Hong Kong Phooey

This week I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong with the school choir and orchestra for a week long tour.

So far we have only been here a few days, and already it has been pretty full on. We arrived around 6pm on Saturday after our 8+ hr flight, and then it was straight to the hotel - with a twist. Saturday was the start of the East Asia Games, and as such, they had scheduled a firework extravaganza to be staged in the harbour, which is incidently about 250metres or so from our hotel. As a result, all the roads were blocked off in the immediate vicinity of our hotel - thus our bus was unable to drop us to our door, and we were therefore forced to walk about 1-1.5 kms (with our luggage and instruments) to our hotel. This was fine for me, as I have wheels on my suitcase, but some of the girls didn't, and being the martyr that I am, I decided to help one of them. This therefore meant that for the majority of the distance, I dragged my own suitcase behind whilst carrying a students - and boy, was it heavy. I still have callouses on my hands from the experience.

We are staying at the YMCA Salisbury Hotel, which, for a budget hotel, is actually very nice.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we literally dropped our bags and ran so that we could see the fireworks. Alas, the roads were very crowded and we really couldn't get a good observation point, until Tim mentioned that his hotel room overlooked the harbour. Next thing, we managed to cram 39 people up in his room to watch the fireworks. They were pretty good too!

The next day we spent the morning shopping - or rather, the girls did - but Tim and I went looking for internet so we could sort out some arrangements for the next few days. Thank goodness for Starbucks, I say. The afternoon was spent on an organised bus tour of Hong Kong, where we went to Victoria Peak for wonderful views of the harbour (and actually could see some stuff because the weather was relatively clear), then to Aberdeen fishing village, and then to the Stanley St markets. Here is an excerpt from the official school blog, which details the day a bit more than I have: Today saw us take a little detour from our original itinerary and see some of the sights of Hong Kong, literally. In small groups we spent the morning, after breakfast, exploring the nearby streets to our hotel including Hong Kong’s ‘main drag’, Nathan Rd. Not too many things were open at this point, because the locals don’t really wake up until 10, so our body clocks have definitely had a substantial adjustment. Midday saw us have a beautiful lunch of yum cha, which seemed to be made up of pork, pork and more pork. Lunch also enabled us to sample some fragrant Jasmine tea and the more earthy-flavoured Pu-li tea. It was after this we met up with our experienced guide Maria for a trip to Hong Kong island. Each segment of the bus trip was filled with personal stories, weather patterns, Fung Shui and Local history which gives our trip a bit of context. One of the best stories related to the underwater tunnels - in the ‘old days’ during the typhoon season, before the rains struck the husbands of families would ring their wives to stock the house, gather the children and bar the windows. But the would also mention how they ‘would have to say the night on Hong Kong Island’. Suffice is to say after the underwater tunnels were built, they had no excuse to not be home! Today also saw us visit the Highest point in the state, Victoria Point that allows one to fully take in the massive skyline of high rises that sprawl around the country side and seem to rise like the eight mountains that surround the city. We then took a trip backdown the mountain to the Aberdeen fishing village and, the bit everyone looked forward to, the Stanley Beach Markets. So we happily spent the better part of an hour bartering over handbags, hats, shirts, pillow covers, bracelets and dresses. The selection was amazing and so we returned to the hotel on the bus with our backs aching and our suitcases looking a little fuller. Tonight, we once again split up in to year levels and picked a spot for dinner, most of us opting to eat western i.e. Macca’s and Pizza Hut. After dinner saw our first batch of rehearsals in preparation for our first concert tomorrow!