by there to get a new card. Lots of phone calls, a giant pain in the rear for Matt, but problem solved. Oh, and the driver was hugely apologetic. He promised to bring the card back to us when he picked us up at the airport on Monday night. You know, after he purchased a new TV, home theatre system and a car.

Ahhh, Hong Kong. We arrived in daylight, but by the time we were settled in the hotel, fed and hit the town it was dusk. Hong Kong's daily sun schedule is the same as Taiwan. The sun is up early in the morning and it is dark by 6pm. The weather is also quite similar to Taiwan's, so it was upwards of 90 degrees the entire time we were there. In addition, they experience the same long rainy season in the spring that we will. So I decided that either they are much more clever than the Taiwanese or their development boom happened in more modern times, but they created a smart public transportation system that takes you from the airport to basically anywhere on the island without the traveler having to come up from underground. This way if it is pouring down rain for hours and days on end, no one has get get wet going from place to place. Nice. We literally went from the airport to the hotel without the sun touching our skin. How cool is that? Not that this underground rail system is actually all that "cool" in temperature...I've never seen Matt sweat as much as he did when he wasn't doing yard work. Apparently I haven't mastered traveling light. But I can't take all the blame - it's the littlest person in our lives that has the most stuff. There was one suitcase for the 3 of us, her portable bed, her carseat on wheels, Matt's backpack and Caitlin's backpack. I think it's the bed that threw us out of balance. That thing is heavy! Either way, we survived and Matt gets major props for lugging all our stuff for a few miles in the heat.

We stayed on the 23rd floor of the Marriott. It was a very nice hotel, but the service didn't quite compare to what we've experienced at the Hyatt in Taipei. The only thing they had over the Hyatt are the most amazing hand-made chocolate truffles. These are, simply put, a piece of chocolate heaven. They had a paper thin, crispy chocolate cup type shell filled with a slightly bitterish-creamy chocolate filling and one or two itsy bitsy crunchy things on top. Mmmmm...I'll be dreaming about them for days to come. (A little raspberry would have been good with that or even a fine pino noir...) After the chocolate, we were greeted with fresh fruit, water and tea. It was great to have the fruit on hand. Everything else was standard; big bed, lots of pillows, desk, TV with cable that we could actually understand, internet connection, phone, lamps...you get the picture. Thankfully, the room was also equipped with a very large bathroom where Matt and I spent a lot of time hanging out waiting for Caitlin to fall asleep (for either nap or bedtime). The joys of globetrotting with a toddler.

The hotel is connected to a very large, upscale mall filled with shops that showcased every major designer I could think of (and many of which I'd never heard of). You know, funny thing about me and fashion. I really love it and admire fashion magazines and people who wear it, but truly I am at a point in my life where I just can't be bothered. Most days I'm clean, comfy and as put together as a mom in a tropical climate can be. Anyway, it was fun to walk through the mall eating my gelato and take a glimpse at the fashion world I've seemed to leave behind. But I am getting way off topic here. Oh, did I mention gelato? After we put Caitlin to sleep for the night, I left Matt in the bathroom and slipped out on quest to find milk and other breakfasty stuff for us to eat the next couple of mornings. I found an amazing import market in the basement of this mall. My heart was all a-flutter with joy! There was English - actual English everywhere!! ENGLISH!!! You simply cannot imagine the complete and all encompassing ecstasy, the absolute elation to find a food store where I could actually comprehend what I was buying! I almost cried. Then I saw it. On my way out of the store I spotted the gelato bar. It was if the Good Lord knew that I would be a complete woman again if I both purchased food items in English and had actual creamy, dairy rich, frozen treat. So, I bought myself a scoop of mint chocolate chip wonderfulness and savored each and every spoonful as I drifted back to our hotel room. Oprah has this thing going on right now about being "present" in your life. I don't think I was ever more present than those moments when I enjoyed that actual ice cream ALONE. No big, giant Matt bites that usually consume most of my treat. No slobbery Caitlin bites. Just Tara bites. Oh, and they were soooo good. I did have intentions of saving some for Matt. Poor guy stuck in the bathroom. But somehow, it was all gone when I got in. He forgave me.

I guess I got a little off course here. I meant to mention that in this mall were a whole bunch of restaurants and cafes. Earlier that evening, we ate dinner at a place Matt frequented when he lived in Hong Kong (on his assignment prior to us moving to Taiwan). It's called Dan Ryan's Chicago Pub. The food was familiar and good while the atmosphere was fun and perfect for Caitlin. From here we hopped in a cab and headed out to the1st attraction on our list, the Peak Tram.

"The Peak", or Victoria's Peak is the tallest mountain on the island proper. It soars at 1,180 feet and on a clear day offers amazing views of the city. Even as early as the 19th century, prominent non-natives (I'll call them) sought out this property for its beautiful sights and slight relief from the tropical climate. Although, I feel compelled to interject here that we didn't actually experience any relief from the heat when we were up there. Perhaps it was different in the 19th century without all the global warming and such...Anyway, these non-natives built homes up there and were originally transported to and from by human powered chairs. Then came along horses and carriages and finally a cable car tram (train looking thing - I didn't get a good picture. Sorry, it was too hot to hold Caitlin and get the camera out). The human powered chairs and even the horse carriages were terribly inhumane means of transportation. I cannot begin to paint the picture of how incredibly steep the incline to the top is. But let me try. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in this tram car and as you are ascending to the top your back is forced to the rear of the bench your seated in and you're looking ahead of you at super tall buildings-skyscrapers-but these skyscrapers and your eyes are totally in the same direction. More simply put, you are actually "seated" at a 90 degree angle. If you were to stand, you would fall. For goodness sake, it's a mountain! It was very cool. At the top of the peak there is a great viewing deck, all sorts of shops and restaurants. It would make a superb date or place to propose (hint, hint Todd!).

So we tried to go Saturday night. It was a relatively cool and clear night. Apparently everyone else visiting Hong Kong had the same idea and the line for this attraction was around the block. It was after 7pm, Caitlin didn't have a nap and there was just no way she was going to make it. We got out of line and hopped aboard this double decker, open topped bus that had a wrap on it advertising The Peak. We knew that there were alternate routes to the peak and assumed that this was one of them. Hmmm...not so much (you can do the Borat thing here again. I do it all the time!). This bus actually took us to the IFC or International Financial Center, formerly the tallest building in the world. According to Matt, it is now the 3rd tallest building. In case you're wondering, the current tallest building is Taipei 101 here in Taiwan. From here we took our hot, twitchy toddler on a ferry boat to Kowloon, a small strip of land on mainland China (no passport required), to watch the light show. Kowloon, or at least the very small part of it that I saw in the dark was really cool. The pictures of the lantern display were taken there. Then we climbed a bunch of stairs to a viewing platform to look over at Hong Kong. Very interesting perspective...every major financial institute and electronic brand you can think of was magnificently illuminated. Zillions of light bulbs. Made me wonder how many of those bulbs our families have empowered through the purchase a few TV's, cell phones, personal computers, computer monitors, etc. The whole riverfront twinkled to the sound of music. It was so cool. My pictures didn't do it justice. But it was hot and Caitlin was totally at her end, so after 10 minutes we took the ferry back and hopped in a cab to the hotel. So the pictures I took of the signs was all I saw of The Peak that night. But I did get there again...

This is turning out to be a really long post. I'm really tired so I'll continue tomorrow. Attached is the link our slideshow of Hong Kong. There are just too many pictures to add to this manually so the slideshow will work better. You may have seen them already, but they might make more sense after all my lengthy explanations. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/taralheller/2008092022TripToHongKong?authkey=kmej-6R-SiE#